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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
100% fun with a creepy edge!, September 29, 2011
This review is from: The Name of the Star (Shades of London) (Hardcover)
What a fun book to read! The main character, Rory's parents move to England for business and she decides to attend a private boarding school- to get the whole "English" experience. Shortly after moving in, bonding with her roommate, crushing on a guy, and secretly despising the resident "perfect" girl- tragedy hits London. Someone is murdering people in the same fashion and on the same days that Jack the Ripper struck years ago. Unfortunately, Rory is an eye witness to one of the murders and becomes part of the investigation. I can't say anything more about the subject because I don't want to give anything away. I can tell you, however that Rory is a character. She has a crazy family that she talks about unabashedly, sharp wit that made me laugh out loud, and loyalty to her friends. This is a great book for young adults and for the young at heart- just be prepared to read it from cover to cover. I can't wait for the next book in this series.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A creepy mystery with an awesome setting and excellent humor!, September 29, 2011
This review is from: The Name of the Star (Shades of London) (Hardcover)
When her parents move to England her senior year, Rory Devereaux agrees to go with them, as long as she can attend boarding school in London. The school and the people in it are a far cry from her tiny southern hometown, not far from New Orleans, but Rory likes her new roommate and is enjoying her school (well, except for maybe the field hockey part). Then, a murder is committed near the school, an exact replica of the first of the Jack the Ripper murders. And none of the security cameras in the area ever caught a glimpse of the killer. It doesn't take long for everyone in London to realize that there is a Ripper copycat on the loose, throwing the entire city into mayhem. Rory thinks that she's safe from it all, despite her proximity to the murder scenes, but when she is questioned by a secret branch of the London police, Rory finds that she is a lot closer to the real killer than she thought. Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star is a fascinating and unique book! It is a bit different from her earlier, humor-driven work, but the writing is just as good as ever, and while the book isn't necessary serious, the mystery of the brutal deaths and the threat to Rory does have a bit of a sobering effect. That being said, there is still a lot of great humor in The Name of the Star, and some fantastic, quirky characters that entertain to no end. Rory is an excellent narrator--she's hardworking, funny, loyal, and when the going gets tough, she's a pretty noble person, even if the circumstances terrify her. The boarding school setting is a great one, with lots of fun and drama, and it's the perfect location for the Rippermania to take place. You'll learn a lot about London and the history of the Jack the Ripper murders throughout this book, and the combination of real facts and places with the special, secret police force Rory becomes involved in (which is a bit reminiscent of the early episodes of the TV show Torchwood) makes this book hard to put down. The Name of the Star is an intriguing, creepy mystery with an awesome setting and a great cast of characters. If the only complaint about it is the cruel cliffhanger of an ending, then you definitely need to pick this one up!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
If you're looking for a thriller, you might want to look somewhere else, November 5, 2011
This review is from: The Name of the Star (Shades of London) (Hardcover)
First off... I liked this book. The first half was a slow, there were a lot of details about eating, school uniforms, homework, and so on, but the characters were likable, the romance was cute, and the Jack the Ripper history was well done. If I had bought this book hoping for a light-hearted, slightly funny book with ghosts in it I might have given it four stars. However, I bought this book thinking it was a thrilling paranormal ghost story, which it definitely was not :( The ending of the book was pretty good, the last 50 pages had some decent tension, Johnson made some bold choices that kept me guessing and left me satisfied. There wasn't a cliff hanger -which was also very nice. And I actually think I might pick up the next in this series. I would say it's the kind of book you could read in a day, but the pacing was a little too slow for that. Other than that it was an easy read. It just wasn't the kind of book that I had expected. I read mainly paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, and I had thought this book would fall into one of those categories, and while technically it does, it read much more like a younger contemporary read -which I am sure is great for some people! If you like books like Heist Society then this book might be up your ally, but if you pick up this book expecting something with a little more of a paranormal/urban fantasy vibe -like Cassandra Clare's City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) then you will probably be disappointed... but at the same time, you still might enjoy it, which I did, I just wasn't crazy about it, and I felt rather deceived by the quotes on the back :(
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