Scan barcode
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
4.0
This was off the walls in the best way possible. A great example of how having a wild plot does not mean sacrificing logic or internal consistency. Everything made such perfect sense despite how nonsensical it is that a cereal company has secretly been courting the end of the world by stealing the glamor in magical creatures from another dimension.
I dislike retellings, but the way that this unfolded it was so subtly snuck in that I didn't notice. By the end I did not care, I just needed to see where it was going.
The only flaw was the amount of times magic was used as a convenient workaround for getting in a bind. As time wore on it was increasingly obvious that only Emily had the intelligence to outwit a situation, and even that was it's own convenient solution. Scott and Erno could have used some other skills to round them out as integral parts of the team. Scott, at least, had his ability to see magical creatures, however, Erno had pretty much nothing to bring to the table other than being Emily's brother. I liked all of the characters (except ironically for Emily who I found annoying) but in terms of functionality to the narrative they did not often drive the story very well. It was more that they were constantly reacting which became a shortcut for the characters needing to actually do anything themselves.
Stylistically, this appealed to me as I love pragmatic kind of textbook-y kind of writing, but keep that in mind if you do not like it. It's very matter of fact and not especially emotional. It's also written in third person omniscient. I like it because when done well it informs the reader without trying to directly tell the reader how to feel.
Overall, it was a raucous, confusing time that I enjoyed every second of. I am glad that I randomly decided to pick this up.
I dislike
Spoiler
King ArthurThe only flaw was the amount of times magic was used as a convenient workaround for getting in a bind. As time wore on it was increasingly obvious that only Emily had the intelligence to outwit a situation, and even that was it's own convenient solution. Scott and Erno could have used some other skills to round them out as integral parts of the team. Scott, at least, had his ability to see magical creatures, however, Erno had pretty much nothing to bring to the table other than being Emily's brother. I liked all of the characters (except ironically for Emily who I found annoying) but in terms of functionality to the narrative they did not often drive the story very well. It was more that they were constantly reacting which became a shortcut for the characters needing to actually do anything themselves.
Stylistically, this appealed to me as I love pragmatic kind of textbook-y kind of writing, but keep that in mind if you do not like it. It's very matter of fact and not especially emotional. It's also written in third person omniscient. I like it because when done well it informs the reader without trying to directly tell the reader how to feel.
Overall, it was a raucous, confusing time that I enjoyed every second of. I am glad that I randomly decided to pick this up.
christiana's review against another edition
3.0
Listen, this book is kind of cracked out. It's cracked out in a way I ultimately enjoyed, but there were times in this book where I was like "why am I still READING this?". Then Adam Rex would pull me back in and I would look at the clock and realize I had been reading a long time. Still, it's a hard book to booktalk and a hard book to sell if you give too much information.
Also, I don't think this is going to be a series so HOLY LOOSE ENDS, BATMAN. I feel like hardly anything got resolved at the end. I finished and was kind of thinking, "but what happened?"
I just reread this review and it sounds like I didn't like it. I did! It just came with baggage.
Also, I don't think this is going to be a series so HOLY LOOSE ENDS, BATMAN. I feel like hardly anything got resolved at the end. I finished and was kind of thinking, "but what happened?"
I just reread this review and it sounds like I didn't like it. I did! It just came with baggage.
thestoryowl's review against another edition
5.0
Word play, clever plot lines and magic. What more could I ask for?
alboyer6's review against another edition
I was excited about this book. I loved Smekday. But with this one, I just couldn't get into the story and couldn't really care what happened to the main characters. I have other things I want to read and stopped after the first third of the book. Maybe I will try picking up on a later date to try to listen to the audio.
xsleepyshadows's review against another edition
4.0
An evil cereal company is taking magic from magical creatures that it bases its mascots off of is such an interesting concept. While I was on speech team many of the OC (orginal comedies) competitors really like to perform about cereal mascots too. The things I love about Adam Rex is his follow through. You can read something and it will catch up with you later, it is such a unique feeling almost like deja vu.
brandypainter's review against another edition
4.0
Review posted at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
bookgirl4ever's review against another edition
4.0
Ever wonder what really is in your kids' cereal? Goodco Cereal Company claims "There's a little bit of magic in every box." Of course, most consumers don't realize that there is truth to this statement and that Goodco has an agenda for children all over the world. Scott's mom works for Goodco and the family moves to Goodborough, NJ where the Goodco headquarters is. He meets Erno and Emily Utz, a set of twins his age, who are geniuses. The kids soon find out that Goodco is experimenting on children, has an underground society of Freemen, the leprechaun and rabbit on their cereal boxes are real, and that there really was a King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table. How this all fits together is too hard to explain but once again Rex takes real life institutions and puts an amusing spin on them.
