PLANT PEOPLE is your typical weird-neighbors-move-in-next-door type of story, only imagine that the neighbors are strange botanical creatures that are disguised as regular people and secretly trying to overtake the entire human race. Oh, and it's up to 8th grader Rachel Pearson to stop the whole plant circus from spinning into motion, because her parents don't believe her crazy stories. No pressure, right?
I wanted this story to be way cooler than it turned out to be, simply because I grow carnivorous plants, and with that experience comes an expectation of particularly wicked greenery. The cover alone, which is fitted with a grinning, Audrey II look-alike, seems to promise plenty of botanical misadventures. And it does deliver on some levels, just not all.
Rachel meets the two bizarre neighbor kids early on in the story. One of them likes to eat bugs and the other enjoys pocketing handfuls of dirt because it's of "good quality". They both talk a little bit too properly, as does the whole new neighboring Smith family, which, in addition to the strange behavior, initially alerts Rachel to something being "off". This is all after Rachel collects a strange seed from the forest behind her house, and as things progress, it eventually hatches out of her backpack in the school locker room, and then proceeds to grow to monstrous proportions and try to do away with her. This was actually one of the cooler scenes in the book, complete with dozens of hungry vines/tendrils that carry Rachel about the locker room like a rag doll.
One of the funnier moments, and a definite 90s throwback/reference, is when Rachel's dad comes home from playing golf and wants to watch "Pierwatch". I'll let you figure out what beach-running sitcom the author was alluding to there! There was a good sense of suspense in this Strange Matter entry, just because the reader is left wondering throughout the whole book what the Smith family is ultimately going to do to Rachel and her parents, and when it all comes out, the action gets really good. I can really see kids enjoying this one. Who hasn't had a weird family move into their neighborhood? This would clear up so much for kids--obviously every weird, new family is secretly made of plants. Obviously.
Could have been better, could have been much worse, PLANT PEOPLE is a solid Strange Matter entry. Although I'm still waiting for a really good carnivorous plant story to come along and do them justice. Maybe it's my job to write it...we'll see!
I give PLANT PEOPLE a 3.5 out of 5.
Showing posts with label Middle Grade Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middle Grade Fiction. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Strange Matter #12: Dead On Its Tracks
Three words: Haunted, runaway train. DEAD ON ITS TRACKS stars Elizabeth and Jacob, two good friends who love scary movies. They're trying to see the latest one at the local cinema, a real screamer called Terror Train, but it's sold out. So what do they do instead? They go exploring at the old haunted train depot, of course! To their horror, the Fairfield Express starts to move once they're on it, and suddenly they're at the mercy of Odd John Cape, the insane engineer that supposedly (and purposely) crashed the train years and years ago.
This is, for whatever reason, another of those Strange Matters that I have very little recollection of, but I was pleasantly surprised at its quality. The entire plot basically revolves around the kids trying to stop the train before it replays its horrific crash while they're on-board. The author did a great job populating this tale with plenty of good characters that added a lot to the story (I particularly liked George, a tar-covered corpse who initially helps the protagonists, and Charlie, a behemoth waiter that protects a ghostly little girl and charges about, smashing things). The characters were better drawn than previous Strange Matters, and I thought that along with the nicely imagined backstory, they really contributed to rounding out the entire package.
There were also some nice twists towards the end of this book that make it stand out among other entries. I just felt that the story was well-developed and executed just the right way. This is like a Strange Matter sleeper hit! Nothing overly spectacular, but just really well-done.
I give DEAD ON ITS TRACKS a 4 out of 5.
This is, for whatever reason, another of those Strange Matters that I have very little recollection of, but I was pleasantly surprised at its quality. The entire plot basically revolves around the kids trying to stop the train before it replays its horrific crash while they're on-board. The author did a great job populating this tale with plenty of good characters that added a lot to the story (I particularly liked George, a tar-covered corpse who initially helps the protagonists, and Charlie, a behemoth waiter that protects a ghostly little girl and charges about, smashing things). The characters were better drawn than previous Strange Matters, and I thought that along with the nicely imagined backstory, they really contributed to rounding out the entire package.
There were also some nice twists towards the end of this book that make it stand out among other entries. I just felt that the story was well-developed and executed just the right way. This is like a Strange Matter sleeper hit! Nothing overly spectacular, but just really well-done.
