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A review by katlikespie
Pieces and Players by Blue Balliett
2.0
2.5 stars for this one. I loved Chasing Vermeer, liked The Wright Three and well-enough enjoyed The Calder Game, but this one was more of the same, but exaggerated in a way that didn't need to be. Now there are five kids, 8 adults, 13 missing pieces of artwork... And puberty. LOTS OF PUBERTY. I get that the author is trying to make the things kids go through seem normal, but hearing about how round Petra's bottom has gotten, that Tommy has hair growing in funny places... I didn't need that, and I didn't need the way that everything when you're that age is full of drama. Everyone is BFFs with people the just met, and then all of a sudden, the characters are fighting.
Also, even though it was in the previous books, it bothered me a lot more in this one that there are connections pointed out that don't actually matter. "Everything is a prime number! That MEANS something!" "There are lions all over the museum!" Ok, and what does that have to do with anything?
Also, while I was cool with the way the artwork seem to speak to the kids in the previous installments, somehow having all 5 kids all dream about artwork speaking to them on the very same night, PLUS a ghost, PLUS a museum heist being potentially solved by teenagers (because the trustees asked them to!)... I couldn't suspend my disbelief.
And, I really didn't need the addition of kids speaking some form of pig Latin/gibberish. I listened to this as an audio book, and I couldn't keep up with the garbled conversation.
Also, even though it was in the previous books, it bothered me a lot more in this one that there are connections pointed out that don't actually matter. "Everything is a prime number! That MEANS something!" "There are lions all over the museum!" Ok, and what does that have to do with anything?
Also, while I was cool with the way the artwork seem to speak to the kids in the previous installments, somehow having all 5 kids all dream about artwork speaking to them on the very same night, PLUS a ghost, PLUS a museum heist being potentially solved by teenagers (because the trustees asked them to!)... I couldn't suspend my disbelief.
And, I really didn't need the addition of kids speaking some form of pig Latin/gibberish. I listened to this as an audio book, and I couldn't keep up with the garbled conversation.