Customer Reviews

13 Treasures

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me just start off by saying that whatever I say won't do this book justice. So please just go read it yourself!

In the spirit of Harry Potter, Michelle Harrison takes us on a wild ride full of mystery with her unlikely main character Tanya. See, Tanya has a bit of a uncommon condition. She can see fairies. Not cute Tinker Bell fairies but vengeful devious fairies. When the fairies play a trick on Tanya it's the last straw for Tanya's Mom. She sends her away to live with her grandmother. This is a terrible turn of events in Tanya's world but when clues start popping up in a 50 year old mystery Tanya may just get some of her question answered.

I had heard some really great things about this book so when the chance came to read it of course I took it. I was not disappointed! 13 Treasures is full of mystery. There was never a dull moment! When I wasn't reading this, I wanted to be reading this.

All of the characters were very very well written! I loved Tanya. She was mature and confident when other 13 year olds would have run screaming. All the secondary characters were great too. I loved Fabian and his Dad. I Loved the fairies also!

There are tons of books out there about girls who see fairies. This one was no different but somehow it stood out! I really loved it. It read like a movie. I actually see this being made into a movie in the near future. I had a lot of fun reading this and I plan on buying the sequel from Book Depository because there's no way I'm waiting until the American release date!!

Tanya isn't your average 13-year-old girl (or is she 12? She's young, let's leave it at that): she can see fairies. These aren't the kind to grant you wishes or help clear up acne. The fairies in Michelle Harrison's The 13 Treasures are dark, malevolent, and sometimes hideous creatures with foreboding agendas and secretive movements, determined to keep their existence a secret from bumbling mortals and make life miserable for those, like Tanya, with the Second Sight. The ability to see fairy folk has been a negative experience for Tanya.

Part One opens with a group of three fairies, Raven, Gredin, Feathercap, and a squat toadish thing Tanya dubs Mizhog, scolding our protagonist for having written about them in her diary. Despite having buried it, the fairies discovered her mistake and threaten Tanya least she slip again. To insure the lesson's learned, the fairies wreak havoc in her room and leave before Tanya's mother is alerted once more to what she believes are her daughter's tiresome antics. Finally fed up, she sends Tanya and her dog, Oberon (a lovely, slightly plump doberman), away to live with her maternal grandmother for two weeks at Elvesden Manor, an enormous family property well outside London on the outer edges of Hangman's Wood.

Tanya is resigned to her fate: her grandmother seems to find any and all reason to avoid her and when she doesn't, never fails to act distant and cold; the groundskeeper's son Fabian is a nosy, bothersome boy around the same age as Tanya. Sure that the next two weeks are going to be a boring, irritating, and insufferable existence Tanya is surprised when she discovers a door downstairs normally kept locked, like most other rooms in the Manor, opened. Peering inside and finding no one to deter her curiosity, Tanya steps inside to discover Florence (her grandmother) has a library. Inside are dozens of books on magic and fairies. Unable to resist, Tanya makes a stack and just as she's about to leave, flips through a copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream when a newspaper clipping left inside catches Tanya's eye: a girl named Morwenna Bloom disappeared in Hangman's Wood under mysterious circumstances fifty years ago and was never found.

Florence startles Tanya out of her musings and before she can get away, is shocked when her grandmother gives her some jewelry that had been stashed in the desk: a silver bracelet with 13 charms dangling off the metal. Taking her unexpected gift and stealing a copy of Myth and Magic Through The Ages, Tanya makes her way back to her room hoping to find in its pages more insights into fairies and why she in particular can see them when it seems no one else can.

What follows is the dark adventures of Tanya and Fabian working together to discover the truth behind Morwenna's disappearance, unlock mysterious doors, travel hidden passageways, all while avoiding the suspicious, watchful eyes of Florence and Fabian's father and grandfather, Warwick and Amos.

Harrison writes a wonderfully scary tale of love, family, and friendship with none of what I would have expected. The protagonist is a strong female figure who relies on her wits and strengths, unafraid to ask for help from those around her and thankfully, does not fall in love with anyone. It was such a relief to read a YA book that didn't involve a romantic coupling with the female protagonist. Rather, the romance in the book was as dark and menacing as the fairies themselves.

