Rick B. (bup) - , reviewed on 12/16/2011 + 166 more book reviews

The magical children of Bland Academy set off on another uninspired adventure that take them to a mirrored castle that really doesn't do anything, and they defeat some bad guys and I don't really get the point of anything.

My favorite thing about the book by far is the kid, at least as drawn on the cover, looks kind of like Art Stukas.

Clearly a ripoff of Harry Potter, and clearly written for a lower grade level, and clearly written by somebody who has observed people but doesn't get them. So activities and appearances and magical quirks substitute for real character. I imagine the author has a bunch of note cards tacked to the board behind her monitor-

Charlie Bone
- tall
- funny hair
- impetou impechuou control issues

Billy Raven
- short
- white hair
- talks to animals (remember - animals talk like Elmo!)

Paton
- tall
- light bulbs break wherever he goes
- likes Julia

It leads to excellent writing such as these passages demonstrate:

Charlie got a brief glimpse of Lysander's house as they passed a pair of tall wrought-iron gates. Lysander's father was the famous Judge Sage and the house reflected his important position.

If Albert was shocked, he didn't show it. Maybe some of his memories were coming back to him. Memories that were so bad, nothing would ever surprise him again.

She threw Charlie a quick, furtive glance and then disappeared. Curious about her strange behavior, Charlie ran across the road.

See? There's nothing terrible in there, but nothing interesting either. Even the magic is dull and pointless. It reads like an outline fleshed out by Jack Webb. I'm beginning to understand that what J.K. Rowling accomplished is really pretty special.

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