Customer Reviews

Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, Book 1)

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Budding-wizard-goes-to-school books are becoming increasingly common now that the initial buzz over the Harry Potter series has passed. But more of these are good than you'd think. "Midnight for Charlie Bone," while not the best, is certainly entertaining.

Charlie Bone and his widowed mother live more or less under the thumbs of his horrible grandmother -- until the day he starts hearing photographs speaking. His horrible great-aunts are elated. It turns out that Charlie is one of the "children of the Red King," and so has a specific magical talent. Because his mother was not magical and his father was, they weren't sure if he would be, and now they know.

Though Charlie doesn't want to go, he is quickly enrolled in Bloor's Academy for gifted children. A man with three unusually intelligent cats is lurking around the place, his uncle Paton is stirred from his lethargy, and Charlie begins to learn about a missing child from many years before. A child that, for some reason, someone doesn't want him to find...

Jenny Nimmo's book isn't outstanding, but it is quite nice. While the ending wraps up this particular story, it's clear that there are sequels in mind. With a combination of ordinary and "endowed" people, and a sprinkling of unique talents (one boy can sense the previous owners of clothing), this can stand on its own with no comparisons to Harry Potter. This one is a little darker, a little weirder.

The concept of the Red King is an interesting one, especially the slightly dark tone of the good and bad "endowed" people's responses to one another. The particular quirks, like the intelligent cats, the flashbacks, and the material about Charlie's may-not-be-dead father are also quite good. Her writing style is a little too spare, not giving much detail, and the handling of the "endowed" school is rather unassuming.

Charlie himself is a likable character, as is his timid pal Benjamin. The sinister grandmother and great-aunts aren't quite as well-fleshed out, and his schoolmates have potential but aren't quite there yet. (I guess we'll have to wait for the sequels) Uncle Paton is one of the standouts, a moody and introverted guy who causes lightbulbs and windows to explode.

"Midnight for Charlie Bone" isn't quite as good as the Magickers or Chrestomanci series, but it is a solid read that kids may enjoy. Not bad at all.

The mysterious powers of the legendary Red King have been passed down through his descendants. No one has been born with all of the Red King's powers; however, one or two of the powers (A.K.A. "gifts" and "endowments") turn up unexpectedly in someone who has no idea where they came from. Some of the people who receive a gift use it for good, some for evil. When a child is found who shows signs of having a power, they are sent to attend the Bloor's Academy.

Charlie Bone was a normal ten-year-old boy. His father has been dead most of his life, or so he and his mother thought. Living with them are both his grandmothers and Uncle Paton. Grandma Bone is snobby and loves to remind everyone that before she married Mr. Bone, she had been a Yewbeam. The Yewbeams were an ancient family, their history littered with artistic people who had more unusual talents. Charlie's family tolerates her only because the Bone family is so poor and Grandma Bone purchased everything for them, including the house. But Grandma Bone stayed close because Charlie's father had been one of those with powerful magic. Even though Charlie never showed signs of having a gift, it did not mean that one would not show up later. This is exactly what happened.

One morning Charlie looked at a photograph and could hear the thoughts of the people in it! Charlie is horrified, but Grandma Bone and his terrible aunts are delighted. This meant Charlie had to attend the Bloor's Academy during the week and only spend the weekends and holidays at home! Once there, Charlie makes a few friends and learns that some of his classmates have equally mysterious powers.

With his new talent, Charlie learns of a baby that had been adopted by mean people. The biological aunt had been searching for the baby girl for years. When Charlie and his friends find out that the girl is someone at the academy, the search is on! But the girl has no idea of her past, so the small team must figure out which student it is, how to bring back her memory, and help her escape her cruel guardians who want to use her powers for evil.

***** Think of this book as a type of Harry Potter for the younger kids. The book is broken down into titled chapters, a chapter book. The students do not learn spells and magic. They learn the same thing normal school kids are taught, but also how to hone their special talent(s). As in real life, good verses evil. Charlie and his friends have to decide what the right thing to do is, and then how to go about doing it, without the bad guys finding out and stopping them.

This seems to be the first of a series. The author, Jenny Nimmo, has written this book so that the story can stand alone, however, the reader is left with a few questions that may be addressed in future adventures with Charlie and his friends. I found this tale to be well written, with very good morals, and extremely entertaining. Highly recommended reading! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Midnight for Charlie Bone is a great read. I enjoyed reading about the school for musical geniuses, The Bloor Academy, and it is interesting that only a few of the students are "endowed" with some sort of magical powers--the rest of the students are just geniuses in the area of art or music.

Charlie Bone's family is dysunctional, yet stuck on who deserves to be endowed and who does not. They do not see their own faults, which always makes for an interesting situation.

Of course there are similarities to Harry Potter, but I was intrigued with this book for different reasons. Harry Potter is similar to many books before it too, but Potter just happened to hit the popularity jackpot.

