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| The Maze of Bones |
Title: The Maze of Bones
Author: Rick Riordan
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 220
Genre: Children's Literature / Fiction
How I Found It: I can't remember
Date Completed: 11/27/16
Summary: Amy and Dan Cahill are orphans in the care of a horrid old aunt and a carefree nanny. On weekends, they visit their charming, mysterious grandmother - at least until she dies and they find themselves among a cast of quirky, distant relatives at her enormous mansion, hoping to be included in the division of her assets. What they don't expect is to be launched into an international scavenger hunt with ancient family power on the line.
What I Thought: I heard of this series ages ago and had put it on the back burner of my mind, thinking it would make a good listen for Kevin and I on a car trip. Well, this Thanksgiving, I timed the library reservation correctly and got it for us as we drove to and from the Midwest for the holiday.
As I've discussed before, Kevin has high audio book criteria, Mostly, it has to be interesting and exciting enough to keep him engaged and every moment. No lulls in the action. Hence, why I picked out a children's book for us to listen to. Haha. I don't mean that as harshly as it sounds, just that kids' books don't often have the long descriptive passages or focus on internal character development. Kids, like Kevin on a car trip, want to be entertained and have a short attention span.
The book is fun, if wildly unrealistic. I know there are many books where kids do outlandish things and there is nary an adult around to supervise. This felt like the most extreme version of that. While the book does loosely address the idea of these kids needing a chaperone to enable their trip around the world, there are a whole lot of real-life logistics that were thrown out the window in order to keep this story moving. I get it, but, as adult readers, we both found it annoying and worthy of many an eye-roll.
On the whole, though, it's exactly what I thought it would be. Fun, quick-paced, action-packed. The characters are more caricatures, as so often happens in children's literature. Still, if you know what you're getting going in and don't expect any more, you'll enjoy this one. I'll be getting us the next one or two in the series for our Christmas travels. Plus, if you take a heavy dose of Dramamine and fall asleep for an hour in the middle of the book, it's still totally possible for your husband to easily catch you up on what you missed. Not that I would know from personal experience or anything...
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Will I Re-Read: No, but we're going to read the rest of the series
If You Liked This, Try: James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra / Dealing with Dragons / Mandie and the Secret Tunnel
Other Books By Rick Riordan: The Lightening Thief
A Reduced Review: A fun diversion - not much depth, but perfect for young readers ready for a new adventure.
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