Book Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Author: Tony Diterlizzi & Holly Black
Series: The Spiderwick Chronicles #1-5
Date Started: May 19th 2014
Date Completed: May 22nd 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: Five stars
Review:
The first proper fantasy (except fairytales) I ever read was The Spiderwick Chronicles, and it introduced me to my favourite genre, so revisiting the series a few years later was a bit daunting, in case it wasn't quite as magical through more experienced eyes. But I didn't have anything to worry about, and the Grace children's adventure continues to be one of the most influential stories I've ever read.
The creepy new house in the middle of nowhere was not what Jared, his twin Simon and big-sister Mallory were expecting when their great aunt offered to house them and their mother after their father walked out. But scratching inside the walls and a mysterious hidden library is not all that's odd about their new home: possessions are disappearing and strange rhyming notes are being left for the children; and when Jared finds an old book written by his great aunt's father containing details on faeries and other magical creatures, bad things start to happen around him, and he starts to regret ever turning the first page.
The writing is great, especially for a dually-written novel: in my experience, when two people are creating a story, it sometimes becomes hard to combine the writing styles into a good-flowing narrative. However, Black and Diterlizzi do so amazingly.
Furthermore, the descriptions are wonderful - something that's especially important in such a fantasy novel where the reader is constantly introduced to creatures and objects that they would never even have dreamed of before. The words really bring everything in the story to life, and creates an atmosphere that reflects the story perfectly.
Another thing I should mention are the illustrations: Diterlizzi is not only a talented artist, but also presents an amazing array of creations to the reader through his pictures, that develop the story even further and help emphasise the imagery to really make the magical creatures real.
The Spiderwick world is unlike any other: it introduces the reader to a completely different, curious, vivid fantasy world that I wouldn't mind existing in my back garden. The way everything was woven into the modern world made everything more believable and let me really understand what the Grace children were going through.
The plot itself is beautifully original and different, though it may come from the typical origins of a character moving to a new house and discovering something amazing. Though the first two books are fairly reserved in explaining the world and situation to the reader, the third and fourth start to explore the greater reaches of this fantasy, and the fifth just tears down everything you thought was real and replaces it with a new, beautifully terrifying idea of the world.
The main thing that I don't think I noticed when I was younger, was the mix of genres used in the book. Though the fantasy element clearly sticks out, there were a lot of contemporary issues that balanced out to make the story relatable for readers. Though the biggest of these was the separation of the children's parents, the relationships between the siblings themselves and how they developed was also really important for the story because it created another conflict for Jared and his brother and sister between the real world and the one they had discovered.
I don't think I've ever read such believable and developed characters in a children's book before. The children really do start off not trusting or believing each other, and even when they're shown the truth, they deny it, or look for other explanations, because that's probably what anyone would do in that situation.
Jared is one of the best protagonists I've ever read: he's not a 'bad' kid, but he does things that might put him in that category. The way we're introduced to Jared makes us feel sorry for him, and believe him straight away, yet we can still see all the attitudes other people have towards him despite the fact that he's rarely to blame. This depth isn't really written about much, and even less often from a character of a younger age, so this by itself was enough to make me love the book. But then there's the courage and stubbornness Jared has to do what's right and protect his family that continues through the whole book, that was also just amazing.
Mallory probably developed the most through the story, because she doesn't get on with her little brother at the start. You can still tell that she cares about him, but she blames him for things that have happened, maybe because she's the older sister of two twin brothers, so she feels a little isolated. But as the story goes on, she starts to realise what she has to do to look after her brothers, and herself. Plus, Mallory has a sword - and who doesn't love a kick-ass sword-wielding heroine?
Simon is the sweet, demure one of the Grace kids. He looks after the animals, he always wants to do what's right and sometimes doesn't know how - again a very realistic portrayal of a young kid. I partly love Simon because he's almost the opposite of Jared, yet they still have a really close relationship.
The pace was perfect in this series. Since each book is very short (and I happen to have a bind-up for all five), I read the whole series in one go, and I think it let me get into the story a lot more. Although the pacing is good in the context that there's always something important happening, it becomes a bit hard to get into the world as each book is only around a hundred pages long and the pauses in between each story lets you forget some details. However, marathoning the whole lot let me get into the story as if it was one big book, which made the development from the plot and characters even more obvious.
