Reviews for Island Realm (Crystal Doors Series #1) [With Earbuds]

The average rating for Island Realm (Crystal Doors Series #1) [With Earbuds] based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-04-07 00:00:00 Scott Batcheller Okay FINE. This book isn't actually about a blonde chick with a door to an alternate universe in her head, but the plot line is just as equally contrived. Gwen and Vic are our two protagonists, and they are also "twin" cousins. This means that their dads are brothers, and their moms are sisters. Yeah - two brothers married two sisters and each couple had a child. I'm not sure if I should be creeped out by that. In fact, I found myself thinking about it often throughout the book and whether or not it should be weird. I don't think it should, but for some reason it seems like it would be. So, the kids inadvertently stumble into their Uncle/Dad's alternate universe machine and discover a whole new world. The inhabitants of this world are at war with a race of beings called Merlons. Dun, dun, dun... When I was in middle school, I loved the Young Jedi Knights series (which would make an amaaaaazing TV show!!) that was written by the same authors. It's fair to say that I was obsessed. Now, I'm not sure if I was just to blinded by thoughts like "COOL JEDI TRAINING!!" to see the sad truth about it. The writing is rife with overused and unnessecary words and breaks off topic so easily that it's ridiculous. Maybe this was fine for me during my peak ADD years, but now I need a lot more. Obviously a juvenile book, The Crystal Door is full of cliches, adjectives, adverbs, words like cerulean and magenta being used to describe the sky and the ocean, evil things, cheesy dialogue, and many other marks of books targeted to younger readers. In it's entirety, it was fun, cute, and quick, but not a world where I would want to spend a huge amount of time. So it's a good thing that these books are short. However, it was funny at times and might make a good choice if you are in the mood for a middle grade book!

Review # 2 was written on 2009-02-10 00:00:00 Susan Randolph the problem with this book - there was no imagination used and it would've been better if half of it were cut out. proof: the main characters are gwen and vic. in the new city they go to, the people there have to change their name to fit the language. they become gwenya and viccus. SERIOUSLY!? ok, so there are people who come from other worlds - like afirik (where there are tribal musicians and shamans), chian (where there are medical specialists and weather readers) and grogypt (where there are philosophers and mathematicians). AHH!!! One of the animals was a zemu - it has a striped back! one of the sages was Sage Polup - he was like a squid. oh the potential, but the execution was a letdown! the worst is that i really want to find out what happens to these kids (because i'm that kind of person) - i just don't think that i can suffer through the last two books. =(