       |
#01 - The Enchanted Attic
Synopsis Nicole and her sister Casey move into an old house. Nicole thinks the nighttime noises she hears are nothing more than the scurrying of mice. Then she starts to hear eerie music coming through her ceiling. She realizes with a cold, clammy shiver that something far more terrifying than mice must be in the house ... And it is up to her to find out what it is before it's too late! Comments The Enchanted Attic is a prime example of why the Shivers series is one of the best things out there. The setting, the mystery, the action, the emotions, and the atmosphere all somehow packed in to 120 pages of a "kids' book" ... it makes for a great way to spend an hour or so and it's one of the best reading experiences you'll find. The start was especially good. I thought Nicole's characteristic of only liking familiar things is a little odd to have for an eleven year old (the ones I've known seem to be pretty adventurous) but it's something almost everyone can relate to, and there's really a complex dynamic going on in the story of her being jealous of her little sister for her adventurous spirit and the struggle for Nicole to face her fears and stand up to whatever is happening in the attic. The personalities and the sibling dynamic is fleshed out really well. I think the older kid getting in trouble for everything is probably a pretty familiar situation for a lot of readers. The sibling bond is shown to be really strong when they slept together in the new house. I love the description of the house. It really sets the stage and layers all kinds of atmosphere into the story. And setting it in December was cool ... it gives a very cold and dark feeling. Some of the phrases are very colorful and had me laughing. "Broken-downer" (instead of a fixer-upper) and "hot and cold running rust" are two of my favorites. An old library full of books, a secret passage, an old family graveyard ... man, I think we were all really jealous of Nicole's cool new house when we first read the book! I like how she likes to hang out in graveyards ... it's something all of us like to do from time to time, just to be in a quiet place and think. "The local moose," another good line. And I like their secret handshake =) Exploring the passageway and finding the old flag is a really cool sequence ... very cinematic. There's a point in the story where life settles into a routine. While with some authors and some stories that could be really boring, I found that it made the question about what was happening in the attic into a more unsettling and disturbing one ... it really starts to wear down on Nicole and the reader can really feel it ... "mice were playing cellos in an attic that was not there" ... it sounds like the ramblings of a crazy person, but we know something is going on ... The painting in the study sounds AWESOME. The moth that flies out of the drawer and dies is a really creepy touch and is written very well. The Fowler family history book is a really cool thing to have found. Reading the family history is cool, especially coupled with the painting and the graveyard. Adds a lot of weight and legacy to Nicole's situation. The dolls are awesome. The bride, farmer, school teacher, soldier, scholar ... and the part with the Casey doll is incredibly scary. The name "Lenore" that was used is a great horror-story name, too. To sum it up, this is a great book. It really showed the readers what Shivers was going to do, and stands up as one of the finest examples of "young adult" literature out there. This story is for anyone who wants to be drawn into an amazing mystery and actually live it for a short while. Interesting Info
Cover Images
|
