Customer Reviews

The Journal of Curious Letters (Book One of The 13th Reality Series)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Atticus "Tick" Higginbottom begins receiving mysterious letters, his life changes dramatically. The mysterious "M.G." warns him that he must either burn the letter or face unknown dangers. Each of the letters contains clues that he (and the reader) must unravel to solve the mystery. Deciding to meet the challenge, Tick uses the internet to meet several other friends from around the world who help him solve the clues.

The 13th Reality is filled with a variety of odd but enchanting characters both good and evil. Unlike the typical swords and sorcery type fantasies, Dashner makes use of quantum physics. Also, unlike many YA fantasies, Tick is not an orphan, but actually turns to his father for help.

The story is told with a tongue in cheek humor that kids will love--somewhat reminiscent of Lemony Snicket or Dean Lorey. The action comes fast and furious. The clues are both funny and fun to solve. And the ending leaves clear opportunity for the characters to explore other realities and face the growing evil.

I would highly recommend this book to kids ages 8 and up. The younger ones will enjoy the humor and the older ones will get off on the cool gadgets and interesting SciFi aspects. This series looks to be a definite winner.

I had the opportunity to not only read this book in manuscript form, but also to read an advance copy to a class of thirty-one 7th grade Honors English students. I feel confident in saying that kids will love this book---since every one of my students thought it was great. Some of their comments include:

"I can't think of a better book than yours."
"We just finished the book and I thought it was awesome!"
"My all-time favorite thing about the book was Mistress Jane. I've decided I want to be her."
"I think your book will go on to be a New York Times Bestseller."
"I can't wait for your next book, even though your first one isn't out yet."
"It's a great book. Everyone should read it."
"Oh how I love your book. You know how to keep it tense."
"I loved the 13th Reality so much! Once your series hits stores, you're going to be able to retire early."
"One thing I like about your book is that a parent plays an active role in the story. In most middle grade novels the kid goes off on a magical adventure and the parents remain totally oblivious, despite all the obvious hints that their child is doing extremely dangerous things. That, or the parents are just dead. The book has likeable characters."

As for me, I loved it enough that I've written reviews for several professional journals to tell other teachers and librarians just how great it is. Teachers will feel safe in using this book as a read-aloud for their students. Librarians will promote it to a wide variety of readers. This is one that should belong on every school library shelf, although once word gets around, it won't stay there long! BUY MULTPILE COPIES.

I received The 13th Reality as an advance readers copy from the publisher through Library Thing on the 6th of February and finished it up on the morning of the 8th. I am happy to report that I got a real kick out of reading this book and am looking forward to the next book in the series. The premise is that 13 year old Atticus Higgenbottom (who prefers to be called Tick), our brainy co-protagonist (who enjoys chess, science, math and receives some typical for this genre, teasing and bullying at school as a result) begins receiving strange letters from all over the world with clues in them and which challenge him to undertake an adventure that the author of the mysterious missives insists is both deathly dangerous and threatens to destroy reality itself. In all, Atticus will receive 12 clues, riddles which he must solve by a certain date in order to successfully engage in this challenging and dangerous mission. I found the premise intriguing and while it's certainly not new or innovative, it's a sure crowd pleaser in the 10-14 age range of readers. I particularly enjoyed that Atticus has a strong and loving relationship with his whole family and is able to confide in his father when things get worrisome...it's a bit of a deviation from the standard abused/abandoned/orphaned child(ren) that generally populate this type of story (and a refreshing deviation at that). I like that he is able to ultimately undertake this journey with parental consent and does receive some minor assistance and support from them during the course of the story events.

