‘The Trimarks are planning an invasion. And the only thing standing in their way is Allie and the moonstone.All Allie wants is a normal life – friends, boys, school dances. Right. Like that’s going to happen.
In two weeks, during the summer solstice, Allie’s going to face the biggest challenge of her life, fighting against time to save the world from a Trimark invasion. You’d think the world of weird might leave her alone to plan how she’s going to survive. But nothing in Allie’s world is simple or easy, especially when she’s attacked by Trimarks trying to steal the moonstone. Then Sammie disappears into the faery world of Boundless, and Allie must follow and bring her home, only to find the fairy queen, Luminata, isn’t about to let Allie leave. So, what’s a girl with magical powers supposed to do?
Fortunately, she has a team to help her, a team with special talents of their own.
 |
|
2 stars– It was OK. I won’t be re-reading it, nor will I be recommending it to other people.
Ooh, what an interesting life/death introduction! And such a pretty book cover with a mystical vibe to it! Those were the first things I thought when I picked up this book by Marilee Brothers. My mind urged me, even though it’s the last book of a series (the Unbidden Magic series) and it’s probably going to take you awhile to catch up on what’s going on. It’s going to be totally awesome. I was in for a surprise.
Technical flaws in this book made it hard for me to really be absorbed into reading it. There was the childish writing by the author, Brothers. While I was reading this book. I felt like I was reading a book aimed at grade-level students, not a book aimed at young adults. Secondly, it seemed like the author couldn’t describe the story by showing me, instead opting to tell me, like an operation manual. For example, Brothers wrote ‘don’t-mess-with-Junior glare’ to describe how Junior was glaring at Allie. Instead of writing that, Brothers could have written ‘Junior glared defiantly’, which would’ve come off better.
I could not stand most of the characters in this novel. Faye, Allie’s mum, seemed very frivolous. For me, mothers should be more serious than Faye was. Faye seemed to let Allie do whatever she wanted without caring for what may come. Allie was a protagonist I simply could not sympathise with. In my opinion, she was possessive of Sammie (her best friend). She seemed to be able to boss Sammie around, getting upset when Sammie left her. She wanted everything to go her way, and when they didn’t, she sulked. Her ego. Another thing. It was huge. She thought she was so special, being the only one who can save the world. Then there was how she treated her sister rudely. Allie refused point-blank to speak to Anna, her sister, because of her connection to a Trimark. Isn’t that…. Trimarkism?
The pace at which Brothers writes is very irregular. The interesting parts (i.e. the part when Allie goes into Boundless) was quickly paced, when it needed to be a bit slower. The boring parts (i.e. anytime when she’s with another human being in Boundland a.k.a. our world) were paced slowly when they really needed to be a bit quicker. I guess I just like the scenes in Boundland more than our everyday scenes
I liked the idea of the Tuatha. They seemed mysterious and very strong. Resisting iron, a few of their kind left, making them special. The plot was pretty substantial too, although it was repeated over and over again (like I needed a reminder); save the world.
In conclusion, do not read this book unless you have read the first four books. My experience definitely proves this. I rate this book a 2 out of 5 stars, mainly because the writing technique by the author irritated me too much. Then again, if I had read the series from the start, maybe I would understand everything better. Off to the bookshop for me, to find all the books in the Unbidden Magic series!
Keep reading and loving books,
Special Thanks to our Guest reviewer; Geraldine of Corralling Books
Be sure to LIKE her facebook page