I really enjoyed Fabian's character and hope to see him explored a little more in the sequel, as well as, now that the events of The 13 Treasures are wrapped up, Warwick and Florence. The surprise twist ending that revealed the true relationship between Warwick and his employer was perfect! I never would have guessed it on my own.

I also am impressed with Harrison's interpretation of the fey folk and their magical world, even though I've heard a lot of it before, but her execution was especially pleasing; their interaction with the mortal world was as seamless and charming (or frightening) as I could have hoped for.

There isn't too much I want to go into because I do feel this is such an amazing find, you really need to go out and read it for yourself.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of fairies or wants a fun, dark, and easy read. But if you're anything like me, and your imagination gets the better of you, don't read this before you go to bed. Read it in a well-lighted room, or outside, in daylight even, with people around and lots of reassuring, life-affirming things surrounding you. The Crooked Man from The Book of Lost Things really creeped me out. There's a lot in this book that gave me the same skin-crawly feel. As sinister as it was, I can't believe I was lucky enough to get a free copy. If you liked Holly Black's Tithe books (I've only ever read the first and am clueless on the name of the trilogy), you may like Michelle Harrison's The 13 Treasures. Albeit intended I think for a slightly younger crowd, the book manages to appeal to an older audience with its dark turns and unexpected revelations.

The UK edition has lovely illustrations at the beginning of each chapter drawn by the ever so talented Miss Michelle Harrison herself!

A fabulous read for middle graders interested in faery tales and fantasy. Not too heavy on either, the mystical history created by Harrison was both realistic and understated. Often times, in my experience, and author gets so drawn into the creation of the other-worldly aspects of this type of story that it can tend to overwhelm. Not so in the case of 13 Treasures. The back story here is light on the faery-land and heavy on the character building. This is not to say that we don't see the world they live in because to some degree we do, just not at the expense of the events of the world that Tanya and her family are a part of.

The story itself was equally interesting. At three-hundred and fifty pages it wasn't short (particularly, I imagine, for some middle grade readers) but at no time did the story lag or become so repetitive in nature that I found myself thinking "man she could have cut out those two chapters". It had a bevy of fantastic characters including the main heroine Tanya. Spunky, defiant and true to herself she was the picture of endurance and patience as she did her best to solve the mystery presented as it unfurled. Furthermore, her foe Morewenna was just the right combination of maniacally evil and manipulative. Using creatures from another realm in consort with magic she plotted against Tanya and her family in a way that wasn't remotely over the top given the subject matter of the story.

To delve deeper into the story and characters would only serve to ruin the fun twists and turns of the story for the reader so I will leave you with this....

This book is bound to keep your middle grader's attention, moreover it's great fun for the young adult reader as well. If you are looking for a good book to segue into the realm of fantasy 13 Treasures would certainly be well worth your attention.

3.5 stars

I adore this cover as it's what drew me to the book before I knew what it was about. 13 Treasures isn't about the Tinkerbell type faeries, these are the traditional faeries who can't be trusted, can be ruthless and continue their relentless torment on young Tanya. It's the first time the faeries have threatened Tanya from telling anyone she can see them. What Tanya soon finds out, is she's not the only one in her family with second sight.

Tanya's adventure begins when she mother sends her to spend a few weeks with her Grandmother. Fearing it's going to be a rather boring experience to stay with a Grandmother she's not close to, in her dreary manor in the middle of the woods, Tanya is in for a big surprise. 13 Treasures has a lot of adventure, faery lore, and mystery that kept me turing the pages. At times I felt some of the story lines ended a little abruptly, especially with Red's story. I'm hoping there will be more to Red's story in the feature. Other times I felt it was a little dragged out, but in the end, the story wrapped up nicely answering some the questions I had, had through the book.

