Oona Crate: Das Rätsel Des Schwarzen Turms (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
There were some likable things about this story, but quite disappointing really. Maybe it's one of those children's books which works fine for children, but doesn't tranlsate so well to adults? I found much of it quite tiresome - especially the ridiculous police inspector, obviously supposed to be comic relief, but just irritating.Also, the writing really wasn't great. At times it seemed a bit amateurish. At one point there was a sentence containting the same word twice (I can't remember now what it was, maybe 'cold'); then the next sentence also contained the same word. There were many other words which could have been used. It read clunkily and made it seem like the book had had only had the most cursory editing. This edition also contained several errors, notably incorrect homophones, such as whether instead of weather, that kind of thing. The story is a nice concept (that's why I picked it up), but when there are so many thousands of wannabe authors polishing well crafted books I wonder why this got picked up and published? Not that it's terrible; I wouldn't have finished it if it was. But I felt that it could have been much better with a bit more attention to detail. It seemed slapdash and hurried. I'm reading my way through the 2012 Edgar Nominees looking for good mysteries. The actual mystery of this one was good, but it took a while to get started. And the editing was sloppy: "loan" for "lone", "to" for "too", repetitive word choices.I liked the heroine, who is determined to give up magic, and her encyclopedic talking raven, Dean, as well as the intriguing indentured faerie servant, Samuligan. Her's hoping subsequent books are better.
What do You think about Oona Crate: Das Rätsel Des Schwarzen Turms (2012)?
got bored with this book and gave it up at page 87. Did not hold my attention well.
—tab
Good middle school fantasy/magic story with a female main character.
—Elb
Cute. Oona learned a few things along with solving the mysteries.
—dariatka
This reminds me of The Westing Game, but with a fantasy twist.
—albert
