Review-The Spindlers

Recently I've decided that I needed to read more middle grade fiction, because it is part of young adult literature, and it can be just as fun as teen fiction.  Last year when Liesl & Po came out Lauren came to my city for a tour and I bought it because, well, she's LAUREN OLIVER! I just adored it, it was magical, and beautiful and heartfelt, so when I saw she was writing another middle grade book I was going to pick it up too.  I really do have to say that Lauren Oliver has done it again, only this time she's managed to make her book even a little creepy, because Spindlers are spider people and spiders are creepy.  Liza was a really great main character, because despite the fact that she's young, in middle school I believe, she was brave.  But she wasn't the kind of brave that got on my nerves, like "for the love of god how can you NOT be afraid of that". She was the kind of brave where she stood up to things she was afraid of because someone she loved was in trouble.  The other thing I literally just realized was that there was no romance in the book at all, but that I was totally okay with that.  The cast of characters was so much fun and all of the magical creatures you meet along the way were very inventive, they weren't your average hum-drum things you meet when you go Below (or at least nothing I would think of as average).  The end of the novel was really my favorite, but then again I feel like Lauren always packs a punch in the last few chapters of her books, so there was no surprise there.  It was an overall great book with adventure and magic and creatures of all shapes and sizes.  I really wish I could just live in Lauren's mind, because I'm sure I would never be bored.  If you're a fan of Lauren's books or you're looking for a good middle grade novel I would highly recommend you check this book out.  I look forward to reading her next middle grade novel, as well as her next novel in general.

Out October 2, 2012

4.5/5 dust spirits