Review: Candle Man
Three is the magic number. That is how many rooms Theo Saint has ever seen. Three is how many people he knows in his life. Three and Zero and are the amount of minutes he is allowed outside of his designated area per year. Theo has a deadly disease. He wears gloves constantly and is monitored day and night. He has to get treatment in the ‘Mercy Tube’ or the disease gets worse but one day someone kidnaps Theo!
I’ve been reading quite a few children/YA books lately and I think I’ve found a recurring theme. A good children/YA fantasy book contains the following: a young boy or girl, they have powers, it is set in a relatively modern world, it is fast paced and it has strange creatures. Candle Man by Glenn Dakin contains all of the above.
A couple of girls in my class said that the book was very good so I put it at the top of my TBR pile and was I in for a great treat. Theo for a boy who has been sheltered from the outside world for all of his life was never dull, never self loathing but took everything in his stride and everything was a great interest to him. This is a testament to Dakin himself. He wrote the story with a few subplots but never did they get in the way of the major story and in the end he tied it all up perfectly.
What I also liked about the story were the creatures that gave the book a fantasy feel to it. Gone are the usual dwarves, orcs and elves; they are replaced with smoglodytes, extinct creatures and the forgotten gargoyles (with a twist).
I can’t wait to see how much attention this book will get because it is right up there in terms of quality with books like Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
Review written for Best Fantasy Books by Enchanté (a.k.a) Jon Snow from Sleeping With Books
I was already looking forward to this one, and now even more so. I sure hope someone nominates it for the Cybils Awards (http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/) because it sounds like it would be a strong contender. Nominations end tomorrow…
Comment by Charlotte — October 14, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
Comment by Brown — October 21, 2009 @ 10:44 pm
I love your comments.
Have you read “The Book Of Funtastic Adventures?” It’s hilarious and unique. Two young boys’ grandad writes stories of their imaginary adventures as junior Jedi Kinghts. Their desire to be super heroes coupled with their sibling rivalry is so funny. One young boy took it to school and read some for the stories and all the children wanted to know where they could get the book. I recently read one of the stories at literary school for a show & tell on writing from the 4th to 6th graders. The children said the story was awesome and I had to pause a number of times because of their laughter. Everyone who has the book say it’s one of the funniest and creative books they have ever read. Check all five reviews on amazon.com
Comment by David Walters — November 1, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
Found a review of this book on this website and I read it. Did not like it at all. Was expecting something akin Percy Jackson (since that is what the review mentioned), but I found it disappointing. Could not take the book seriously at all. Certainly ONLY for children.
Comment by Krishna — March 13, 2010 @ 6:57 pm