I loved the English setting and enjoyed the characters. Fabian, who lives at her Grandmother's manor, as his father Warwick is the grounds keeper, and Tanya find themselves in quite a few adventures as the faeries, goblins and gnomes cause more than a little trouble for Tanya. There's a something sinister in the woods and no matter how many times they're warned to stay away, something keeps Tanya and Fabian going back to the woods. Tanya's Grandmother, Florence and Fabian's Father Warwick are cold, stern and have many secrets between them, and while I felt the kid's distaste for them through out the story, at the end of 13 Treasures, I came to like these two characters a lot more, as I understood their actions more.

If you enjoy true faery lore, fantasy, and mystery, than I would recommend picking up 13 Treasures! It's not a light and airy read, but one that captures the readers attention and takes them on an adventure they won't soon forget. I think this is a fitting read for both middle grader readers & young adults readers. If there's a sequel, I am really looking forward to reading it.

Tanya can't believe her eyes. Fairies, evil ones at that, are making her life a misery. In fact, it looks like she's going to be a victim of teenage insomnia, thanks to these little nasty creatures. Thirteen-year-olds need their sleep, but the fairies won't leave her alone. No one, especially her mother, would believe her, but she knows that they're there. And they're not going to quit driving her nuts, even when she's sent off to live with her grandmother in the serene countryside.

Michelle Harrison's 13 TREASURES brings together the fairy world and the real world in a way that most Tinkerbell fantasies don't. These fairies are malevolent more than mischievous, and Tanya is going to have to draw on all of the powers she possesses to keep her cool in the face of their constant aggravation. She moves in with her grandmother and explores the nearby forest, only to find out that she's involved in a mystery that will be difficult to unravel. If she doesn't figure it out soon, she will be trapped in the fairy realm forever. Like ALICE IN WONDERLAND or the children who discover Narnia, Tanya must take all her courage and smarts from the real world and apply it to surviving and overcoming an alternate world that threatens to hold her prisoner in it forever.

A gloomy forest is always a good place for a story to be set, and this one is no exception. Tickey End is a typical British forest, dark enough to be scary, but big and interesting enough to provide a full mythology all its own. Tanya is a typically bright and adventurous spirit, although her reticence at being thrust into this mysterious world (as well as being forced to live with her grandmother) keeps her from being a boring protagonist. She has spunk and thoughtfulness, two characteristics that help widen her appeal.

Harrison is well versed in the many fable-type stories that have come before, as well as Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and THE SECRET GARDEN. 13 TREASURES is exciting and filled with the types of things that kids will love, such as scary and unexpected events, but it falls just below the high level of classic children's literature that she is clearly trying to become a member of with this work. Still, most young readers will find a truthful guide in Tanya --- and more than 13 treasures by the end of the book.

As a mother who screens everything her 11-year-old daughter reads, I particularly enjoy it when the book is about fairies and magic. The Fantasy Novel can be hit and miss, though: some of the fantastic goes way overboard, and others, in trying to make magical beings more human, result in losing the magic that makes these books work. In "13 Treasures" by Michelle Harrison, I found a nice follow-up to "The Spiderwick Chronicles" with a twist: fairies may not be nice, and once you leave our world for the Realm, you may not ever come back - unless ...!!! But I'll let said daughter have her say here, because, after all, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have picked this book up in the first place. I'm very glad I did - and now we're waiting eagerly for the next book in the series!

"The book, '13 Treasures' by Michelle Harrison, is about when a girl called Tanya goes to her grandma's house where there are tons of faeries. Unfortunately, she can see them. When an old gypsy women gives Tanya a seemingly broken compass, Tanya and her friend Fabian must dig into the house's and Fabian's past to find the truth. Is Fabian's granddad innocent? Is Tanya a descendant of a changeling? You'll have to read the book to find out!! I think this is the perfect book to read under the covers at night, especially for people who love magic, adventure and the most exciting adventure any girl could ever have.

"My favorite part was when Tanya buried the faerie she found in the middle of the story because it shows that she still cares about the faeries even if they are horrible to her. I think the book is awesome and even if you don't like faeries, you should read it, just for a change."

This ARC received as part of Around the World ARC Tours.


