Book: The Mysterious Benedict Society
Author: Trenton Lee Stewart
Like/Don't Like: I liked it. Mostly.
It's been a few days since I've finished this book but it's taken me a while to determine that I liked it. I didn't love it, but I definitely had a good time reading it. But even though I liked it and whizzed right through it, the whole time I felt like something was wrong, or something was missing, or my chakras were not aligned. Actually, it wasn't my chakras. It was definitely the book. I'll get to that in a bit.
Why don't I start with a synopsis. Four bright kids, all orphaned (natch), end up being part of a little spy organization whose purpose is to take down a bad guy. They are sent to a school on an island and their job is to find out what is the evil plan and figure out a way to stop it. Along the way they receive clues and get help from Mr. Benedict and his assistants on the mainland and work together to solve the problems. It was a pretty good story. I got caught up in the action and it was kind of fun to solve the problems along with the kids.
So, yeah, a fun read. But there was still something wrong. And I think it was the tone. It just didn't feel right to me. It felt a little too forced and mapped out. Like you could see the author 3 steps ahead saying, "Now look here. Then over here." Not really a dreadful thing. All authors do this. But it was just a little too transparent for me. So I just told myself to get over it an stop being such an unbearable snob about things and I enjoyed the rest of the book.
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