Overall, The 13th Reality is engaging, fun, and managed to keep me interested to the very end. I give it 4 stars...I almost gave it three, but since I am actually looking forward to the next book in the series, I've bumped it up one star...any book that you really would like to read the rest of the series upon completion is a success in my opinion. I think it would be best received by the 10-14 age range...I had my daughter read the description on the back and she indicated a definite interest in reading it as well. I must also be quite honest, it was snatched (with great glee) off my desk when I announced I was done with it by my 10 year old daughter, I suspect that it will be a great hit! It's two down in her reading pile at her reading rate it will take her 7 to 10 days to read once she gets to it. I shall endeavor to update this review with her final verdict once she has read it...it is after all, children's fiction!

James Dashner's "The 13th Reality Series" is off to a thrilling start in the book The Journal of Curious Letters! The reader is introduced to Atticus Higginbottom, nicknamed Tick, a budding genius who receives a mysterious letter informing him that he has been chosen to help with an important mission - if he is willing to solve clues presented to him in subsequent letters. As the story unfolds, Tick embarks on an exciting adventure and is met with a unique cast of characters along the way.

The world Dashner creates for this novel is a fresh mix of witty teen literature and science fiction. The characters range from believable young adults and supportive parents to a broad range of fantasy-world sidekicks and villains. The brain-teasers and science aspects of the story will hopefully encourage young readers to engage their minds in the book. Part of the fun in reading it is certainly the challenge of solving the puzzles before the protagonists.

Another great aspect of this novel was that the main characters were not heroes because of some magical destiny. Each one had the choice to pursue greatness in the face of dangers and I think the lessons of courage and responsible choices will resonate with young adult readers. Overall, The Journal of Curious Letters is a delightful book that will leave audiences of all ages eager for the next installment of what looks to be a very promising new series!

This book was great fun. Wish it would have been around when I was a kid. But then again, maybe I just haven't grown up yet. Is that okay?

I think we got just a taste of "the power of choice" in this first of what will surely be a series, and I can't wait to see what James Dashner does in the next one. The science nerd in me really got a kick out of the kyoopy.

I have highly recommended it to my teenagers. I am sure they will like it too. My apologies to them for buying the book for them to read, but then stealing it to read it first.

I recently received an email from Brandon Mull, author of the wonderful Fablehaven series, recommending The 13th Reality books while we wait on the the spring release of Fablehaven #4. I imediately requested a review copy and received it in less than a week. From the moment I started reading The Journal of Curious Letters (#1 of The 13th Relity), I could not put it down!

The story is about 13 year old Atticus Higgenbottom (who prefers to be called Tick), an intelligent boy who who lives with his parents and two sisters in the state of Washington. Tick enjoys chess, science, math and going to the library, but as a result he is often the target of teasing and bullying at school.

Tick starts to receive mysterious letters from all over the world - the first one is postmarked from Alaska - with clues in them. According to the first letter, Tick will be receiving 12 clues which will enable him to save many people. He is warned that the clues will be challenging and the mission "deathly dangerous" to the current reality. Each clue contains a riddle which must be solved by a certain date in order to complete this dangerous mission.

During the time he is receiving the clues, Tick befriends internet pals Sophia - from Italy - and Paul - from California - who are also receiving the clues. We also get to meet two of the strangest characters I've read in a long time: Mothball - a tall, lanky lady who is almost 8 feet tall - and Rutger - a man who is extremely short and squatty.

Will the children figure out the clues sent from the mysterious Master George? Will they be able to save many lives? What will happen if the children fail? Will they learn the meaning of the 13th Reality?

I loved the idea of this book and it allows young readers to work along with Tick in solving the mysterious 12 clues. I also enjoyed the fact that Tick has a great relationship with his family, and in the middle of his investigation, he finally tells his father about the clues and they work together to solve them.

I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this wonderful new series. I think middle school age children will love this book, and even younger children will love having parents read this book to them. This is not only a book for enjoyment reading, but it helps children use their thinking skills while trying to solve the clues. I think James Dashner has a hit series on his hands and I hope children are clamoring for his books for a long time to come.

