Official Review: Arboregal - The Lorn Tree by D.G. Sandru
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Official Review: Arboregal - The Lorn Tree by D.G. Sandru
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Arboregal - the Lorn Tree" by DG Sandru.]
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This is a work of fiction about a pair of brothers and a pair of sisters who are transported to a strange land via an experiment gone wrong. The kids find themselves in a world where people live in giant trees because being on the ground at night means being prey to monsters like bus-sized centipedes and vampire crickets. The friends are desperate to get home but aren't even sure what planet they're on. The plot thickens when one of their party is hunted by an evil demon and her son. The kids devise a plan to safely travel to a neighboring tree community to continue their journey home and to learn more about defeating the evil spirit stalking them. This is where the story ends.
I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. This story obviously falls into the category of young adult fantasy, which I typically like, but I doubt I'll be reading the next book in this series. I will recommend this book to some friends of mine who also read this type of book, because they may enjoy this story more than I did. There were a few things I did enjoy about this book. I enjoyed the fact that the story had a lot of meaningful messages like "we may look different on the outside, but that doesn't mean we're different on the inside," and so on. I also liked most of the world building. This alternate world the children end up in is very different from the Earth they came from.
So, on to some things I didn't like as well. I thought the main 4 characters were a little inconsistent. One minute they are acting like the teenagers they are supposed to be and in the next paragraph one of them is talking like an English or Science professor. There were also an excessive amount of "dudes" and "buds" in conversation and one of the girls said "Like, yeah!" more than once. I also thought some of the elements were a little over-creative. It was like for the monsters they threw all of these scary or creepy words in a pot and drew out words and put them together to make a monster, ie: if they pulled out cockroach, spider, scorpion, and needles and came up with a monster with a cockroach body, a spider head, big hairy spider legs covered in needle-like hairs and a scorpion tail. See? I can do this, too. Anyways, the final thing that annoyed me was that the story ended with no resolution. You have to wait for the next book to see if they defeat the demon lady, get home, etc. I don't have a problem with a series or even cliffhangers, but this felt like I only read 1/2 or 1/3 of a story. Arguably, there was a mini-climax towards the end of the book, but it was negligible. The author could've developed the suspense a little better and added a little more focus on that scene, and the book would've been more fulfilling overall. I simply prefer a series where all the books are linked, but can also be read as a stand alone.
I ended up rating this book at 3 out of 4 stars, because it wasn't my favorite book and I won't finish the story, but I might recommend it to some friends who may like it. I also think young kids or teenagers might enjoy this book more than I did.
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I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. This story obviously falls into the category of young adult fantasy, which I typically like, but I doubt I'll be reading the next book in this series. I will recommend this book to some friends of mine who also read this type of book, because they may enjoy this story more than I did. There were a few things I did enjoy about this book. I enjoyed the fact that the story had a lot of meaningful messages like "we may look different on the outside, but that doesn't mean we're different on the inside," and so on. I also liked most of the world building. This alternate world the children end up in is very different from the Earth they came from.
So, on to some things I didn't like as well. I thought the main 4 characters were a little inconsistent. One minute they are acting like the teenagers they are supposed to be and in the next paragraph one of them is talking like an English or Science professor. There were also an excessive amount of "dudes" and "buds" in conversation and one of the girls said "Like, yeah!" more than once. I also thought some of the elements were a little over-creative. It was like for the monsters they threw all of these scary or creepy words in a pot and drew out words and put them together to make a monster, ie: if they pulled out cockroach, spider, scorpion, and needles and came up with a monster with a cockroach body, a spider head, big hairy spider legs covered in needle-like hairs and a scorpion tail. See? I can do this, too. Anyways, the final thing that annoyed me was that the story ended with no resolution. You have to wait for the next book to see if they defeat the demon lady, get home, etc. I don't have a problem with a series or even cliffhangers, but this felt like I only read 1/2 or 1/3 of a story. Arguably, there was a mini-climax towards the end of the book, but it was negligible. The author could've developed the suspense a little better and added a little more focus on that scene, and the book would've been more fulfilling overall. I simply prefer a series where all the books are linked, but can also be read as a stand alone.
I ended up rating this book at 3 out of 4 stars, because it wasn't my favorite book and I won't finish the story, but I might recommend it to some friends who may like it. I also think young kids or teenagers might enjoy this book more than I did.
***
Buy "Arboregal - the Lorn Tree" on Amazon
Buy "Arboregal - the Lorn Tree" on Barnes and Noble
Latest Review: "Lynna's Rogue" by Kitty Margo