Midnight for Charlie Bone stands out on its own, and is a very worthy read. Sometimes I think readers forget that we are all critics, but it is okay to enjoy what you are reading, even if it is a kids' book. I don't think there is an age limit for good literature, and what makes a book good is the desire for a reader to want to finish what is being read because the book presents elements of intrigue that keep that book in your hands up until completion.

Charlie Bone has the potential to be a great series. The first in the series is excellent and the background story of "The Children of The Red King" can add more surprises as the series continues.

The coolest part is that all "endowed" children have powers, but they aren't taught spells and the like, they just have to discover what their powers are. The vast array of already presented characters and their very different powers sets this book apart from the Potter series and in my next review I will not even mention Mr. Potter.

This is a wonderful book.

To give an idea of where I'm coming from, I'm a law student, graduated from college with university honors and an excellent GPA. I read children's and young adult literature because it can be more honest in the positive ways that adult literature so rarely is and, frankly, children's and YA lit is more fun.

So, having read hundreds of YA authors and probably around 1000 YA and children's books, I solidly believe that Midnight for Charlie Bone is one of the freshest books I've read in some time. It was a pleasure to read and kept me away from my law books for an entire afternoon. The characters were people I could believe in--people I felt I could trust. After suffering through Harry Potter's descent into futile adolescent angst, encountering Charlie was a relief. I'll be rereading Charlie Bone in ten years while my Harry Potter books are long ago shipped off to the used book store.

(Some reviews have mentioned that certain aspects of the book were not well enough thought out or explained. The point is well taken, but somewhat irrelevant. If you want an encyclopedic examination of a magical world, read all of Tolkiens voluminous and wonderful works. If you want a good story filled with good people, Charlie Bone will be more than enough for you.)

Any book nowadays that has its main character be a young boy who suddenly discovers he has magical talent is, fair or not, going to be compared to the Harry Potter series. Add in a school for geniuses and those "endowed" with magical talents, a small cadre of mixed (talented and not-talented) friends to aid the main character, suspicious professors, and a missing presumed dead father and you're almost asking for it. It might not be right, but at least so many people have read Harry Potter that it gives us all a solid baseline standard. So let's get to the inevitable, fair or not--how does Charlie Bone stack up against Harry Potter? The answer has to be not very well, mostly due to the writing rather than the storyline itself--it simply lack the richness of detail, of character, of atmosphere that permeated the Potter books.
The idea of the endowed is interesting enough, and one of the nice touches of originality are some of the talents themselves--which are a bit odd and sometimes even seemingly useless or trivial. Charlie's talent, for instance, is to hear voices from the photographs he looks at; another character can make lights explode. These are more quirky than one might expect, and while some others are more run-of-the-mill (the ability to call the winds or to hypnotize), the quirkiness and "smallness" of some of these is what lends some charm to the book and its larger premise. It's nice to see characters have to work around limitations rather than being able to simply research a specific spell or potion to solve almost any problem.
The background story also adds some interest beyond the ordinary. It seems the endowed are the descendants of the "Red King", who disappeared almost a millenium ago. His children have been at war over the generations, with the added complexity that sometimes the "bad" children gave birth to some "good" ones and vice versa. It's a bit sketchy, but laid out in sufficient detail for this book; clearly there will be more information to come in the sequels.
Charlie's family also has potential. A mix of talented and untalented and seemingly a mix too of the opposing sides, the conflict lying under the surface and ocassionally rising to the top keeps a nice bit of confused tension around the reader. The aunts and grandmother have a little of Roald Dahl in them, the major problem (here and in the book as a whole) is that they are not developed enough. His uncle, the one talented member of his family on his side, is better developed but still not fully so. The mother, a character that could have added some tonal depth, is almost a complete throwaway character who might not even exist for her place here. And except for his best friend, Charlie's school friends also suffer from a lack of depth or personality.
As mentioned, lack of development is what keeps this an average book rather than allowing it to blossom into a good book. One almost senses that in writing for young adults, the author decided to strip out the "dull" stuff, which of course just bleeds the work of most of its interest. The setting are mostly perfunctory--there's no real sense of place or tone or atmosphere anywhere in the book, whether it be Charlie's home or the school or even the spooky old castle ruins which just cry out for some detailed description. The characters too suffer from some pallidness, including Charlie. We don't see enough of the talents in use nor do we have any sense at all of their place in the larger society or what the "good" and "bad" sides of the Red King Children's war really means. The pace drags a bit here and there and the whole book probably could have done with some cutting of plotline and replacing of some predictable or repetitive story actions with some fuller characterization or description.
In the end, this is a solid book that mostly keeps the reader's attention but doesn't really compel them to keep reading, either due to the gripping storyline or the interesting characters. There is clearly some potential here, however, and I'd give the author's second book a try to see if she makes good on that promise with some fuller detail and better characterization. Though I probaby would only give her a few chapters into that second book before making my decision. This isn't a bad story, but it isn't quite yet a good one. (added note: Having just finished book 2--review is on Amazon--I sadly have to say that the first book's problems continue in the sequel and if anything get worse. So I'd recommend skipping the series altogether and trying one of the much better fantasies out there for young adults, such as The Water Mirror, Gregor the Overlander, Diane Duane's Wizard series, etc.)

