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cathyatratedreads's review against another edition
3.0
If I were 10, I'd probably give this four stars. As it was, for me as an adult reader, I enjoyed it and thought it was well done, but it reminded me a bit too much of the movie "Death Becomes Her," which might be a tiny bit of a spoiler about what this book is about. At any rate, it's a fine read for middle readers, with a good amount of intrigue, intensity and mystery.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/cabinet-earths-clean-young-adult-book-review/
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/cabinet-earths-clean-young-adult-book-review/
cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as I'd hoped. Nice idea, but not very well fulfilled; can't seem to make up its mind whether to be fantasy or just somewhat fantastic, and could have gone a lot of places more interesting than where it actually went. I like the premise, I like the characters, but I think they both have the potential to be part of a better book than this actually is--or at least a book I would like better, which is not necessarily the same thing, of course!
brandypainter's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet is one of those books that begs to be read. Just look at the cover. It is one of those fantasies that surprises in how grounded in reality it is. There are no journeys to other magical places to fight evil. There is plenty of evil to fight right here.
This book is mostly a book about fear. Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of letting go of the comfortable. It's themes are perfect for a middle grade novel and Maya's character displays them well. She is a character easy to relate to as she is completely average in every way. Maya longs for her mother to be permanently well, to go back home to where things are familiar, to not have to be such a good sport all the time. The temptations she faces to stray for what is right are realistic without dulling the fast actin of the story. It is love for her brother that propels her actions in the end and as I always love a good sibling story this made be particularly happy. (On a personal note the dynamic between Maya and James reminded me much of the dynamic between my own children so I was particularly concerned for their outcome. My son has the same sort of effect on people as James, and I've seen in my daughter's trying to reconcile always being in her younger brother's shadow the feelings Maya displays in the book. But she loves him ferociously and would go to any lengths to defend him. And he thinks there is no greater person on the planet.) I was quite happy to see how well Maya and James's relationship demonstrated how complicated and devoted sibling relationships can be merely by showing their interactions.
I really enjoyed how the author was dealing with some complex concepts of trust and betrayal, mortality and immortality, inner beauty and outer beauty, science and magic and managed to make it all work on exactly the right level for this story. She never condescends and she only gives as many details as needed to tell the story in this book.
My only one small complaint was that I feel like I still didn't know Valko well by the end of the book. He is Maya's best friend (possibly more?) but their relationship isn't nearly fleshed out as well as the sibling relationship. That may be corrected in the sequel, Box of Gargoyles, due out in 2013.
I was actually quite surprised to discover there would be a sequel as this reads as a stand alone story. Surprised, but very happy indeed.
The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet is one of those books that begs to be read. Just look at the cover. It is one of those fantasies that surprises in how grounded in reality it is. There are no journeys to other magical places to fight evil. There is plenty of evil to fight right here.
This book is mostly a book about fear. Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of letting go of the comfortable. It's themes are perfect for a middle grade novel and Maya's character displays them well. She is a character easy to relate to as she is completely average in every way. Maya longs for her mother to be permanently well, to go back home to where things are familiar, to not have to be such a good sport all the time. The temptations she faces to stray for what is right are realistic without dulling the fast actin of the story. It is love for her brother that propels her actions in the end and as I always love a good sibling story this made be particularly happy. (On a personal note the dynamic between Maya and James reminded me much of the dynamic between my own children so I was particularly concerned for their outcome. My son has the same sort of effect on people as James, and I've seen in my daughter's trying to reconcile always being in her younger brother's shadow the feelings Maya displays in the book. But she loves him ferociously and would go to any lengths to defend him. And he thinks there is no greater person on the planet.) I was quite happy to see how well Maya and James's relationship demonstrated how complicated and devoted sibling relationships can be merely by showing their interactions.
I really enjoyed how the author was dealing with some complex concepts of trust and betrayal, mortality and immortality, inner beauty and outer beauty, science and magic and managed to make it all work on exactly the right level for this story. She never condescends and she only gives as many details as needed to tell the story in this book.
My only one small complaint was that I feel like I still didn't know Valko well by the end of the book. He is Maya's best friend (possibly more?) but their relationship isn't nearly fleshed out as well as the sibling relationship. That may be corrected in the sequel, Box of Gargoyles, due out in 2013.
I was actually quite surprised to discover there would be a sequel as this reads as a stand alone story. Surprised, but very happy indeed.
asimilarkite's review against another edition
3.0
I started this book thinking, "YES. I AM GOING TO LOVE THIS." and left it thinking, "eh, not bad!" At first the language got me -- it was lovely and quirky and unique, and I was sucked in by the setting.
And then the story started. It's so. Slow. A lot of nothingness happens in this book for a long time, and the main character meets a lot of people (some of whom have the same name, which is confusing), and then about 50 pages from the end things start to get interesting. Which is kind of annoying. And there's set up for a sequel.
I will probably recommend this book to kids though -- they'll like the magicalness and the idea of being immortal and the Parisian setting (especially if they're thoughtful kids who like to get absorbed into a fantasy without needing a lot of action action action). It just wasn't my favorite. Which, again, is kinda sad, because I thought I was going to love it at first.
