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A review by mrjesse
Canyons by Gary Paulsen
4.0
Canyons is a—well, I wouldn't really call it fantasy, but...there really is no other genre that describes it. (Just know that if you read Canyons looking for a fantasy book, you'll be disappointed.)
While camping with his mom, Brennan comes across an old skull. It turns out to be the skull of an Apache boy who was killed by soldiers in the 1800s. Brennan can't get rid of it, and he figures out that a sort of magical link connects him and Coyote Runs (the Apache boy), and he must return the skull to an ancient Apache burial place.
I'll admit, the premise of this book didn't grab me at first, but as I read it, I found myself genuinely interested and liking it. It's pretty short, so you don't need to invest a whole lot of time in it; an afternoon or two is probably all you'll need.
One thing that annoyed me a bit was the writing style: there were a lot of really long sentences that I thought could have used some commas to make them more readable. It read kind of like a string of thoughts. I know most of the book is Brennan's thoughts anyway, but still, there were a lot of sentences that were more like paragraphs. Once I got used to the style, though, it didn't bother me so much.
So all in all, Canyons is a fun adventure book with a good main character and exciting ending!
4/5
While camping with his mom, Brennan comes across an old skull. It turns out to be the skull of an Apache boy who was killed by soldiers in the 1800s. Brennan can't get rid of it, and he figures out that a sort of magical link connects him and Coyote Runs (the Apache boy), and he must return the skull to an ancient Apache burial place.
I'll admit, the premise of this book didn't grab me at first, but as I read it, I found myself genuinely interested and liking it. It's pretty short, so you don't need to invest a whole lot of time in it; an afternoon or two is probably all you'll need.
One thing that annoyed me a bit was the writing style: there were a lot of really long sentences that I thought could have used some commas to make them more readable. It read kind of like a string of thoughts. I know most of the book is Brennan's thoughts anyway, but still, there were a lot of sentences that were more like paragraphs. Once I got used to the style, though, it didn't bother me so much.
So all in all, Canyons is a fun adventure book with a good main character and exciting ending!
4/5