**This is a book series I will be recommending to the children's library at the Mercer County Public Library in Kentucky.**

I read this book twice - once on my own, and again with my daughters. While I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time through, I was pleased to find that everything held together the second time. So often re-reading a book will expose plot holes and character inconsistencies, but I found very little of that here.

As a father, I was particularly impressed by the way Dashner portrayed the parent/child relationship. In YA fiction, the kid characters need to be free to resolve the story's problems on their own. This is too often accomplished by writing dysfunctional parents or removing them all together. In The Journal of Curious Letters, Tic's father is present and helpful, making a conscious, difficult decision to let his child do what needs to be done on his own.

I also like that this story works hard to be believable, and doesn't ask the reader to suspend disbelief to the limit.

As a family, we're excited to get our hands on the next volume.

THE 13TH REALITY is the first volume of THE JOURNEY OF CURIOUS LETTERS by James Dashner. I found it a complete delight.

Tick (short for Atticus) is your ultimate unlikely hero. He has a birthmark on his neck that he hates so much that he wears a scarf year-round. The school bullies call it the "barf scarf" and when we meet him, he is in the midst of being bullied. That very day, he receives the first in a series of curious letters, each with have a clue (or two). What are they clues for? Well, if he solves the riddles in time, they will "reveal on a certain day, at a certain time, at a certain place, something extraordinary will happen."

This novel is about a kid finding courage and learning that he is stronger than he thinks.

One problem that authors of children's novels have is how to get rid of the parents. In order for a child to have dangerous adventures, the author must somehow get rid of the parent or render them impotent. So we therefore have children at boarding schools, dead parents, absent parents, incompetent parents, stupid parents, kidnapped kids, runaway kids, kids vanishing into other worlds, etc.

James Dashner hit on a solution that I loved. I don't want to give it away, because it was a truly magical moment in the story. Tick has an excellent relationship with his excellent father, whose only fault appears to be that he is very overweight. His mother is a bit more distant in the story, but since this story is as much about a father-son relationship as it is an adventure story, I found it appropriate.

Along the way, Tick uses the Internet to find other kids who got letters as well. Unfortunately, his activities online also attracts the attention of someone who works for the enemy. The enemy's attempt to hurt Tick ends up with Tick unexpectedly meeting one of his fellow riddle-solvers. Her name is Sofia and she's a somewhat Hermione-like brainy girl, except she's Italian. Later in the story, Tick meets the wonderfully refreshing Paul, who is, in his own description, "fourteen years old, six feet tall (yes, six feet), African-American, and drop-dead handsome. I love to surf, I play the piano like freaking Mozart, and I currently have three girls who call me every day, but my mom always tells them I'm in the bathroom." I can't imagine Paul being anyone's sidekick.

A fourth youth turns up once the "extraordinary" thing happens, but I won't say too much about him. The extraordinary thing involves many secrets being revealed to both the reader and to Tick, after which the four youths embark on an adventure similar to Dorothy having to steal the Wicked Witch's broomstick.

It's a rousing adventure story. Once I started reading, I had a difficult time putting it down. I really enjoyed the father-son relationship and the oddball characters who assist the mysterious riddle-writer. Some of the riddles were easy to solve, but most would have involved significant brain work. Two of them would have involved me getting out a piece of paper and doing lots of math, but I wasn't that ambitious and I just let Tick solve those riddles for me. But all were solvable by the reader.

It is a fun book and I can definitely recommend it for children of any age (including adults), but it would probably most appeal to kids between the ages of ten and fourteen.

The 13th Reality: the Journal of Curious Letters is the first in a series by James Dashner. We follow the adventures of Atticus Higginbottom, or Tick as he likes to be called, as he begins to receive mysterious letters in the mail with clues as to a secret, magical ritual that he will need to perform that will help save the lives of many people. With no idea who is sending the letters or how to perform the ritual other than the enigmatic clues hidden in the letters he receives, Tick must discover the secret to the ritual and where and when to perform it. Gaining some friends along the way, Tick overcomes many obstacles to complete his mission and save the day.

