Funny, heartfelt, and exciting, The Islands of Chaldea is a wonderful novel for
tweens. The story is of a young girl (Aileen) and her aunt who are two of the magic women who live throughout the four Islands of Chaldea. Near the start of the novel, Aileen, her Aunt, and some other misfits from their kingdom are sent out on a journey. It will be a difficult and treacherous journey, especially since somebody seems to be attempting to sabotage it.
AGE RANGE INTERMEDIATE
THEMES
Fantasy
Family
Comedy
Coming of Age
Adventure
Donkeys
Cats
OVERALL RATING 7.5/10
The Islands of Chaldea is a good story - I even think the characters are great, and I don't usually think that when it comes to middle grade fantasy! My issue with the book is the pacing and confusing details. I am sure this is due to the fact that the story was completed by Ursula Jones after her sister (Diana Wynne Jones) passed away, so I understand the reason behind the issues, but I still have to rate the book on quality instead of sympathy for the authors. Near the end, things start to be extremely fast paced, to the point where I don't even really know what happened. What should have been stretched over three chapters to create an understandable and conclusive ending was instead one chapter. This is a large flaw with the book, and it definitely brings my rating down a bit.
PROS
Exciting
Funny
Strong characters
Heartfelt
Great plot/plot ideas
CONS
Too fast paced at the end
Very hard to understand the conclusion
Comments