I give DEAD ON ITS TRACKS a 4 out of 5.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Strange Matter #11: Something Rotten
If my memory serves me correctly (and many times it does not), SOMETHING ROTTEN was my very first Strange Matter book. I got it on one of my many childhood trips to Wal-Mart with my mom, probably sometime in 1996. On our visits there, we'd always pass by the magazine/book section on the way to the toy section, which was a little alcove of an isle near the in-store McDonald's. I'd usually beg to have five minutes to check out the latest scary titles, and when I saw the cover of this particular one -- a red, glowing, dripping blob of ooze sitting on a bedroom desk -- I knew I had to have it.
The rest is history folks, and from then on I went about collecting the rest of the series like the rabid horror-reading tween that I was. An interesting fact before we begin the review: I do believe Wal-Mart was the first and only place to carry Strange Matter, for a good amount of time, at least, and then Albertson's picked up the series to display near their checkstands. Target was all about Goosebumps, so I had to synchronize my Wal-Mart/Albertson's visits with the release of the newest Strange Matter book -- "Mom, can I go with you to buy milk and ice? Yes, I'm only coming along to keep you company!" Conniving, I know, but it got me new books!
Okay, so on to business...SOMETHING ROTTEN tells the story of Skinny Joe Alister (he's so skinny that two strong students at school bet on how many times they can bench press his frail frame) and his little brother Gary, who both happen to love rock collecting. On a trip to the local and famed Fairfield Caverns, Joe wanders into the "forbidden" area of the caves, an old abandoned excavation site that is filled with strange, sparkling crystals. He takes some of the artifacts home to find that there are amoeba-like blob creatures called Deros living inside them, and after the entities break out, Joe, Gary and all their friends have to go around zapping them with light (the Deros' only weakness) in order to save the town from a gooey overtaking, one not unlike the long-missing Fairfield Caverns owner fell victim to years and years prior.
Even though this book marked the beginning of a wonderful few years of reading my favorite middle-grade series, I had no recollection of the story when I started re-reading it. Zero. None. Zilch. It's weird how memories can fade like that. But this lapse didn't stop me from enjoying things. I really like this Strange Matter entry. It starts off with a bang, as you get to follow the brothers through cool descriptions of the Fairfield Caverns, and I'm all about cool descriptions. There are different landmarks, like Fat Man's Squeeze and Headache Rock, a low outcropping that many explorers bump their head on. There's also an underground pool filled with blind lizards and fish. I love details like this! Moving on to the meat of the story, which is when the Deros start to break out of their earthy entombment, there's plenty of great action to keep readers interested. The blob descriptions are well-done, and there's a scene towards the end where the kids see a skeleton inside one of the gelatinous baddies that's really chilling. I just enjoyed the whole setting of this story, all of it taking place in, deep, moodily-lit caves. Something about it just makes things fun.
I think Mr. Engle did a great job with SOMETHING ROTTEN. The plot was tight, the pacing was perfect, and this entry really zones in on what the series is really all about: Non-stop paranormal adventure. Nothing to bog down the energy, no over-complicated threads to bore and confuse the reader. And no typos, at least not any that I could see, which is always a plus!
I give SOMETHING ROTTEN a 4.5 out of 5.
The rest is history folks, and from then on I went about collecting the rest of the series like the rabid horror-reading tween that I was. An interesting fact before we begin the review: I do believe Wal-Mart was the first and only place to carry Strange Matter, for a good amount of time, at least, and then Albertson's picked up the series to display near their checkstands. Target was all about Goosebumps, so I had to synchronize my Wal-Mart/Albertson's visits with the release of the newest Strange Matter book -- "Mom, can I go with you to buy milk and ice? Yes, I'm only coming along to keep you company!" Conniving, I know, but it got me new books!
Okay, so on to business...SOMETHING ROTTEN tells the story of Skinny Joe Alister (he's so skinny that two strong students at school bet on how many times they can bench press his frail frame) and his little brother Gary, who both happen to love rock collecting. On a trip to the local and famed Fairfield Caverns, Joe wanders into the "forbidden" area of the caves, an old abandoned excavation site that is filled with strange, sparkling crystals. He takes some of the artifacts home to find that there are amoeba-like blob creatures called Deros living inside them, and after the entities break out, Joe, Gary and all their friends have to go around zapping them with light (the Deros' only weakness) in order to save the town from a gooey overtaking, one not unlike the long-missing Fairfield Caverns owner fell victim to years and years prior.
