An interesting and magical story but there were just things I didn’t quite like.

I was delighted when I spotted this at Library #1, the cover looked very fun featuring a bright girl in a dark gloomy world. What was going on there? The blurb seemed to be my cup of tea.

And yes, I did have fun, I loved parts of it, but there were parts I just didn’t like. Since I am quite tired, and got 2 more reviews to write I will make this one a good/bad review.

Good:
-No cellphones. There do seem to be televisions so there is some level of technology, but not as much as most modern books. The fantasy world they are passing into is also not one with technology. Yay!
-Going into this new world and reading about all the things that were going on in there. We learn quite a bit about the mean queen, about Mup’s mom, about the war that is going to rage. The world seems very interesting, and I wish I could visit.
-People in this world can shift into animals. I would love to change into an animal. Which one would I be? What could I shift into?
-Yes, these were the villains but I still found them interesting and they made the story scarier and more exciting. I am talking about the Raggedy Witches. I vividly could see them in front of me as I read the book, pale faces, black pits of darkness as eyes.
-This very much felt like a book from my youth, olden fantasy. Sure, those books are older than I am, but books like Narnia, a dash of Oz, a pinch of Alice. Those kind of stories. The kind of stories that don’t shy away from things. That don’t sugarcoat things but instead give you things as they are.
-The ending made me smile. However, the ending also meant that I am not going to read further. Not just because of the things I don’t like, but because for me it was done. It felt completed. I don’t have any interest in continuing. For me the story is over.

Bad:
-Aunty. I get that she was protecting her niece, but couldn’t she at least have told a bit more to her? Given her lessons should the day come that she would have to stand up against her mother? As that is inevitable. You can’t just hide her away, hoping that one day the evil queen will die. Evil queens just don’t die. 😛
Throughout the story she cared more about the kids, Mup’s mom and dad than she did all the other characters that needed help.
-Mup’s magic. On the one hand I was clapping in my hands in delight that this girl was filled with magic, but on the other hand, it was quite magical how she POOF could do things. Oh, I can be an animal, POOF the best animal one can have in this story (and no, I am not spoiling what). Oh, we need to do dancing magic, never did that, BOOM perfection. Sorry, I just don’t like that. I want to see her struggle with her power but it seems that never happened. She seemed to magically know what to do and how to do it.
-Tipper. It is one thing to have an annoying little brother, but to make him a talking dog? No, no, no thank you. Tipper was the MOST annoying character in the ENTIRE book. I would rather have him be a toddler/baby and barely talk than be a dog and talk constantly and have absolutely no idea how things work.
-The rhyming. It was a nice idea, but it ruined things for me. I was in the moment and then boom, rhyming and Mehsi was all out of the moment. Such a shame. I was very glad when eventually the rhyming stopped.
-Mup’s fuzzing over Crow. We get that you want to help out the boy, but really, this is just going to far. He is clearly not happy with it, so leave it.
-The adults. None of them were capable of doing anything or listening to the children. 😐
-I was delighted when they got home, I was thinking oh now we are getting a tearful reunion as the glamour that is covering dad is vanishing. Instead it was pretty lacklustre, instead of him being happy and delighted he was monotone and didn’t even call his kids by their names. I get that he was glamoured, but given what was said it seemed that it would be over when he crossed the border/got home.
Plus, given that he was glamoured probably instantly, how did he know how Mam’s country was? The place she was born. Or was it due to the glamour that he saw things differently? But from what I could see the glamour made him pretty much brain-dead. 😛
-The change in the mother. On the one hand I could understand, on the other hand it seemed off. She never seemed to be that kind of woman, but then when she noticed her powers she just way different. And that was a shame. It was like we had a totally different character in the end. And yes, characters grow, but this was just bam, and I would have liked to see it explored further.
-I constantly kept confusing Mup with Mam. Three letter words, starting with the same letter, I would have rather had Mup be called Pearl, as that was her name.

As you can see, there were good points, but there also points that I just didn’t like. Which is a shame this book had such potential. I do wonder why that person from the quote on the back thought this was Ireland’s answer to Harry Potter. It has nothing to do with HP. If anything I would say it is the answer to Narnia, or Alice, or Oz (though way less well written, sorry, but I want to be honest in my reviews).