Tamar Hela

In this story, we follow a group of teenagers who are sucked into a magical world through a special body of water. The place they find themselves in is creepy, full of strange beings and an overwhelming sense of evil. That’s when they learn of the curse and go about breaking it.

While the story was engaging, I felt it all was wrapped up a bit too quickly after the curse was broken. It would’ve added to the story tremendously to see exactly what happened to the place after the curse was lifted.

While the narration was okay, it made the book difficult to get into. The words were a bit stilted and the uneven tone made it hard for me to listen. I like to listen to audiobooks at 2.5x their original speed so the gaps were more noticeable for their frequency.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
… (mehr)

Tamar Hela’s Feast Island is an entertaining middle-grade read. Seven teens are sucked into a parallel universe that is a little reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia (one of my favorites). She has two dialects that she uses very effectively to delineate the teenage narrator from the parallel world’s inhabitants. This shows she is capable of more than just teen fare. I look forward to seeing how she develops the world further in future installments.

This novel is clean and appropriate for any young reader (and is still enjoyable for adults who appreciate middle-grade reads).… (mehr)