Thursday, January 17, 2013

Review: Circles in the Stream by Rachel Roberts


Circles in the Stream (Avalon: Web of Magic, #1)

Three very different young teens, Emily, the shy one, Adriane, the outsider, and Kara, the power shopper, are all drawn to a secret place deep in the woods where they discover a portal to another world. Wondrous animals have emerged from the portal, desperately seeking the magic that will keep them alive. Though the animals are peaceful and good, what follows them through the portal is twisted and evil and bent on destroying them all.
The Fairimentals have chosen these three fourteen-year-olds to protect the magical animals. To save them and their world, the girls must overcome their differences and band together. They begin a perilous quest to discover Avalon, the lost, legendary home of magic, little knowing the terrible dangers they will face along the way.

First off I’d like to say how much I adore the covers for this series they are some of my favorites. The illustrations on all of them are magnificent. Also they are all unique while definitely being a part of a series. Now that that’s out of the way on to the review. This is a good, light mg book. It’s got a sweet message, lots of magic, and cute fuzzy animals. Roberts reworks the idea of familiars in an interesting way. People are bonded to animals and the relationships they have with their animals echo what has happened before with familiars in other stories, but in a new and slightly different way. The Ravenswood Preserve is a nice back drop. Also Ravenswood is a medium sized town which is nice to see after all of the big cities and small back water towns so common in mg and ya. The animals are all awesome, even the non-magical ones.
What push this book down are the length and writing. The small size doesn't allow for a lot of character growth which is disappointing. The only consolation for this is that there are 11 more books, but that also means 11 more books to get a hold of. The wording is strange in some places which brings down the writing. Also I’m not sure I would classify this as an mg. This is more a step in between children and mg fiction. It doesn't quite belong in either.
This is still a fun book with great a great world and message. Just if you are going to read this be forewarned that the reading level is that of a third to fourth grader and the character growth will not be great because it is being stretched out over 12 books.

I give this book a C

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