Even though this book marked the beginning of a wonderful few years of reading my favorite middle-grade series, I had no recollection of the story when I started re-reading it. Zero. None. Zilch. It's weird how memories can fade like that. But this lapse didn't stop me from enjoying things. I really like this Strange Matter entry. It starts off with a bang, as you get to follow the brothers through cool descriptions of the Fairfield Caverns, and I'm all about cool descriptions. There are different landmarks, like Fat Man's Squeeze and Headache Rock, a low outcropping that many explorers bump their head on. There's also an underground pool filled with blind lizards and fish. I love details like this! Moving on to the meat of the story, which is when the Deros start to break out of their earthy entombment, there's plenty of great action to keep readers interested. The blob descriptions are well-done, and there's a scene towards the end where the kids see a skeleton inside one of the gelatinous baddies that's really chilling. I just enjoyed the whole setting of this story, all of it taking place in, deep, moodily-lit caves. Something about it just makes things fun.
I think Mr. Engle did a great job with SOMETHING ROTTEN. The plot was tight, the pacing was perfect, and this entry really zones in on what the series is really all about: Non-stop paranormal adventure. Nothing to bog down the energy, no over-complicated threads to bore and confuse the reader. And no typos, at least not any that I could see, which is always a plus!
I give SOMETHING ROTTEN a 4.5 out of 5.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Strange Matter #10: Knightmare
This is an odd one for me. I just finished KNIGHTMARE and I'm left feeling, well...nothing, really. I don't remember reading this one back in the day and I barely remember reading it a few minutes ago, so this should be an interesting review.
Basically, Mitchell (the main character shares my name!) Garrison steals a seal from a coat of armor at a museum and it causes him to have a bad "knightmare" in which he battles four creatures of evil: An ogre, a giant wild boar, a griffin, and the Count Deschaul, who takes the form of an emerald suit of armor. Then the nightmare begins to manifest itself in Mitchell's real life, threatening to obliterate him unless he returns the seal to its rightful place back on the armor in the museum.
This Strange Matter was definitely forgettable, and I'm not really sure why. The story was interesting enough, and it was nicely intricate for a middle-grade book. Maybe it's my mood, or maybe it was that the writing was a little confusing at times - I don't know. I just found myself loosing interest at random points in the story, through no real fault of the author, at least as far as I could tell.
There were some redeemable qualities, like how you get to hear about a few characters from other Strange Matter books - the bully Kyle Banner (who was in the last book as well) and Morgan Taylor (who happens to live next door to Mitchell). So that's always cool. This is one of the things I always loved about the series, how characters from other books would just randomly pop up at times. Also, there was a neat little puzzle that the griffin gives to Mitchell to solve, and the author actually put the picture of it in-between the text, which I liked. Which reminds me: In the last book, DEADLY DELIVERY, something similar was done, where a hand-drawn cartoon was pasted in amongst the text, and it broke things up and added a lot to the story's appeal.
I also liked the monsters that Mitchell had to fight. The description of the ogre near the beginning was really good, with all the talk about a goo that oozed out of his belly button. And the whole puzzle sequence with the griffin was also well-done. Plus, the book centers around dreams, a subject I've always been interested in.
Overall, a solid, but strangely forgettable entry in the Strange Matter series.
I give KNIGHTMARE a 3 out of 5.
Basically, Mitchell (the main character shares my name!) Garrison steals a seal from a coat of armor at a museum and it causes him to have a bad "knightmare" in which he battles four creatures of evil: An ogre, a giant wild boar, a griffin, and the Count Deschaul, who takes the form of an emerald suit of armor. Then the nightmare begins to manifest itself in Mitchell's real life, threatening to obliterate him unless he returns the seal to its rightful place back on the armor in the museum.
This Strange Matter was definitely forgettable, and I'm not really sure why. The story was interesting enough, and it was nicely intricate for a middle-grade book. Maybe it's my mood, or maybe it was that the writing was a little confusing at times - I don't know. I just found myself loosing interest at random points in the story, through no real fault of the author, at least as far as I could tell.