I would recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles to everyone, because this series can enchant anyone, no matter what age you are, or if you've read a lot of fantasy before. It's a beautifully diverse, fantastical, exciting adventure for anyone and it takes the reader on an amazing journey that doesn't quite leave you the same afterwards.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6352688-the-spiderwick-chronicles
The first proper fantasy (except fairytales) I ever read was The Spiderwick Chronicles, and it introduced me to my favourite genre, so revisiting the series a few years later was a bit daunting, in case it wasn't quite as magical through more experienced eyes. But I didn't have anything to worry about, and the Grace children's adventure continues to be one of the most influential stories I've ever read.
The creepy new house in the middle of nowhere was not what Jared, his twin Simon and big-sister Mallory were expecting when their great aunt offered to house them and their mother after their father walked out. But scratching inside the walls and a mysterious hidden library is not all that's odd about their new home: possessions are disappearing and strange rhyming notes are being left for the children; and when Jared finds an old book written by his great aunt's father containing details on faeries and other magical creatures, bad things start to happen around him, and he starts to regret ever turning the first page.
The writing is great, especially for a dually-written novel: in my experience, when two people are creating a story, it sometimes becomes hard to combine the writing styles into a good-flowing narrative. However, Black and Diterlizzi do so amazingly.
Furthermore, the descriptions are wonderful - something that's especially important in such a fantasy novel where the reader is constantly introduced to creatures and objects that they would never even have dreamed of before. The words really bring everything in the story to life, and creates an atmosphere that reflects the story perfectly.
Another thing I should mention are the illustrations: Diterlizzi is not only a talented artist, but also presents an amazing array of creations to the reader through his pictures, that develop the story even further and help emphasise the imagery to really make the magical creatures real.
The Spiderwick world is unlike any other: it introduces the reader to a completely different, curious, vivid fantasy world that I wouldn't mind existing in my back garden. The way everything was woven into the modern world made everything more believable and let me really understand what the Grace children were going through.
The plot itself is beautifully original and different, though it may come from the typical origins of a character moving to a new house and discovering something amazing. Though the first two books are fairly reserved in explaining the world and situation to the reader, the third and fourth start to explore the greater reaches of this fantasy, and the fifth just tears down everything you thought was real and replaces it with a new, beautifully terrifying idea of the world.
The main thing that I don't think I noticed when I was younger, was the mix of genres used in the book. Though the fantasy element clearly sticks out, there were a lot of contemporary issues that balanced out to make the story relatable for readers. Though the biggest of these was the separation of the children's parents, the relationships between the siblings themselves and how they developed was also really important for the story because it created another conflict for Jared and his brother and sister between the real world and the one they had discovered.
I don't think I've ever read such believable and developed characters in a children's book before. The children really do start off not trusting or believing each other, and even when they're shown the truth, they deny it, or look for other explanations, because that's probably what anyone would do in that situation.
Jared is one of the best protagonists I've ever read: he's not a 'bad' kid, but he does things that might put him in that category. The way we're introduced to Jared makes us feel sorry for him, and believe him straight away, yet we can still see all the attitudes other people have towards him despite the fact that he's rarely to blame. This depth isn't really written about much, and even less often from a character of a younger age, so this by itself was enough to make me love the book. But then there's the courage and stubbornness Jared has to do what's right and protect his family that continues through the whole book, that was also just amazing.
Mallory probably developed the most through the story, because she doesn't get on with her little brother at the start. You can still tell that she cares about him, but she blames him for things that have happened, maybe because she's the older sister of two twin brothers, so she feels a little isolated. But as the story goes on, she starts to realise what she has to do to look after her brothers, and herself. Plus, Mallory has a sword - and who doesn't love a kick-ass sword-wielding heroine?
Simon is the sweet, demure one of the Grace kids. He looks after the animals, he always wants to do what's right and sometimes doesn't know how - again a very realistic portrayal of a young kid. I partly love Simon because he's almost the opposite of Jared, yet they still have a really close relationship.
The pace was perfect in this series. Since each book is very short (and I happen to have a bind-up for all five), I read the whole series in one go, and I think it let me get into the story a lot more. Although the pacing is good in the context that there's always something important happening, it becomes a bit hard to get into the world as each book is only around a hundred pages long and the pauses in between each story lets you forget some details. However, marathoning the whole lot let me get into the story as if it was one big book, which made the development from the plot and characters even more obvious.
I would recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles to everyone, because this series can enchant anyone, no matter what age you are, or if you've read a lot of fantasy before. It's a beautifully diverse, fantastical, exciting adventure for anyone and it takes the reader on an amazing journey that doesn't quite leave you the same afterwards.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6352688-the-spiderwick-chronicles
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