Tag: castles

REVIEW: No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy

REVIEW: No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free, electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Walden Pond Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

The Emerald Axe of Angbar has been stolen from Baron Angbar, and he thinks Runar the sorcerer has stolen it. So he sends a servant to hire a bounty hunter. The servant hires “the Lilac” after hearing a bard sing about her accomplishments – only to find out that the Lilac is a teenaged girl. The Lilac, and bard/best friend Netta, are hoping to make a name for themselves – and finding the Emerald Axe would be a great way to do that!

Unfortunately for the Lilac, the axe returns on its own, and the Baron weasels out of paying her. But at least she and Netta will get a fancy dinner out of their trip to the castle.

When the axe goes missing again, Runar magically seals the whole castle until the axe is found and he is cleared of suspicion once and for all. And he wants the Lilac to find the real thief!

But then Runar is found dead, and the Lilac’s first case goes from solving a theft to solving a murder.

Review

This was a treat to read from start to finish. The voice and fun-but-chaotic story reminded me why Christopher Healy’s The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom has long been a favorite. In fact, reading this made me want to pick that book up again some time soon. The Lilac and Netta are a fantastic team – I would love to read more stories about their adventures together.

Nearly everyone in this book is hiding a secret, so there’s a LOT to uncover here besides a thief and a murderer. But each reveal keeps the frantic pace of the story up – and I loved that high energy. It made me want to get right back to the book each time I had to put it down.

I would absolutely read this again. This would make for a high-energy classroom read-aloud. Kids will beg for one more chapter. For the same reason, it would be a fun bedtime read, too. I think reading groups would get a kick out of digging into this mystery, too. Highly recommend!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.

BONUS REVIEW: Trouble on the Books by Essie Lang

BONUS REVIEW: Trouble on the Books by Essie Lang

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Shelby Cox is helping run her aunt’s book store branch at Blye Castle while her aunt recovers from surgery. It’s a nice change of pace from her job in publishing. And now that she’s back in the town where she was born, she hopes she can learn some things about her mother who died when Shelby was three.

Shelby’s run in with Loreena Swan was pretty mild. Loreena, curator of the exhibits at the castle, seemed to think she should be in charge of everything. When Loreena tried to get heavy handed about the book store, Shelby firmly put her in her place. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t spooked when she finds Loreena dead.

Shelby is eager to see the crime solved, especially since she found the body. The local police chief has a history with her aunt Edie and seems to have Edie’s friend Matthew in her sights as her main suspect. Edie begs Shelby to look into things to protect Matthew. But the more questions Shelby asks, the more she seems to be the one who will need protecting.

Review

I have mixed feelings on this one. In general I liked Shelby and the other characters, and the mystery is solid. The castle setting is fun and different, and I like the book store angle.

My first struggle was to believe that any of the mystery was urgent. Loreena’s death happens early on and no ones seems to have very strong feelings about her or reactions to the death. Sure, it’s a crime so it needs to be solved, but there’s no urgency. I know Shelby wants to help her aunt’s “friend,” but that motivation still didn’t have any emotional punch to it. Even the police chief’s history with Aunt Edie, while described as contentious, was not really shown to be that way.

Then I was frustrated with Shelby’s search for information on her mom. Everyone, especially Edie, stonewalls Shelby at every turn. And the questions she is asking are really no big deal on the surface. Why wouldn’t anyone just answer? And Shelby was passive and understanding every time that happened. She has every right to ask her questions, and she should have been furious that simple questions were dodged at every turn. Obviously people were hiding something, but Shelby didn’t seem to put that together and wasn’t nearly upset enough about that. This was another plot point that seemed to be missing the emotional stakes I expected.

Finally, there were several places in the story where I saw what I considered to be continuity errors like a character not mentioned in a scene or discussion, but mentioned in a list of suspects to question right after, as if connected to the discussion even though his name never came up. At another time, Shelby knows information that doesn’t actually come up until several chapters later. I know I was reading an early, uncorrected review copy, but usually continuity pieces like that have already been sorted out before the ARC is released. I trust the publisher has addressed these issues in the final copy of the book. Hopefully this is just a quirk of being an early reader.

There are a couple threads started in this book that would make for interesting stories later in the series. I’ll probably give this series another try when a second book is released to see how things develop both in the story and in the writing.

Rating: ♥♥♥½