There were some redeemable qualities, like how you get to hear about a few characters from other Strange Matter books - the bully Kyle Banner (who was in the last book as well) and Morgan Taylor (who happens to live next door to Mitchell). So that's always cool. This is one of the things I always loved about the series, how characters from other books would just randomly pop up at times. Also, there was a neat little puzzle that the griffin gives to Mitchell to solve, and the author actually put the picture of it in-between the text, which I liked. Which reminds me: In the last book, DEADLY DELIVERY, something similar was done, where a hand-drawn cartoon was pasted in amongst the text, and it broke things up and added a lot to the story's appeal.
I also liked the monsters that Mitchell had to fight. The description of the ogre near the beginning was really good, with all the talk about a goo that oozed out of his belly button. And the whole puzzle sequence with the griffin was also well-done. Plus, the book centers around dreams, a subject I've always been interested in.
Overall, a solid, but strangely forgettable entry in the Strange Matter series.
I give KNIGHTMARE a 3 out of 5.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Strange Matter #9: Deadly Delivery
There's nothing like a good old-fashioned ghost story, and I'm a complete sucker for anything to do with objects that move on their own, chilling apparitions, or disembodied voices. So back in the day (when I was nothing more than a book-wormy wee one), I freaked when saw the cover of DEADLY DELIVERY - a cackling, misty-blue, effervescent entity floating up out of an unlatched trunk. I was immediately drawn in, and who could blame me, a 5th grader utterly obsessed with all things that go bump in the night? Even today, when I look at this book, I still think it sports one of Strange Matter's cooler covers.
The ghostly image that I describe pretty much sums up the story (for the most part, anyways). Two siblings, Simon and Sarah White, are home alone during a freak Fairfield storm (this sounds awfully familiar...FROZEN DINNERS anyone?). There's a knock at the door and a ghastly-looking man leaves a mysterious package on the doorstep, which, upon opening, turns out to be a musty old green trunk. The kids open the trunk, and to their horror, a blue ghost escapes and begins to terrorize the house.
The story starts out strong, with a lot of cool poltergeist-style activities: all the kitchen chairs turned upside-down, smashed plates, and a lot of general disarray. Simon White likes to draw cartoons in his free time, ones in which he's getting the upper hand on his next-door-neighbor/bully, Kyle Banner. The ghost enters his drawings and brings them to life, proceeding to torture the cartoon Kyle Banner. When the baby-sitter shows up, the ghost swallows her whole and spits her out, turning her hair snow-white. This was the fun part of the story. And if the entire book had continued down this road, things would have been grand. But alas, it isn't so.
Halfway into the book, the ghost decides to turn the White's residence into a haunted castle. Now, this sounds pretty damn awesome (in theory at least) and one would think that the story would ramp up at such a point. Sadly, it doesn't. The story bogs down and the excitement is lost, and the reader is left to watching the main characters hang out in a library, trying to find out the history of their new castle home (okay, okay, this is just one particular scene, but come on!). There are some decent parts in the second half of the story, like when the kids get trapped in the torture room, in which a family was left to rot hundreds and hundreds of years ago - this is something they learn from a book they find (maybe the library scene WAS necessary, after all...). And there are hanging skeletons at one point, and the kids find that the castle Baron's deformed brother was kept chained and locked away from the world in a dark room with nothing more than a desk and a straw bed.
The storyline in DEADLY DELIVERY was much more involved than in other Strange Matter entries and could have definitely used another fifty or so pages to flesh things out. Unfortunately, a little too much time is spent on history lessons, but then again, it was necessary to tie all the loose ends together, so who knows. I think it all worked, but for some reason I felt that this Strange Matter didn't move fast enough, especially for middle-grade readers. I do however, respect how Marty Engle pulled everything together, and it shows that he knows how to craft a pretty cool story.
In the end, a middle-of-the-road entry for the series.
I give DEADLY DELIVERY a 3.5 out of 5.
The ghostly image that I describe pretty much sums up the story (for the most part, anyways). Two siblings, Simon and Sarah White, are home alone during a freak Fairfield storm (this sounds awfully familiar...FROZEN DINNERS anyone?). There's a knock at the door and a ghastly-looking man leaves a mysterious package on the doorstep, which, upon opening, turns out to be a musty old green trunk. The kids open the trunk, and to their horror, a blue ghost escapes and begins to terrorize the house.
