fantasy

Ok, im going to star by saying The Invisible Boy is the best installment yet in the children of the red king series. first of all, don't even look at the summary of the book that amazon.com provided, none of it is true. NONE ZERO ZIP ZILCH! None of it so dont bother reading it. i mean, how could the yewbeam sisters try to marry amy bone unless they're lesbians? overall, this book is an amazing piece of work by jenny nimmo; if she was at bloors, she'd be in the drama department no question. However if you haven't read the first 2 books get reading because there is a slim chance you will understand the third book without reading the first two books. THIS BOOK ROX

In the third installment of the Children of the Red King series, a considerable amount of depth is assed, and Ms. Nimmo stakes out her own territory fiercely. This book was the best yet. Any doubt that additional depth was on its way should have been put to rest upon viewing the genealogical table (which, disappointingly, gave away a few endowments that I wasn't aware of, but it didn't affect the story).

The book is, in its basest form, about a boy who was made invisible by - who else - that wretched disaster of a magician, Ezekiel Bloor, and the efforts of Charlie and his faithful band of do-gooders to rescue him. But there is much more than an invisible boy for Charlie to worry about.

His best friend Benjamin has gone with his parents to Hong Kong, so Charlie has to find a way to keep Runner Bean occupied without Grandma Bone finding out about him. He is introduced to a new girl, Belle, who will be attending the academy, but not through the usual way - that is, not at the academy on the first day of classes. He is introduced to this girl, who is the most beautiful girl in the world and whose eyes constantly change color, at his own home by his horrific aunts and Grandma Bone. The manner of their introduction isn't lost on Charlie, and he is wary of her from the beginning.

His Uncle Patton leaves, mysteriously, speaking of "someone dangerous" that must be stopped from arriving, and Charlie finds himself without the comforting presence of his uncle, who has begun to serve as a very effective buffer between Charlie and the Yewbeams. When his Uncle finally returns, the manner of his return is such that Charlie feels compelled to revisit the painting of Skarpo the Sorcerer in the hopes that Skarpo can help his Uncle, but Charlie succeeds in doing two things: 1) adding mystery to the white wand he "stole" in book 2; and 2) unleashing a very unpleasant series of circumstances not only on Bloor's Academy but also on the people who live in the surrounding town.

As we are finding out, there is more to everything than meets the eye - even if some of it is rather obvious. And the universe is expanding, most satisfactorily. We can see possibilities for more books, and indeed it has been stated in at least one place that this is a projected series of five books.

I have only a few issues with the series in general, and the main one is: why does every book have to be centered around someone that the Bloors and/or Yewbeams are hiding or don't want to be found? And why does it make such little sense (to me at least - it's entirely possible that my tiny brain is missing something rather obvious) that the Bloors and/or Yewbeams don't want these kids found? Especially since this last book was action packed from beginning to end, and between Skarpo, Belle, Uncle Patton, and other minor subplots there was plenty around which to write a book. I hope that the next two books will use a more clever contrivance around which to center the story.

Last, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR THOSE WHO THINK THESE BOOKS ARE POTTER RETREADS, I had an issue with what happened to Charlie at the end regarding a certain wand and a genealogical table (not the one in the beginning of the book).. I won't describe anything more, because I don't want to give the ending anyway. Anyway, this event seemed to be the most glaring Potter similarity yet, and I admit to actually gasping out loud when I read it. I assumed that Ms. Nimmo, as she is no stranger to children's entertainment, *must* have read Potter, and therefore I was dumbfounded, wondering why in the world she would do something like this. However, I wrote to Ms. Nimmo, and she confirmed that she has never read the Potter works, except when her publisher tells her to take a peek at certain parts. Given that she's never read the books, then, all of the Potter similarities are entirely accidental. This was an answer that pleased me greatly, for I have absolutely loved these books.

THe Newest Charlie BOne was great like all the others, except for the fact that the editorial review is completely wrong, there is no tree girl and the invisible boy is not Emma's Brother!!!!!!!!!!!! Perhaps we can look for the tree girl in THe Blue Boa which may be another name for the invisible boy, who knows??? Anyway a great site for finding new books (...)at amazon.