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dandelionsteph's review
I almost always like books under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, and I really liked the Aru Shah series, so I figured I'd like this book. Unfortunately, I did not. While the setting of babaylans (from context, apparently shamans/witch doctors) and the spirit world was interesting, I wasn't able to go very far because of its writing style.
The writing style felt surprisingly amateurish, like fanfiction written by a 13-year-old, for multiple reasons. Firstly, there was a lot of "telling" (direct statements in the narrative), rather than "showing" (conveying something through dialogue, imagery or context). While telling is at times justified, its frequency and duration distracted from the narrative. For the sake of fairness, I inspected an Aru Shah book sample for telling-not-showing: Chapter 7 of Book 3, Page 1-2: "Aru couldn't help herself. She was jealous again[...]Was she so bad at being a Pandava that her own soul dad wouldn't stick up for her?" 3 out of the 10 sentences in this passage contain worldbuilding details from Indian mythology/religion that might be hard to fit elsewhere, given the sheer amount of mythological context needed to understand the references. That series often has "telling" when it concerns the mythological details, although at times it's conveyed outside of narration or dialogue in a "Pope in the Pool" (https://savethecat.com/tips-and-tactics/swimming-with-the-pope-in-the-pool) sequence of imaginative imagery.
In contrast, in The Spirit Glass, even things that would be quick and easy to convey in-story are conveyed through narration. In fact, sometimes information is conveyed in a redundant way: on Page 26, information is given that Tina's magic is powerful and graceful and Corazon's magic is clumsy and weak even after this was established by the showing technique on Pages 1-2. Sometimes the instances of "telling" accomplished nothing, to the point they could have quickly been edited out by a line editor.
In addition, the sentences frequently feel choppy and, occasionally, awkwardly-phrased. While Saso might have been an easy way to more naturally provide exposition or character personality details via dialogue with Corazon, more often than not, Saso functions as extraneous comic relief.
The writing style felt surprisingly amateurish, like fanfiction written by a 13-year-old, for multiple reasons. Firstly, there was a lot of "telling" (direct statements in the narrative), rather than "showing" (conveying something through dialogue, imagery or context). While telling is at times justified, its frequency and duration distracted from the narrative. For the sake of fairness, I inspected an Aru Shah book sample for telling-not-showing: Chapter 7 of Book 3, Page 1-2: "Aru couldn't help herself. She was jealous again[...]Was she so bad at being a Pandava that her own soul dad wouldn't stick up for her?" 3 out of the 10 sentences in this passage contain worldbuilding details from Indian mythology/religion that might be hard to fit elsewhere, given the sheer amount of mythological context needed to understand the references. That series often has "telling" when it concerns the mythological details, although at times it's conveyed outside of narration or dialogue in a "Pope in the Pool" (https://savethecat.com/tips-and-tactics/swimming-with-the-pope-in-the-pool) sequence of imaginative imagery.
In contrast, in The Spirit Glass, even things that would be quick and easy to convey in-story are conveyed through narration. In fact, sometimes information is conveyed in a redundant way: on Page 26, information is given that Tina's magic is powerful and graceful and Corazon's magic is clumsy and weak even after this was established by the showing technique on Pages 1-2. Sometimes the instances of "telling" accomplished nothing, to the point they could have quickly been edited out by a line editor.
In addition, the sentences frequently feel choppy and, occasionally, awkwardly-phrased. While Saso might have been an easy way to more naturally provide exposition or character personality details via dialogue with Corazon, more often than not, Saso functions as extraneous comic relief.
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death
mattyb's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Car accident, Death, and Colonisation
Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Stalking
apierlessbridge's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Death
Minor: Car accident
mackef's review
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Child death
jessicaludden's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a great exploration of family and grief. I liked the sense of adventure and magic. Of course it was nice to see all the Filipino aspects in the story.
Minor: Car accident, Death, and Death of parent
devynreadsnovels's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Death
Minor: Child death, Sexism, Violence, Body horror, and Religious bigotry
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