The story starts out strong, with a lot of cool poltergeist-style activities: all the kitchen chairs turned upside-down, smashed plates, and a lot of general disarray. Simon White likes to draw cartoons in his free time, ones in which he's getting the upper hand on his next-door-neighbor/bully, Kyle Banner. The ghost enters his drawings and brings them to life, proceeding to torture the cartoon Kyle Banner. When the baby-sitter shows up, the ghost swallows her whole and spits her out, turning her hair snow-white. This was the fun part of the story. And if the entire book had continued down this road, things would have been grand. But alas, it isn't so.
Halfway into the book, the ghost decides to turn the White's residence into a haunted castle. Now, this sounds pretty damn awesome (in theory at least) and one would think that the story would ramp up at such a point. Sadly, it doesn't. The story bogs down and the excitement is lost, and the reader is left to watching the main characters hang out in a library, trying to find out the history of their new castle home (okay, okay, this is just one particular scene, but come on!). There are some decent parts in the second half of the story, like when the kids get trapped in the torture room, in which a family was left to rot hundreds and hundreds of years ago - this is something they learn from a book they find (maybe the library scene WAS necessary, after all...). And there are hanging skeletons at one point, and the kids find that the castle Baron's deformed brother was kept chained and locked away from the world in a dark room with nothing more than a desk and a straw bed.
The storyline in DEADLY DELIVERY was much more involved than in other Strange Matter entries and could have definitely used another fifty or so pages to flesh things out. Unfortunately, a little too much time is spent on history lessons, but then again, it was necessary to tie all the loose ends together, so who knows. I think it all worked, but for some reason I felt that this Strange Matter didn't move fast enough, especially for middle-grade readers. I do however, respect how Marty Engle pulled everything together, and it shows that he knows how to craft a pretty cool story.
In the end, a middle-of-the-road entry for the series.
I give DEADLY DELIVERY a 3.5 out of 5.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Strange Matter #8: Frozen Dinners
Who can resist a story about being trapped in a mountain cabin during a freak snow storm while abominable snowmen try to force their way in? I certainly can't! FROZEN DINNERS was one of my favorite Strange Matter books as a kid, and I think it still holds up pretty well today.
Like I mentioned above, the jist of the story is relatively simple: Three siblings, Max, Mark, and Teresa, are stuck inside their Uncle Shoe's cabin on Crier Mountain while a horrible snow storm rages outside. They're alone because Uncle Shoe left to get groceries right before the storm began, and they're left wondering what happened to him. It isn't long before the kids start to experience some odd things: a form walking back and forth out in the blinding whiteness, a huge footprint in the snow, and odd, un-locatable scratching noises. And then - the best part, as always - CHAOS!
I like this Strange Matter book because it's almost pure action from beginning to end, just as any good middle-grade fiction book should be (at least I think so,). The premise is interesting and pretty foolproof, allowing for lots of scares and suspense. The story isn't so scary to me now, but I remember really getting a kick out of it when I was in 5th/6th grade, really imagining how a yeti would burst through a barricaded window.
It's interesting to me how the writing is getting better as I continue on through the Strange Matter series. It seems Engle and Barnes were getting the hang of things as the entries approached double digits. There was only ONE typo in this book, and it was on the LAST PAGE! Oh no! Haha! The intended word was "whole" and it came out as "who" instead. Bummer!
In the end, I still love this book and it was nice to re-read it.
I give FROZEN DINNERS a 4.5 out of 5.
Like I mentioned above, the jist of the story is relatively simple: Three siblings, Max, Mark, and Teresa, are stuck inside their Uncle Shoe's cabin on Crier Mountain while a horrible snow storm rages outside. They're alone because Uncle Shoe left to get groceries right before the storm began, and they're left wondering what happened to him. It isn't long before the kids start to experience some odd things: a form walking back and forth out in the blinding whiteness, a huge footprint in the snow, and odd, un-locatable scratching noises. And then - the best part, as always - CHAOS!
