Reviews for Heck : Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck Series #1)

The average rating for Heck : Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck Series #1) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-14 00:00:00 Frank Marcopolos I had a lot of fun writing this book. It was very cathartic. I read the Advanced Reader Copy while I was immersed in the second book, and I was surprised that I still enjoyed it. Sure, there are things I would change now, but this experience'writing my first book'made me realize that one could very well spend their life writing and rewriting one book. Sometimes you just have to let it go. Actually, make that, all of the time. What I like best about Heck (and what my spanking new agent had to say about it as well) was that it was so subversive. That was the biggest thrill writing it: the feeling that I was getting away with something that surely couldn't be printed for middle-readers. Of course, much of it didn't make the final cut, but I am excited now that I am polishing the second book and preparing for the third of what I can get away with now! Someone asked me why I write for this age group (at least that's what it sounded like through the duct tape). When I think of the books that formed me, that really influenced who I became today, they were all books I read when I was between the ages of 9-12. That's a lot of influence. Writing for adults just doesn't interest me as much. I don't feel that I can make as much of a difference that way. But if I can help make a kid feel better about the "heck" of being a pre-teen, then that makes me really happy. Especially if they buy a dozen copies, and whatever toys, games, and assorted merchandise I have rights to.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-21 00:00:00 Pedulla Man What happens if you're too horrid for Heaven but not quite bad enough for Hell? Welcome to Heck, a limboland of wait and see, where recently deceased youngsters can learn and hopefully ascend, or wind up in H - E - double-hockey sticks with the big, red dude. After succumbing to injuries sustained in a bizarre exploding-marshmallow incident, Marlo and Milton are sent to Heck. Here, they are given the opportunity to mend their "evil" ways and join Mother Teresa in Sixth Heaven (the buffet there is to die for!), or go to, well, you-know-where. I didn't think this was nearly as bad as some reviewers would have you believe. In fact, the first half of the book is richly imaginative and packed with nifty little details: - Tots spend nap time in gingerbread coffins where demons read aloud to them the horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Danielle Steele. - The boys are all outfitted in yellow lederhosen. - Entertainment choices are a singing purple dinosaur or a documentary featuring a real-time broadcast of paint drying. - And Richard Nixon teaches ethics! I could see this being turned into a swell Tim Burtonesque CGI movie. The big problems I had with the book were the second half - not much more than a series of escape attempts, AND the kids themselves. They had NO personalities, and were never able to transcend their stereotypes of bad girl, nerd, fat-boy sidekick and bully. Perhaps this issue is addressed in later volumes of the series, but I'm done. The eight other Circles of Heck will remain unvisited by me.