ARC Review: The Emerald Atlas

The Emerald Atlas ARC (Books of Beginnning, 1) by John Stephens, April 5, 2010; 432 pages. Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. Source: Review/Won in contest.

Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.

Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.
Until now.

So The Emerald Atlas had been sitting on my TBR for maybe two months, and with its release date coming up I decided it was high time that I got around to reading it.

Since it sat for sooo long on my TBR, I had plenty of time to forget everything I've heard about it that way I could start off reading it without any expectations at all (I hate it when I have high hopes for a book and then it falls flat).

I think the author did an excellent job with setting the story up in the prologue by giving the reader just a glimpse into how the children ending up in their current situation, plus it totally gave the book a whole mysterious air and helped to set the tone and pace for the remainder of the book.

One of the reasons that I enjoyed The Emerald Atlas so much was that it kind of reminded me a bit of The Chronicles of Narnia (which I absolutely love) and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although it brought to mind both series of books, it didn't detract any from the actual story or its originality.

I loved the depth that each of the three children, Kate, Michael and Emma, had. I really liked getting into the heads of the three kids and how as the book went along you learned more about each one of them and their little quirks; along with how well the author was able to describe how broken each of them were. So good.

My favorite part of The Emerald Atlas would have to be the writing. It just completely swept me in from the first page with how well-crafted the world and characters were.

Either I took too long to write this review and do not remember if there was anything, I did not like about the book...or I just really liked it and have no complaints. I leave that up to you the reader to decide upon.

Final Verdict: The Emerald Atlas is a terrific MG thrill ride that will most likely entertain even the most reluctant reader. With so much left unfinshed at the end of book one, I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series whenever it comes out.
It has a fair amount of action violence, but no swearing or adult situations.

The Emerald Atlas earns 5 out of 5 pineapples.