I like this Strange Matter book because it's almost pure action from beginning to end, just as any good middle-grade fiction book should be (at least I think so,). The premise is interesting and pretty foolproof, allowing for lots of scares and suspense. The story isn't so scary to me now, but I remember really getting a kick out of it when I was in 5th/6th grade, really imagining how a yeti would burst through a barricaded window.
It's interesting to me how the writing is getting better as I continue on through the Strange Matter series. It seems Engle and Barnes were getting the hang of things as the entries approached double digits. There was only ONE typo in this book, and it was on the LAST PAGE! Oh no! Haha! The intended word was "whole" and it came out as "who" instead. Bummer!
In the end, I still love this book and it was nice to re-read it.
I give FROZEN DINNERS a 4.5 out of 5.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Strange Matter #7: Fly the Unfriendly Skies
Let me preface this review by saying that I have a signed copy of Fly the Unfriendly Skies. Pretty wild, huh? I vaguely remember sending in one of those order forms that were in the back of Strange Matter books; apparently the authors were signing mail-order merchandise back in the day. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I flipped to the title page and found Engle and Barnes’ signatures!
On to business: Fly the Unfriendly Skies is the seventh entry in the Strange Matter series, and I believe it’s the first Strange Matter book to feature the “From the Files of” section in the back of the book. The authors started including CG depictions of scenes from the story, and these images add a nice little extra dimension to the whole Strange Matter package/universe. Fly the Unfriendly Skies introduces Morgan Taylor, a sci-fi nut who loves anything UFO-related, and his bossy, popular sister Kelly, who never passes up a chance to one-up her brother. Their plane gets hijacked by aliens and the siblings get dragged onto the mother ship, kicking and screaming. So begins their fight to survive among warring races of extraterrestrials and their harrowing battle to return home.
I had mixed feelings about big number seven. On one hand, the concept was cool and the story was almost pure action. Lots of aliens, lots of lasers, lots of explosions. And the plot wasn’t bad. It was good to see some flashbacks – they definitely added to the complexity of the plot. The rivalry between the grey aliens and the Cepheid was an interesting idea, even if it wasn’t explored thoroughly enough. But despite everything that this book had going for it, Fly the Unfriendly Skies felt a bit…disjointed. It was too much of “this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened”. The prose was just too blunt in many areas and I yearned for more delicate and potent passages of text. The opportunity for rich description is temptingly ripe when dealing with otherworldly creatures, and I feel that the author played it much too safe in this area.
In a wonderful change of editorial quality, Fly the Unfriendly Skies is the first Strange Matter book that I’ve read that didn’t have typos in it (at least any that I could find )! This book also referenced several characters from other Strange Matter books, which was neat. Also, in the final UFO chase/battle scene, the aliens and the kids fly over the lake from an earlier Strange Matter book, The Last One In (I’m only assuming this – I gave that book away so I can’t be sure). They see the hump of the lake creature disappear under the water as they zoom by.
Charming blast from the past: At one point in the story, Morgan is waiting for a file to download from the Internet on his dial-up modem, and it takes forever. Remember dial-up modems? Those dinosaurs? Fudge they were slow! But it made the prize at the end of the download totally sweet because you had to wait like four days for it finish.
ANYways...
Could have been more, could have been less, this Strange Matter entry ended up just being “okay”.
I give Fly the Unfriendly Skies a 3.5 out of 5.
On to business: Fly the Unfriendly Skies is the seventh entry in the Strange Matter series, and I believe it’s the first Strange Matter book to feature the “From the Files of” section in the back of the book. The authors started including CG depictions of scenes from the story, and these images add a nice little extra dimension to the whole Strange Matter package/universe. Fly the Unfriendly Skies introduces Morgan Taylor, a sci-fi nut who loves anything UFO-related, and his bossy, popular sister Kelly, who never passes up a chance to one-up her brother. Their plane gets hijacked by aliens and the siblings get dragged onto the mother ship, kicking and screaming. So begins their fight to survive among warring races of extraterrestrials and their harrowing battle to return home.
