The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1) by Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1)
Book Review: Great book, but why such disturbing language?
Summary: 4 Stars
The stories in this series of books are amazing. I usually have to bribe and beg my 10 year old son to read, but not these books. He loved them and read them eagerly. My one BIG complaint about this book is the language. Cr*p, a*s and lard a*s are included in this book. The first two words are in some of the other books of the series as well. Why would the author put these words in a children's book? They add nothing to the story. Black and DiTerlizzi could have easily substituted other less provocative words. I'm sure when parents are made aware of this, many will choose not to purchase the books. I hope they don't and Black and Diterlizzi get the message loud and clear. As good as the stories are, I would have passed them over had I known.Book Review: Different...
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a huge fan of the Spiderwick Chronicles, and I thought that this book was pretty good. It was really different from the original series, but the way that Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi create such complex characters is amazing. You can really feel what the characters are feeling, and it is a fresh experience. In short, I found this book to be good, but different.Book Review: 160 boring pages - not worth reading for any age
Summary: 2 Stars
Once again, excellent illustrations, but perhaps slightly less interesting than the books of the first series. I say this, as both the main character and the turtle-faced monster (to not give anything away) are uninspired.
But the storytelling, which was weak in the first series is, incredibly, even thinner here, despite having many more pages.
First, you reach the end and feel you've read the first chapter of twenty-five. This is not good if the book is 160+ pages and you feel you've had a chapter's worth of story. (Okay, maybe two.)
Second, there's too much narrative and not enough dialog.
Third, it's boring and uninteresting. Even the characters in the book seem bored with the story. This just isn't good.
Too bad the Editor at Simon & Schuster didn't reject the text...guess that would have thrown off their publishing schedule and, we can't have that, can we?
Very disappointed and I will not buy any future books written by Holly Black.
Book Review: Big disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
I am extremely disappointed with this new book. The crude language is so unnecessary to the story line. I bought several copies of the first series for my elementary school library. These are the target readers, in elementary school. Good writing of any kind does not need to be littered with poor language. There are so many other good choices out there, so my advice to to choose another book.Book Review: "She's Not a Wild Animal, She's a Faerie..."
Summary: 4 Stars
After the five-part The Spiderwick Chronicles (Boxed Set): The Field Guide; The Seeing Stone; Lucinda's Secret; The Ironwood Tree; The Wrath of Mulgrath ended with a promise that there would be more to follow in the `Spiderwick' world, it was only a matter of time before there was another installment in the series. Now we pick up in the first book of a proposed trilogy that features a new set of children (two step-siblings) and a different location (the mangrove swamps of Florida as opposed to the old world charm of New England), but with plenty of new faerie lore incorporated into the story. As always, writer and illustrator manage to capture the essence of old faerie-lore, in which the creatures are both beautiful and dangerous, with a set of obscure rules surrounding them that need to be followed if one wishes to keep safe.
Nick Vargas is a plump eleven-year old who is not at all happy with the inclusion of a new stepmother and stepsister into his family home - especially when his new sister Laurie is such a weirdo. Interested in mystical creatures, and carrying around a copy of Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You (Spiderwick Chronicles), Laurie is convinced that faerie creatures might inhabit the construction zone of Mangrove Hollow. She's right, and soon the two are attempting to help a nixie named Taloa who has lost her sisters and is suffering with the development of the surrounding swamplands. The two feel themselves in over their heads, and go for help...from Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black themselves (appearing in the chapter: "In Which We Nearly Break the Forth Wall"), who are currently on their book tour, having published the story of the Grace children. You have to admire the nerve of those that put themselves into their own story, particularly when they appear as frauds!
As well as this, we have a substantial role from Jared Grace and a new threat in the faerie world - giants! DiTerlizzi refrains from showing them as large humanoids, and instead they appear more like giant nature spirits that rise from the earth. Black's story wonderfully captures the surly temperament of any teenage boy forced to spend time with an unwelcome new addition to the family, and Laurie is a dreamy free-spirit not quite in touch with the real world (although I couldn't help but feel that she is based a little too heavily on Luna Lovegood of the Harry Potter series). It's nice to have a protagonist who is a little on the chubby side, who gradually comes to respect and admire the new people in his life.
As usual, the parents are entirely unsympathetic, and Nick's father in particular comes across as a real jerk, grounding his son for a week over (what seemed to me) a minor misdemeanor, and sometimes Black's writing can be a little awkward, such as when the siblings find Taloa's siblings and immediately afterwards are attacked by a giant - it's a little unclear what happens and how. Furthermore, Black would like to portray Laurie as an innocent, but with a manipulative streak - however, the times in which she tricks people into doing what she wants ring a little false. But as always, Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations are beautiful, capturing every nuance of the protagonists' faces and the weird and wonderful world of the faeries, who are portrayed as dangerous and wild, without a trace of the sentimentality that obscures their true nature in other children's books.
Complete with a map and flier of Black and DiTerlizzi's book tour (to legitimize their story), the tale ends with a rhyme that hints toward the events of the next book - and though I'm looking forward to it, it suggests that Nick's older brother Julian is going to be held hostage by the faeries, a kidnapping plot-twist that was prevalent throughout the first five books of the series (with nearly every member of the Grace family getting captured by the faeries at one stage or another). Hopefully Black can put a new spin on this oft-tread plot scenario...