To put it simply, I really enjoyed this book. Reading this as an adult, I didn't find it a particularly challenging book, but I know that when I was younger I would have loved this book just as much, if not more. Not being a parent, I can't always comment on how these books would be perceived by children, but there was one aspect of this book that immediately stood out to me from other books in the genre. In most kids books today, the protagonists are always the same age as the target audience, which is expected, but the kids always feel the need to keep their adventures secret from their parents or the adults most capable of helping them. I suppose the idea is to instill a sense of independence in kids, to give them the feeling that they can do anything, and that's a great attribute to instill in kids. It's what I'd want to do if I were a parent. However, it seems that sometimes this idea that kids need to keep secrets from the adults around them is taken to new levels in some books. What I liked about The Journal of Curious Letters is that Dashner did away with that stereotype and had Tick go to his dad and explain what was going on, and his dad took an active role in the story and the process of discovering the secret behind the mystery. Granted, they then kept the whole secret from Tick's mom, but the idea that Tick appreciated the fact that an adult's input would help him really stood out to me. I thought that this was a nice departure from the norm; that Tick's dad allowed him to be independent and follow through with his mission while being there as a support system for his son. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of the typical young kids books notions in The 13th Reality: like many protagonists, Tick's name is unusual, he's considered an outcast in school, he has an unusual physical feature that we wants to keep hidden, he gains a select number of friends around his same age to join in the adventure; there are secrets galore, a mysterious villain, mental and physical challenges, but he always overcomes these obstacles. The scientific part of the mystery I think will help the book appeal to a wider range of kids, too.

My only real complaint would be that the buildup of the story throughout the book seemed a little long in comparison to the actual ending. I feel that with such a large buildup there could have been more fleshing out of the final battle; it just all seemed a little rushed to me. Either the buildup could have been shortened in some way, or there could have been more time spent on the final sequence with the kids in the 13th Reality. I think the characters could have been developed a little bit more, but this is the first book, so I can excuse that. There's always room in the following books to explore their backgrounds.

I don't know that The 13th Reality series will be a runaway success like some others, but based on the first book, I can't imagine that it will be disregarded either. I think The Journal of Curious Letters, and the series as a whole, should appeal to both kids and adults who enjoy kids books equally. I anxiously await Tick's continuing adventures in the Realities.

Review written by 14 year old girl:

The 13th Reality by James Dashner, (who also wrote Maze Runner), was a wonderful book that contained so many marvelous elements such as a frustrating mystery, perplexing puzzles, unusual teleportation, strange new inventions of the reality, and the unsolicited courage.

Atticus Higginbottom, Sofia Pacini, Paul Rogers, and Sato are all sent a mysterious letter by a man named Master George. These teenagers will be sent 12 clues that they must solve or they will never meet the anonymous Master George. When they all solve the clues and meet with Master George, he tells them of his plan to stop the evil Mistress Jane from destroying all the Realities. He plans to weaken her by taking her Barrier Wand so that she can't wink herself or her mutated armies from Reality to Reality.

All four children are brilliant. Atticus, the unspoken leader of the four, wears an ugly scarf around his neck to hide a birthmark of which he is ashamed. Sofia is a tough, rich Italian girl with an attitude and a cutting sarcasm that begins to grow on you through the book. Paul is a Californian who has an unintelligent sounding humor that makes you wonder how he ever solved the 12 clues. Sato is a mystery to the other four and his mistrusting anger confuses them. Not until the end of the book does he mostly accept Atticus as leader and the cause of his anger is reveled.

I really enjoyed reading this book. James Dashner is a great writer and I loved the challenging puzzles he created. I believe that when you read a book's slower chapters you are learning, and when you read it's faster, more action-packed chapters you are experiencing. James Dashner has a fair amount of both kinds and I was never bored when I read this book.

Would I/Did I buy it? Yes
Would I read it again? Yes
Would I recommend it to friends? Yes