Middle school
Middle school
roseannmvp's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting..not my cup of tea generally- leprechauns and unicorns and giants and human-like bunnies, hunter-things and evil cereal corporations and evil secret societies, and magic, oh my!!!
I think a third or fourth grade boy would find this generally amusing.
The audio version is really well read and acted.
I think a third or fourth grade boy would find this generally amusing.
The audio version is really well read and acted.
saidtheraina's review against another edition
3.0
Oh, Adam Rex. You are so cool, I can't really stand it.
Example:
In the prologue of this book, a series of people are passing by a pet carrier in an airport...
"A woman with a tight ponytail that hoisted her face into a permanent, painted grin bent in front of the cage.
'Aw, hewwo, widdle Chihuahua,' she said. 'Hewwo.' Then she rose to go wherever it is people like that come from."
Seriously. I love this man. I want all his tshirts.
That said...
There is A LOT going on in this book. Junk Food Factory, puzzles/treasure hunts, magic, leprechauns, ancient and epic quests, scientific testing, mythical creatures, movie stars, weird names, secret societies... The list goes on. I enjoyed many of the elements of this book, Rex's particular way of turning a phrase at the top of that list, but I have to admit that things never really gelled into euphoria for me.
When I think of [b:The True Meaning of Smekday|1194366|The True Meaning of Smekday|Adam Rex|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1237929187s/1194366.jpg|1182420] (Rex's previous book for this age group), I think of the whole new vocabulary Rex created, the major revelation near the end of the book about Gratuity and her mom, and of course, the hilarious illustrated bits Rex inserted into the story about Boov and such. Here, the illustrations are limited to the cover, a couple of stills from TV commercials, and some full-page illustrations. Which were a bit ho-hum to me. At least for Rex, who's raised my standards for out-of-the-box(es) J fiction.
I started out this book laughing out loud and ripping through it (after a string of books I had to drag myself through), but when I was less than 50 pages from the end of this 420 pg monster, I felt no hesitance in dropping it for a week to rip through the fifth Gone novel.
Also, I can never quite figure out the perfect audience for booktalking his stuff. The illustrations and ages of the characters say upper elementary, but the sophistication of the humor and the themes he's riffing on say middle school. Which I guess averages into 6th grade?
Goofy hipster innocence.
Example:
In the prologue of this book, a series of people are passing by a pet carrier in an airport...
"A woman with a tight ponytail that hoisted her face into a permanent, painted grin bent in front of the cage.
'Aw, hewwo, widdle Chihuahua,' she said. 'Hewwo.' Then she rose to go wherever it is people like that come from."
Seriously. I love this man. I want all his tshirts.
That said...
There is A LOT going on in this book. Junk Food Factory, puzzles/treasure hunts, magic, leprechauns, ancient and epic quests, scientific testing, mythical creatures, movie stars, weird names, secret societies... The list goes on. I enjoyed many of the elements of this book, Rex's particular way of turning a phrase at the top of that list, but I have to admit that things never really gelled into euphoria for me.
When I think of [b:The True Meaning of Smekday|1194366|The True Meaning of Smekday|Adam Rex|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1237929187s/1194366.jpg|1182420] (Rex's previous book for this age group), I think of the whole new vocabulary Rex created, the major revelation near the end of the book about Gratuity and her mom, and of course, the hilarious illustrated bits Rex inserted into the story about Boov and such. Here, the illustrations are limited to the cover, a couple of stills from TV commercials, and some full-page illustrations. Which were a bit ho-hum to me. At least for Rex, who's raised my standards for out-of-the-box(es) J fiction.
I started out this book laughing out loud and ripping through it (after a string of books I had to drag myself through), but when I was less than 50 pages from the end of this 420 pg monster, I felt no hesitance in dropping it for a week to rip through the fifth Gone novel.
Also, I can never quite figure out the perfect audience for booktalking his stuff. The illustrations and ages of the characters say upper elementary, but the sophistication of the humor and the themes he's riffing on say middle school. Which I guess averages into 6th grade?
Goofy hipster innocence.