Reviews for The Shadow Door (Elsewhere Chronicles Series #1)

The average rating for The Shadow Door (Elsewhere Chronicles Series #1) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-08-14 00:00:00 Christoph Bouillon I read the first five books in this series in one sitting, simply because they were short, I had the time, and I had them all out from the library. There will be NO SPOILERS for the rest of the books, rather, I thought I'd just give my overall thoughts about things in general. First off, I hope you can actually find this series; it seems my library placed a huge order for all sorts of graphic novels for kids recently but not many people can find them at their own. If yours has a section like mine, I'd also recommend Lou! and Ernest & Rebecca. What's also interesting is that all of these authors, including this one for The Elsewhere Chronicles, are all French! I have no idea what possessed my library to order a bunch of graphic novels for kids by French authors ... but I'm sure glad they did. Of the three series I've mentioned, although they're all shelved in the same section (ages 9/10+ [or grade 4 and up]) this one is definitely the most mature. I had no idea I'd be in for so much death and tragedy, for one thing. The last two volumes are stronger than the first three, and actually started to remind me of another series I love: Amulet, though Amulet is by far a much better series. The Elsewhere Chronicles and Amulet are actually very similar stories and are also written for the same age bracket, but The Elsewhere Chronicles falls short in that it's not as well-written, well-drawn, nor well-developed as Amulet. Most likely you'll be able to get your hands on Amulet at your library, it's a much more popular series and that's why I'm giving it a mention here. If I had to pick between the two I'd read Amulet instead. It's fantastic that the heroine is black, though unfortunately she's surrounded by white people. Even her family (I'm not kidding here) is white. In Elsewhere there's a brief interlude where the kids walk through a fishing village and I'm pretty sure even the natives were just tanned white people. I was really confused by this; on one hand I loved that the heroine is black, but on the other ... why is she the only one? Each book is very short, around 40 pages or so, and reads like a picture book that wants to be a graphic novel. The story is there, but the pages that should include character and plot development are not. All together, the five books in this series could have easily been bound as one book instead. I didn't feel this way with the other two French series I mentioned above so it was disappointing to find so much lacking here. With that being said though, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what will happen in the sixth book: The Tower of Shadows because I think things were really starting to hit their stride and get exciting. With a bit of googling, French Wikipedia seems to be telling me there's a seventh book coming out in December. I'm glad then that at least everything won't be wrapped up in one last book, which I had been afraid of, because even though I complained a bit that a very similar series is a lot better, I still enjoyed reading this one and want to know what happens next. Here's hoping that mine (and your) library gets it in stock!

Review # 2 was written on 2013-03-18 00:00:00 Richard Necklen Creepy, funny, sad and hopeful are the words I would use to describe this series of books. I picked them up at the library when I was waiting for Emma the other day thinking she would like them, but the cover for The Parting was slightly creepy so I decided to read them first. Good thing I did! I've seen the books recommended for ages 7+ and also 9+ and I think the 9+ is more accurate. The books deal with some heavy issues, like death, child abuse and terminal illness. Nothing too graphic, but heavy nonetheless. While I'm sure Emma could 'handle' it, I think we can wait a couple of years first. But I did enjoy them! The art is reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes, especially Max. The full color books lend to the richness of the Elsewhere world that the kids find themselves in. Despite their issues the kids are bonded and only want to look out for each other and help keep everyone safe. While they are certainly brave and courageous, there are always moments of showing their age so that it's clear that these are still, despite their adventures, children. There are still many questions left unanswered and things begin to get a little confusing near the end of The Parting, ending with a 'To be continued' cliffhanger. And yet, I can't find anything about another volume coming out anytime soon. Hopefully, that's change soon!