Rainer Maria Rilke

"Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you a thousand and a thousand times, and however your life may turn,-it will, I am certain of it, run through the fabric of your growth as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys."--Rainer Maia Rilke


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Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Worst One Yet

Infinity Ring #3:  The Trap Door by Lisa McMann

Time Travel/Fantasy

This one is the worst yet in the series.  The jokes and dialogue are goofy and ridiculous and the 'secret clues' are just so bad.  I am officially giving up on this series.

The topic of slavery is so somber and important, yet is so trite here.  There is hardly anything realistic about it. The writing in this one felt boring and formulaic; the characters like cardboard--like a journaling assignment gone on for too long.  This is a mixed media book.  I wonder how successful they are.  Kids in my class don't seem to be rushing for the books, even though they have the element of a video game tied to it.  I've never played the online game.  Please, to those of you who have, has this made the reading experience better?  I wouldn't play the game but I would like to know if this is the reason why the books seem to be lacking in something.  Does it enhance the story?

Dak, Serah and Riq land right in the middle of slavery in the south in this installment.  That's a problem since Riq is black, and (according to a past cover) Serah appears to be biracial.  I am guessing at some of the problems since the author didn't really spell anything out.  Riq takes off on his own.  For this first time he becomes something like a real character, but very stereotypical.  Paradoxically, Dak and Serah seemed like stock characters, losing their personalities and becoming more artificial as the pages went on. 

My one favorite character (and the one who I thought might just save the whole series), the Viking giant dog, didn't make much of an appearance. The story desperately needed him!

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