Meanwhile, the story hoards its action like a miserly ogre. Hard as Pendleton tries to roll back the clock, with the elves and the old house and the horesback riding and the talk of Olde Magyk, even limiting the kids to just one internet search in the entire book, it doesn't quite work. Authors like Brandon 'Fablehaven' Mull pull it off by making their characters a little more sophisticated or skeptical at the outset, but the Driscolls are so wide-eyed and innocent that it's difficult to believe they live in the modern world at all. a mindset that is very, very hard to reconcile with kids who use laptops and surf the net. There's a certain innocence required for those stories to work, a naiveté that hearkens back to simpler days and simpler ways. Lewis's Narnia tales or Edith Nesbit's adventures, that it falls into an inescapable trap. REVIEW: This story tries so hard to emulate old-school children's books, like C. and if the Solstice dawns without it, dire consequences await the Realm and the Human world alike.

But the Rune Stone, the key to the pact, has gone missing. The coming Summer Solstice marks the renewal of an ancient pact between the beings of Light and the Night Elves, who include among their numbers the rebellious and utterly corrupted Noctivagi - better known to Humans as vampires. 'Wakened' to this magical world by the Keeper, Camedon, the children find all new wonders to explore - and all new dangers awaiting them. and a gateway to the Realm, the magical world of Elves, Dwarves, and other Beings from myth and legend. It comes with everything a kid could hope for: private bedrooms, a thousand nooks and crannies to explore, a horse stable, a private beach, access to the vast state park. DESCRIPTION: After their father made a fortune off his new anti-viral medicine, the Driscoll children - Rob, Eleanor, Jake, and little Flora - find themselves inĪ new home, a giant old mansion on the Maine coast.

Star of Wonder by Paige W. Pendleton