Official Review: The Slug Queen Chronicles by S. O. Thomas

[Monet_va]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Slug Queen Chronicles" by S. O. Thomas.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Slug Queen Chronicles by S.O. Thomas is a middle-grade fantasy children’s book.

Cricket is not like other girls her age. She can see things, scents and feelings that manifest as different colours around her. She calls it dust. When she is gifted her mother’s old journal for her birthday, Cricket realises that her mother was just like her and that she knew the secret behind why they saw the dust: fairies. When Cricket and her friend, Penny, try and catch a tooth fairy, something odd happens to her little brother. Suddenly, he doesn’t seem to be himself and Cricket begins to see black dust around him – something she’s never seen before. Cricket soon realises that her brother has been replaced by a changeling and that it is up to her to get him back from the fairies.

The illustrations added into the book added a nice aspect to the story. While drawn in an artistic style, they add a more childish feel to the book, cementing that it is a middle-grade fantasy book or even a children’s fantasy book.

One of the aspects of this story that I did not enjoy was how the narrator chose to convey what was said in the mother’s journal. This happens in the second chapter of the book where it is vital to keep the reader captivated and intrigued. However, the narrator tells the reader what is in the journal instead of showing them by telling that story. At times I was a bit confused about what the journal was saying and found myself wishing that I was reading that story instead.

The first few chapters of the book were also difficult to follow. I couldn’t quite determine why, but I kept having to reread paragraphs to understand what was happening in the scenes. While the pacing improved and the story progressed quickly, I still found this to be a problem throughout the book.

When Cricket goes to Aeryland I found that things became a lot more exciting and that the book began to better hold my attention. The world that S.O. Thomas has created and the creatures within it are fascinating and I enjoyed exploring it along with Cricket.

I have rated The Slug Queen Chronicles by S.O. Thomas 3 out of 4 stars. While I found no evidence of grammar or spelling mistakes, the other issues I mentioned above were enough to make me lose interest in this book for a while. I would recommend this book to middle-grade readers who love fantasy novels focused on folklore and fairy tales.

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The Slug Queen Chronicles
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[BakaMondai]

I really enjoy books with a little bit of fantasy to them and even though this book is outside of my age range your review does make this book seem interesting. If I need a book to recommend to my niece this might be the one I reach for since she is obsessed with fairy books, and perhaps when she is otherwise occupied I can give this book a read myself!

[Nisha Ward]

Given the name of the book, I had not been expecting a story about faeries or changelings, but that was a pleasant surprise. I'm also curious as to what the dust actually is and why Cricket can see it.

[Alyssa]

My son loves book with fairies, but with the confusion in the beginning maybe we should read it together. Thanks for the review, now it’s on our to-read list.

[Ria710]

The cover of this book is beautifully created. The story itself sounds very interesting. I’m sure young children children will love reading this because it contains fairies. Thank you for your great review.