Book Review | The Faire Pendant: The Ballad of Captain Thatch

Title: The Ballad of Captain Thatch

Author: Leah Price

Genre: Children's fantasy

Pages: 134

Series: 2nd in the Faire Pendant series

Publisher: Talebearers

Rating: 5 stars

Glenna’s life is anything but ordinary. The daughter of Renaissance festival vendors, Glenna’s days are filled with magic and medieval reenactments as she travels the faire circuit with her family. Then one day, Glenna’s life changes forever. With the help of a pendant, she discovers Otherworld. An enchanted realm, Otherworld is the land in which all of the myths and magic woven by the Renaissance players comes to life! To make things even more complicated, it’s pirate weekend at the festival! The faire grounds are crawling with pirates, both in the real world and Otherworld. And, as Glenna quickly discovers, the pirates can do real damage in both worlds. Can Glenna stop the marauding pirates? Can she become the pirate queen the residents of Otherworld need her to be? And, perhaps most importantly, can she find a way to juggle both her life in the real world and Otherworld without damaging either?

I was delighted to once again be invited into Glenna's world, having already visited when reading The Tale of Atterberry, the first in the Faire Pendant series. The Ballad of Captain Thatch definitely did not disappoint, if you couldn't tell by the rare 5 stars I awarded it!

The writing of the book was perfect for its audience and although I'm not a child, I still enjoyed it. It wasn't predictable or over-simplified, but it wasn't too adult for young readers. The book had a promising and wonderful sort of magic to it throughout and stepping into Glenna's shoes made it feel like I was a kid experiencing the magic all over again. 

The plot was well established and engaging, having you hooked throughout so you want to keep reading. The chapters were also great lengths, not too long, not too short - perfect for bedtime reading. I also thought the transitions between Otherworld and the real world were made very smoothly. I liked both worlds, which meant I was kept excited throughout and not just in certain chapters. 

The characters, as always were fun and realistic. The old characters matched their traits from the first book and I found I had missed them, which is always a sign of a great character. The new characters were easy to envision and they were all relevant to the plot and brought a new lesson to the overall message of the book. (I particularly liked Ash and Grace).

I thought the whole book as a concept matched up well with the first in the series but brought something new so it wasn't repetitive. There was an original spin to the book, merging fictional ideas all together in a rather marvellous mixture that is great for the imagination and really quite entertaining. To see sprites and magicians alongside pirates was nothing short of cognitively spectacular.

The morals and lessons learnt from the book and the attitudes and manners of the characters were perfect for children. The sense of friendship, adventure and comradery is something that every child should have access to both fictionally and in the real world. If you're looking for a great read with your children or to reintroduce some adventure back into your life I would highly recommend the Faire Pendant Series, they are a triumph.

Happy reading,

Hebe x

P.S click the link to check out my review of The Tale of Atterberry - the first in the series

Book Review | The Aureate Spectacles

 Title: The Aureate Spectacles

Author: Eliott Mckay

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 397

Series: Standalone

Publisher: Inkitt

Rating: 3 stars




Would you sacrifice your people for the man you love?

Michaela was a seemingly normal high school senior, hiding behind a pair of hideous spectacles which masked her true identity. When she’s abducted by an intriguing werewolf, she learns that her father was a powerful vampire, and she has been chosen to protect his city from her predatory kind. As the situation grows dire, the fate of the city rests in her hands, and she must choose between peace for her people or the man she's growing to love.

This book is possibly one of the hardest I have had to review simply because I really enjoyed it, however, it was overcast by one thing that by the end made it harder to get through...I shall try to explain a little more eloquently!

So firstly, I loved the writing style. It was fluent and elegant with very few minor errors. Michaela's thoughts were expressed in a conversational way that meant she was more relatable to a younger audience, however in places the writing was also formal and rather lovely. 

The characters were all described well and enough was left to the imagination to make them special to you. I thought the real sense of family ties and inheritance, a theme of the story, was addressed really well and links between generations were made keeping you awake and getting excited along with Michaela over little connections that were pointed out (particularly between her and her father). 

The ideas and concepts were pretty darn good. It had a classic romance, but it was slightly different to any of the similar books I've read. I liked the fantasy world very much and would love to have been given more insight into its geography and how it interacts with our world, with maybe a map insert in the book.

You may have noticed that thus far I have been more restrained with my reviewing than usual and haven't given a lot of detail. I felt before going on I should explain why. The main overriding problem I mentioned at the beginning of this review was the confusion I felt. Unusually, I found the book got worse and worse as it went along. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a disaster! Simply, as the plot thickened and more excitement happened I found myself going back and thinking maybe I had skipped out a chapter or something. Strong relationships between characters seemed to spring up overnight for starters. I found this meant I struggled to feel sad or happy or anything really when things happened to characters, which made it harder to be hooked and get attached. The plot also got very confusing. I don't consider myself to be a stupid person or to struggle particularly with complex plots, however, I got seriously confused in places and felt like it was assumed I knew what certain things were in Michaela's world, where I had no clue. Everything that shouldn't have come as a surprise did and everything that should've been a surprise or a dun dun dunnnnn moment sort of was obvious.

This may sound a bit like a rant and not make much sense to many of you, yet I assure you IT WAS NOT BAD. It's so hard to explain how I feel about it, I think the best way I can come up with to describe it is I feel like if someone verbally explained the plot to me I would love it and 100% get it, but it was almost as if Mckay was so excited in writing such a great story, they forgot the readers didn't have the same knowledge level about the book to keep up.

I feel like if you get this book, it is a winner and I would definitely recommend anyone giving it a go because if it hits the spot, it is worth it. For me, however, I was too confused to bask in its really quite splendidly written storyline.

Happy reading,

Hebe x