About half way through, I decided what the heck, I was mostly enjoying the story. Clearly other people either didn't notice, didn't care, or just got past it, because the novel has wide acclaim. Rowling's themes were not always highly original, and she leaned heavily on past authors as well, but the characters she created and the way she wove the story lines together felt fresh. However, the pitch perfect rendering of the tone of a Harry Potter story, plus the choice of Jim Dale as the narrator, was very distracting. The characters and plot were all highly evocative of other great books in the genre: The Golden Compass, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, etc. I was shocked at how closely the writing style of John Stephens' Emerald Atlas imitated that of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books-including, despite her many talents, Rowling's penchant for excessive and repetitive detail. The voices sounded stuck up and bored, like a kid imitating their older sister, and I kept on imagining how my impression of the book might have been different with perhaps a paired narration with one of the fantastic female narrators I've heard on audible books. In this book, two of the three main characters are girls, and narration for the girls was painful. The narrator, who did a wonderful job in Peter and the Starcatchers, where the main characters are a group of boys in England, evidently does a lousy job with female characters. That being said, this book has some great adventure for kids in it, would recommend for ages 8-12-though some of the chase scenes, like when the characters were chased by wolves may be pretty intense for the younger end of that range, Narration was also an issue with me. I bought this book as it was highlighted as an editor's pick, hoping it would translate well to the adult audience.

'- School Library Journal, Starred Review

'Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from 'Harry Potter' to the 'Narnia' books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read. ' fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy.'- Publishers Weekly 'A new Narnia for the tween set.'- The New York Times And-if an ancient prophesy is true-what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right.

a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.īefore long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world. Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.

trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way.'- Realms of Fantasy

The emerald atlas book series