I had mixed feelings about big number seven. On one hand, the concept was cool and the story was almost pure action. Lots of aliens, lots of lasers, lots of explosions. And the plot wasn’t bad. It was good to see some flashbacks – they definitely added to the complexity of the plot. The rivalry between the grey aliens and the Cepheid was an interesting idea, even if it wasn’t explored thoroughly enough. But despite everything that this book had going for it, Fly the Unfriendly Skies felt a bit…disjointed. It was too much of “this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened”. The prose was just too blunt in many areas and I yearned for more delicate and potent passages of text. The opportunity for rich description is temptingly ripe when dealing with otherworldly creatures, and I feel that the author played it much too safe in this area.
In a wonderful change of editorial quality, Fly the Unfriendly Skies is the first Strange Matter book that I’ve read that didn’t have typos in it (at least any that I could find )! This book also referenced several characters from other Strange Matter books, which was neat. Also, in the final UFO chase/battle scene, the aliens and the kids fly over the lake from an earlier Strange Matter book, The Last One In (I’m only assuming this – I gave that book away so I can’t be sure). They see the hump of the lake creature disappear under the water as they zoom by.
Charming blast from the past: At one point in the story, Morgan is waiting for a file to download from the Internet on his dial-up modem, and it takes forever. Remember dial-up modems? Those dinosaurs? Fudge they were slow! But it made the prize at the end of the download totally sweet because you had to wait like four days for it finish.
ANYways...
Could have been more, could have been less, this Strange Matter entry ended up just being “okay”.
I give Fly the Unfriendly Skies a 3.5 out of 5.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Strangest Matter
I was a weird kid growing up. I grew carnivorous plants. I spent an excessive amount of time in front of my Nintendo. And I was obsessed with scary books. Yes, any book that claimed to be the least bit frightening was on my to-do list.
I read them all: Goosebumps, Bone Chillers, Spinetinglers, Graveyard School, Ghosts of Fear Street, Spooksville...but none of them came close in quality to the Strange Matter books. There was something different about Strange Matter. It had a certain air about it, something the other series lacked. The tone was a bit more serious, a bit darker. The focus wasn't so much on humor as it was on building a truly scary story, which stood in stark contrast to what R.L. Stine was always trying to do with his Goosebumps books.
Engle and Barnes, the series' creators and writers, included really cool computer-rendered images at the back of each book. They depicted pivotal scenes from the story and added a cool little extra feature to look forward to while reading. The covers were also done in computer graphics, which made the Strange Matter books stand out next to the other middle grade horror series.
Much to my dismay, Engle and Barnes stopped writing the series in 1997 and seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. It is my hope that they will eventually stumble across this blog. I'd love to talk to them!
For years I thought I had lost all my old books, but this past week I happened upon them in a bin tucked away amongst a sea of Christmas decorations. I was ecstatic upon discovering this treasure trove of nostalgia, and to commemorate all the good times I had back in elementary school, I plan to go through and review each book series (and give each one its own blog), starting with Strange Matter. I will start at the beginning and work my way up, and this includes the double-size Strange Forces entries.
So if you have a special place in your heart for Strange Matter, then hop aboard. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new review up every few weeks.
I read them all: Goosebumps, Bone Chillers, Spinetinglers, Graveyard School, Ghosts of Fear Street, Spooksville...but none of them came close in quality to the Strange Matter books. There was something different about Strange Matter. It had a certain air about it, something the other series lacked. The tone was a bit more serious, a bit darker. The focus wasn't so much on humor as it was on building a truly scary story, which stood in stark contrast to what R.L. Stine was always trying to do with his Goosebumps books.
Engle and Barnes, the series' creators and writers, included really cool computer-rendered images at the back of each book. They depicted pivotal scenes from the story and added a cool little extra feature to look forward to while reading. The covers were also done in computer graphics, which made the Strange Matter books stand out next to the other middle grade horror series.
Much to my dismay, Engle and Barnes stopped writing the series in 1997 and seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. It is my hope that they will eventually stumble across this blog. I'd love to talk to them!
For years I thought I had lost all my old books, but this past week I happened upon them in a bin tucked away amongst a sea of Christmas decorations. I was ecstatic upon discovering this treasure trove of nostalgia, and to commemorate all the good times I had back in elementary school, I plan to go through and review each book series (and give each one its own blog), starting with Strange Matter. I will start at the beginning and work my way up, and this includes the double-size Strange Forces entries.
So if you have a special place in your heart for Strange Matter, then hop aboard. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new review up every few weeks.
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