I chose this book for my ten year old to read and ended up reviewing it myself.
Zachary's Odyssey is an interesting book about a young boy and his talking cat who travel to a land of fantasy and visit many wondrous lands. My favourite lands were Faunalia with talking animals, Metallicka where everything including the people are made of metal, and Dragonshire where many fantastical beasts live. The various lands are well described and at one stage reminded me of the magical land of Oz. There are lots of magical creatures in the different lands and the little bits of magic were fun. My favourite character in the story was the talking cat.
I found that the storyline started off a bit slow and didn't really have a strong hook for young readers in the first 2 pages. The action certainly increases throughout the book and I really enjoyed the Dragonshire chapter. I found the language more suited to older readers with terms such as 'legal traumas' and 'diminished somewhat' being a bit advanced for ten year olds.
I had originally intended for my 10 year old to review this book, but he declined citing the following reasons: 'It doesn't look funny and it doesn't have enough action.' I think he was referring to the first chapter, as there certainly is action later in the book. Admittedly he prefers humorous books such as the Horrible Histories and Wimpy Kid books which have a larger font and include pictures.
Thank-you for the book and we will donate it to the local library, so others can be introduced to the series.
* * * 3 stars. Review submitted to Writers' Web
Zachary's Odyssey is an interesting book about a young boy and his talking cat who travel to a land of fantasy and visit many wondrous lands. My favourite lands were Faunalia with talking animals, Metallicka where everything including the people are made of metal, and Dragonshire where many fantastical beasts live. The various lands are well described and at one stage reminded me of the magical land of Oz. There are lots of magical creatures in the different lands and the little bits of magic were fun. My favourite character in the story was the talking cat.
I found that the storyline started off a bit slow and didn't really have a strong hook for young readers in the first 2 pages. The action certainly increases throughout the book and I really enjoyed the Dragonshire chapter. I found the language more suited to older readers with terms such as 'legal traumas' and 'diminished somewhat' being a bit advanced for ten year olds.
I had originally intended for my 10 year old to review this book, but he declined citing the following reasons: 'It doesn't look funny and it doesn't have enough action.' I think he was referring to the first chapter, as there certainly is action later in the book. Admittedly he prefers humorous books such as the Horrible Histories and Wimpy Kid books which have a larger font and include pictures.
Thank-you for the book and we will donate it to the local library, so others can be introduced to the series.
* * * 3 stars. Review submitted to Writers' Web