4 stars
| Honestly, I liked this one more than The House with a Clock in its Walls. The style was very similar but I think the ending worked better in this one. My big problem with the first one was that there was the huge, ginormous, world-changing problem that was solved so quickly. It felt so disappointing. I wanted more from it. On the whole, the problem in this book was not so big and dire, so the quick-ish ending worked better. Overall, I really enjoyed the book. From what I remember the first one kind of dragged on at times, but this one I finished in a few days. I really wanted to know what was going on and what would happen next. Great read. I was a little annoyed that Bellairs thought he had to spoon feed the answers to the reader at the end. I feel like you could cut off the last few pages and actually feel more satisfied with the ending. He just makes it a point to answer ever single question. I usually like when all the ends are tied up, but I think the answers were just so in your face that it was almost insulting. Despite that, this was a very good read. Goodreads |
I definitely would like to read this one as well as the House with the Clock in its Walls. I saw the clock movie which was pretty good.
No weird Jack Black babies in the book. Haha. The books are a bit more suspenseful than the movie was. Apparently there is a whole series so now I have a ton of new books on my to read list.