Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Curse of the Spider King

Book Details:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Publication Date: Nov. 3, 2009
Why I read it: have 2nd one for review
Grade: A-

Cover thoughts:
I really like the cover for this one. The picture is pretty cool, the font is good--it's all good. Plus it's a hardcover, without an annoying dust jacket; the picture is right on the cover. I really like that.

About the author:
Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are joint authors of this one. I've never read anything by either of them, but they've both got other books out that I will be looking for.

The plot:
Curse of the Spider King introduces us to seven young elven lords. The thing is, none of them know they are elves from another world, Allyra. They're all just living normal 13 (or nearly 13) year old lives when we are introduced to them. But, because they have reached the age of reckoning, they are all starting to display certain powers (they all have different powers), and will soon be hunted by the enemies of the elves. Luckily, there are sentinels that were sent there to look for, and protect them. But now they all must return to Allyra. There is a great website for the Berinfell Prophecies here.

Characters:
This would be a great book for a pre-teen/younger teen to read, because there is someone here for everyone to like. We get to know lots of different characters, and young people will connect with them. Some of the characters were much more present than others. But they're all interesting and varied.

Setting:
The flashbacks throughout the book to the world of Allyra were probably my favorite part. Otherwise, the world was pretty much just like ours today, except for the addition of these elves hiding out. I'm excited to read more of Allyra in the second book.

Read this if you're in the mood for: a young adult fantasy that isn't your typical paranormal love story. I'm really sick of those, so if you are too, this one is different. It does have the formula of a young person (in this case, people) finding out that they're not human, they're something more, but the rest of the book is pretty different from the standard formula. Also, as this is written by Christian authors, it's very clean.

Continue or part ways? I'll definitely continue on with the series, especially since I have the second one on my bookshelf waiting for me to read and review it.

3 comments:

Carin said...

Is the story a Christian story because it's written by Christian authors or do the authors just happen to be Christian? I'm just wondering. I like the cover a lot too and story seems interesting. I don't really read much YA stuff, but I would probably pick this up if I saw it just because the cover is so awesome! :)

Brenda said...

There is mention of God here and there, called another name by the elves (but I can't think of what it was). It's not really overly religious, though.

Carin said...

Thanks! It doesn't bother me even though I typically don't read Christian fiction. I was just wondering. :)