3.5 out of 5 stars
Book 3 in the Castle Glower series
No spoilers! Still worried? Check out my review for the first book Tuesdays at the Castle instead.
This is a Jessica Day George book, which means it's a cute, solid read for its middle grade target audience. It's clean and sweet and touches on all those heartwarming things like friendship and family. The griffin story is complex enough to make it unique and worth following. The core characters are all likable. It's nice.
That's all a given with Jessica Day George. She's a solid bet, and this latest installment in her Castle Glower series doesn't break the mold.
It also doesn't inspire. This could be me being an adult reader, and I definitely think the gap in time between reading this one and its predecessor Wednesdays in the Tower didn't help me any on the engagement front, but Thursdays with the Crown lacked spark.
It felt more like filler, with no real advancements or excitement. Sure, things happened, but they felt like rehashes of things that have already happened or been alluded to (instead of Celie getting a griffin, this time a different character gets one, etc).
I had the same complaint about the third Princess book, which makes me wonder if maybe Jessica Day George should stick with standalones or duologies instead of trilogies and longer series. Unlike the Princess series, the Castle Glower series should be read in order to follow the story.
Still, I doubt the target audience will feel the same oomph deflation I'm feeling and even I will stick with the series to read the final book. Overall, this is a cute series and worth the read.
Looking for the first book in the series?
Click on the cover to go to my review
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It does sound cute, and I've been meaning to read that series but I don't know I understand what you mean about the lack of spark, sometimes I feel that with MG books, like they are going through the motions.
ReplyDelete"sometimes I feel that with MG books, like they are going through the motions."
DeleteYes! Exactly!
I often find with MG books that they feel a little too young and I get that that was the case here :( Maybe I'll just read the first two books in the series.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's exactly how I felt after reading it! I liked it, but it missed the special "zing" of the other books.
ReplyDelete