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Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Book of Lies by James Moloney



Link to Synopsis: The Book of Lies

As I often do, I was wandering around in the juvenile fiction section of our local library, waiting for my 6 year old to finally pick which easy reader we would suffer over for the next week, and I happened on to this book. I will admit, I am a sucker for great cover art and a catchy font on the spine. There are some fonts that just ring true to the type of book I like to read and this was one of them. Anyway, I chucked it in the basket and after retrieving the 6 year old (just get both of them, it doesn't matter!) and the 4 year old (why did you get a science book about mars?) and the 8 year old (go look for that book again, I'm not going to find it for you) we checked out all 22 items, paid the $17.86 we owed in fines and headed home.

Overall, this is a great read. While I don't know anything about James Moloney, I would guess that this is a first book for him, and that he should keep after it. The overall story is good, the beginning was great, the ending was great, but the overall rating is drug down by a few unfortunate scenes/plot choices in the middle. To be specific, there is a point when he introduces elves into the story, and for a few chapters the plot seemed off. I don't know if corny or cheesy are accurate descriptors (or acceptable reviewing language) but lets just say it was very predictable and a bit contrived. The right people showed up at the right times, the dialogue was flat and the characterization was a bit off. I should establish myself as an expert on these matters, since I am being pretty specific: Those chapters sounded a lot like something I would have written, for those are all some of my favorite writing-sins.

Don't let that candid review discourage you from picking this book up, however. The beginning and end were pretty good, and he has set himself up for a good series. While the plot is not quite as deep as Fablehaven (which if you read my last review you know I am a huge fan of) it does have a lot of room to develop in the next book. I give this one a solid 3.75, and I look forward to the next release.

Date Completed: 7/2/2008
Rating: 3.75

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