Review: The Ambrose Beacon
Just finished this book, took me quite a few days longer than i expected and i mainly enjoyed it, though there was the fear my eye-balls would roll out of my head at times.
lets start with the good.
I loved the assortment of magical critters scattered throughout this book. The characters were nice and easy to like, and there where plenty of animals, love animals. The different powers were interesting, plus there where some exciting twist and turns in the plot, always a good thing.
Now the not so great.
Holy Molly this book was so cliche! so many times the characters action, thought's and behavior had me rolling my eyes, and the fact that EVERYONE had some sort of magical power was ridiculous, nobody was mundane in this book. not even the pet dogs!
also the whole family was pretty much invincible. at one point or another they would be very close to death then BAM they became perfectly fine for whatever magical reason the author came up with. lady clearly has never read this....
(a big thanks to Derrolyn for posting this, so i could then steal and find a nice home for it in my review)
which is a shame cause once i realised her characters pretty much couldnt die some of my interest in them waned.
The change of POV was smooth and well done, the constant change to 3rd person, usually in the middle of a paragraph threw me off at times and was occasionally annoyingly convenient. I know that doesnt sound terrible but i found it a bit silly what a 6 and 10 year old where able to comprehend, with the help of 3rd person explanation.
Wonderful family dynamic, it was nice to see a mainly supportive and loving family unit for once, even if it came off as a little un-realistic to me at times, but then that may just be me.
Overall it wasnt a bad story and had some rather nice qualities to it, but i dont think i'll be picking up the next book in this series - the story just isnt for me, though i can imagine others very much loving it.
9