Charlie's aunts had given up all hope that he would show signs of having some of the mysterious and magical powers of the Red King, which are passed down through his descendants. Some of the gifts are evil and some are good. Some of them turn up unexpectedly...as in the case of Charlie Bone. After years of living life as a normal little boy, he begins to hear people talking in photographs. His horrible aunts are delighted to discover that he takes after their side of the family. They immediately enroll him in the gloomy Bloor's Academy for gifted children, forcing Charlie to leave his best friend behind. Still, Charlie tries to make the best of it and is able to make some new friends at his academy. But Charlie quickly becomes embroiled in the search for a stolen baby whom no one wants him to find. As Charlie struggles to master his magical gifts and to fit in with his fellow classmates, he begins to uncover old clues to more than one mystery...

Midnight for Charlie Bone was an absolutely delightful children's book following in the wake of Harry Potter's popularity. I am not saying that it is a Harry Potter copycat, no indeed. The plot is quite fresh and original and Charlie was a great character. Jenny Nimmo did such a wonderful job at capturing how a little boy thinks and it was really fun to see how Charlie felt about everything that was going on and how he puzzled through old clues. All of the characters were well developed and the plot was intriguing. If you are looking for a book that you will love almost as much as Harry Potter then this is the book for you! (If you don't want to pay extra for the library binding, look for it at your local school's book fair in paperback.)

Midnight for Charlie Bone was a great book. From the reviews I've read, I know that many people think it's a bit too similar to Harry Potter. A few of the names are similar, but really, the story is very different. The characters were interesting and creative. The plot was deep, but not so much as to make it confusing. It was an easy read, but interesting all the same.I would suggest it to anyone looking for something to hold them over till the next Harry Potter book is realeased. Congratualtions to Jenny Nimmo for writing a superb book that was similar and all her own at the same time.

My son's a 3rd grader (age 8) who loves to read. He's read all of the Harry Potter books several times. I was just looking for something similar, because I know he likes the fantasy style. When he was finished reading Midnight for Charlie Bone, I picked it up. What a great book. Lots of mystery... not too dark! It was very well written and I enjoyed it too! This one's a can't miss for your Harry Potter fan! Jenny Nimmo's writing is fun, interesting and intriguing, just like J.K. Rowlings.

I'm an adult and a huge Harry Potter fan. I thought I'd give Charlie Bone a try.

Nimmo is no Rowling. She doesn't have NEAR the magical creative gift Jo has (I personally think Jo is one in a million). Charlie's world isn't nearly as sharply detailed, crisply realized and richly complex as Harry's. The characters aren't limned as deeply, and Nimmo doesn't weave together her plot lines with near the surety and skill Rowling possesses. There are gaping plot holes (if you have reason to believe a girl can FLY, you might think NOT to imprison her in a room with a WINDOW. Also, what happened to Billy Raven? and what happened to the "luminous" blue cape? And WHY was Charlie so compelled to keep searching for the missing girl once he found out his FATHER might be alive?) The final battle is anticlimactic--whereas Harry's battles are described in vivid detail this one just kind of peters out. The comparisons are inevitable too--including a large, happy family in a noisy, crowded house, all with freckles?! (there's even reference to a "weaselly red-haired boy" (!) but he is NOT a good guy I will admit!)

Yet somehow, I still found this book charming in its own way. Charlie is a thoroughly lovable hero, and his friends Fidelio and Olivia take on the Ron and Hermione roles with the same loyalty and bravery. His aunts and grandma are villains you love to hate, and the other adults--his mother, Uncle Payton, Mr. Onimus (sp?), Miss Ingledew and others--are likable. I am actually looking forward to more books to see if her writing style improves and to learn more of Charlie's story. I recognize that I am writing and reading as an adult and it's entirely possible that her INTENDED reading audience (children & young adults) are exactly the right level for Nimmo's style and the world she creates for Charlie!

I practically read books to children for a living, so finding a new one that I can enjoy is exciting. This story of Charlie Bone and his odd relatives was fun and for the most part original. The one thing that I take issue with is the sprinkling of Harry Potter names and situations that were honestly unnecessary. I was interested in Charlie and his buddies, but seeing references to a "red haired, weasely boy" and seeing "Pettigrew" snuck in on a minor character's name made me cringe. I wanted to call the author and tell her that she can do this on her own.... leave Harry out of it!!! She shows too much promise with her own take on a boarding school containing children with magic powers.... um, well she DOES make most of it interesting and different, believe it or not. Let's just say that I liked it enough to let my son read it and consider buying the next one for him and my class. I just hope she can leave Hogwarts out of it from now on, but with the time turning theme set up for the next book, I have some doubts. Regardless, it's a fun read for the family. Give it a shot.