And then the story started. It's so. Slow. A lot of nothingness happens in this book for a long time, and the main character meets a lot of people (some of whom have the same name, which is confusing), and then about 50 pages from the end things start to get interesting. Which is kind of annoying. And there's set up for a sequel.
I will probably recommend this book to kids though -- they'll like the magicalness and the idea of being immortal and the Parisian setting (especially if they're thoughtful kids who like to get absorbed into a fantasy without needing a lot of action action action). It just wasn't my favorite. Which, again, is kinda sad, because I thought I was going to love it at first.
ohsusanna's review against another edition
3.0
Often when I read stories that are realistic with a touch of fantasy in them, the form of magic used is overly described. It's as if the author doesn't understand the magic themselves and therefore makes the description so complicated that maybe the reader will just assume it's wonderful and amazing. It's the same thing that happens in poorly written young adult dystopian series; if the government and society described is confusing, maybe the reader will spend all their time trying to figure that out that they won't notice how horrible the plot is and how overly dramatic the characters in the love triangle are. This extremely complicated description just makes it more difficult for me to follow the plot and makes me dislike the story. However, it also means that when I find a story that describes its form of magic well, I'm impressed. When The Cabinet of Earths started out, there was a lot of description of the magic in the prologue that made me a little worried about the story I was beginning to read. But the story discusses magic being mixed with science and this is the way that the magic was approached: concretely and in a way that the later descriptions and events in which it was involved made sense. The book was easy to predict and there was no character that I loved but for this genre of realistic fantasy, this book nailed the setting and background and that was enough for me.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
What a fun, interesting twist on the idea of immortality and the marriage between magic and science. Maya is the bookish, normal daughter in the Davidson family; her mother is recovering from cancer, her father is a scientist and her younger brother, James, is one of those naturally charming, gregarious kids everyone loves. The family moves to Paris for a year while her father works with the Society of Philosophical Chemistry, and she's thrown into a school where she must speak French and is an outsider - although she does make one friend, a Bulgarian named Valko, who lived in America for four years and speaks English.
Maya spends time with her cousin, Louise, a very faint, forgettable, grey woman who as a child survived a church collapse in Italy and through Louise meets another cousin, Henri-Pierre, who lives a very secluded life making opera sets and watching over a rather odd looking cabinet. There's another cousin, another Henri, who is young and dashing and yet somehow a little creepy. The three Fourcroys are descended from the original Fourcroy, a scientist, and his wife, a Lavirotte, a witch. Maya appears to take after the Lavirotte side, which will have consequences for her family...
There are touches of Lewis' Magician's Nephew, Tuck Everlasting and more modern "weird things happen to ordinary people" books, but the blend is new and fresh.
ARC provided by publisher.
Maya spends time with her cousin, Louise, a very faint, forgettable, grey woman who as a child survived a church collapse in Italy and through Louise meets another cousin, Henri-Pierre, who lives a very secluded life making opera sets and watching over a rather odd looking cabinet. There's another cousin, another Henri, who is young and dashing and yet somehow a little creepy. The three Fourcroys are descended from the original Fourcroy, a scientist, and his wife, a Lavirotte, a witch. Maya appears to take after the Lavirotte side, which will have consequences for her family...
There are touches of Lewis' Magician's Nephew, Tuck Everlasting and more modern "weird things happen to ordinary people" books, but the blend is new and fresh.
ARC provided by publisher.
pickett22's review against another edition
3.0
My full review can be found in the link below, but just as an overview, it was a good book! Maybe a little slow, but some really cool characters(Cousin Louise being the best!), although the parents are not very strong; the mother isn't bad but I expected a character like that, set up as a "thoughtful mother" to be more receptive to what her daughter was telling her.
I would rate it more like 3 1/2 stars and would totally recommend the read. It was a good book with some important things to say.
More here:
http://courageforourfriends.tumblr.com/post/16556269126/the-cabinet-of-earths-book-review
I would rate it more like 3 1/2 stars and would totally recommend the read. It was a good book with some important things to say.
More here:
http://courageforourfriends.tumblr.com/post/16556269126/the-cabinet-of-earths-book-review
book_nut's review against another edition
4.0
Quite good. Bonus points for Paris, and for not being a first in the series.
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
3.0
At the library bookstore a few weeks ago I came across a book that looked interesting. When I brought it home, I saw that it was the sequel to this one. Then I had to get a copy of this one to read first. I was hopeful of enjoying this book very much, because it does involve some of the magic of Paris. But alchemy is not really my thing and I did not care for the man with the purple eyes -- he made me very nervous. And I wasn't completely comfortable with or sold on the idea of "earths" - the tidbits of mortality that live within each person, which, if extracted, can result in immortality. I read someone else's comment on the book which felt that this book didn't really have a plot, just a lot of events one right after the other. I think that is a bit harsh, but I was left wondering what the purpose of the Valko character was -- I guess just to give Maya a friend, since he doesn't seem to be initiated into the magical history of Maya and her family. This was not a bad book, but it was not as compelling or as interesting as I had been hoping.
aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition
4.0
The Cabinet Of Earths, Anne Nesbet’s debut middle grade novel examines larger ideas. What would you sacrifice to live forever? What would you give for your sick mom to get better? These are the questions Maya Davidson, 12 year old protagonist of The Cabinet Of Earths grapples with.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here