13-year-old Tanya has the second sight and can see faeries, but her mother just thinks she's mentally unstable. After some faeries wreck her room, Tanya's mom throws up her hands and sends Tanya off to live with her grandmother for a while. Grandmother lives in a big, ancient estate near the ominously named Hangman's Wood, where children have been known to disappear. Everybody, human or faery, seems to be keeping secrets and Tanya's got to make sense of it all.

Several elements of the story didn't add up for me. Tanya is tormented by faeries who are willing to pinch her black and blue, terrorize and levitate her, to break all the objects in her room and hang her upside down from the ceiling, but somehow they aren't willing to do more than threaten to take away her memories of them. If they're going to be that cruel and menacing, I don't understand why they would hesitate to maim her or wipe her mind. Also, her night visitors seem to keep coming back simply because she won't stop writing about faeries in her diaries. She hides the diaries, even burying them in the ground, but the faeries find them and bring them back to her like they're presenting evidence against her in court. The implication is, if she'd just refrain from writing about faeries, they'd leave her alone.

Then there are some awkward moments with the dialogue. At one point, Tanya spots some small, grubbly faeries and asks them if they're goblins. They don't understand her question because they speak only in verse--rhymed couplets, to be exact. Rhymed couplets are a difficult poetic scheme to pull off unless the couplets are intended to be humorous, so when the goblins talk in rhyme and Tanya answers them in rhyme, the effect is off. Also, there's a prank-pulling faery who treats Tanya badly and does so while saying things like, "Snippety, snippety, tricketty, trappety," sing-song lines that are hard to love.

Probably because I prefer faeries that are more humanoid, at least in their mental capacity, if not their physical appearance or social interaction, 13 Treasures and its faery creatures didn't work for me. In Mid-Grade fantasy, I look for a certain sparkle and sense of wonder, but this one just feels decent. It ought to appeal to the 8-12 age group, but I don't think it has enough zip to engage adult readers.

Little things like waking up stuck to the ceiling and tormented by winged creatures are nothing new to Tanya. Although she longs to tell someone about them she can't....and eventually the secret and all the destruction that gets left in the wake winds up labeling Tanya a troublemaker. At her wits end, her mother decides perhaps spending time with Grandmother (in a remote place, in a creepy manor, with a creepy groundskeeper) will whip Tanya's behavior into shape.

Going to Grandma's felt like riding the train with Cathy and Christopher back to the attic, fortunately for Tanya- she's traveling brotherless and her Grandma isn't sadistic, just weary and haunted from a troubled past. Attempting to make the best out of her circumstances, Tanya takes the time to learn more about the creatures that she has seen since birth and develops a new friendship with her once annoying cousin Fabian. Together they start to unravel the secrets in the house and in the woods that they have been forbidden to enter...........

This is a fantastic read for the younger audience (10-14) but any age group can enjoy the magical world Harrison created. Balanced with the right amount of fairy tale and scary elements, 13 Treasures delivered a magical story sure to please any reader who loves magic, faeries and a great mystery.

My friend recommended this book to me and I borrowed it from her. Once I started it you couldn't get me away from it because it draws you in and makes the reader want to carry on. I loved it because it was so mysterious and adventurous but not too much action, it is really interesting and it is a fun book to read! I definately recommend it to anyone!

As fairy stories go, this one is wildly different. In the first place, most of the fairies that 13-year-old Tanya struggles with are mean and hurtful. They pinch her and punch her and pull her hair, and break things so that Tanya is blamed. Since no one but Tanya can see them, she is assumed to be clumsy and a troublemaker, and is sent away to live with her grandmother. Of course, that is not the end of the fairies. Irritable magical beings inhabit the clock, the drains, the teapot, and the garden at her grandmother's house, and there are some truly dangerous magical creatures in the woods.

I was able to follow the story for the first 200 pages or so, but after that the exposition became heavy, and it was hard to remember all the extensive details of the fairy realms, and the explanations of why the various creatures behaved as they did. The last 150 pages seemed heavy and slow-going.

For girls ages 10-14 who love fairy stories.