There are quite a bit of interesting pieces…

There are quite a bit of interesting pieces in book 76 that keep me engaged but also many not-so-great elements that make me think, “Is this one ‘distinguished’?” My answer would be: nope — it’s “nice” and I can see a younger reader who has not had a lot of experience with fantasy stories might find it quite intriguing. However, compared to complex and fully realized fantasy worlds found in some other books, this one is a bit light weight. My biggest issue with it is how conveniently the magical solutions are presented and reached at each turn. The author sets up an obstacle and offers a way for the protagonist to magically (and quite easily) jump over the hurdle without really laying the ground work for these solutions to work organically. And I even found myself missing rich language in the prose. (I’m usually not one to place significant weight on metaphorical or descriptive language in books but when you start comparing books for their literary values, every facet needs to be at least solid, if not outstanding. The prose is just too plain for me here.)