Customer Reviews

Over the Sea: CJ's First Notebook

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

CJ, a girl who doesn't feel like she fits on Earth, is found by Clair, a girl from the world of Sartorias-deles, and brought to live with a gang of girls who never grow up. The narrator, CJ, is a fun character and someone I'd love to be friends with. As she learns about the girls and their world, we learn with her. Soon they become embroiled in world politics, and their kids' view brings a fresh outlook to dangerous circumstances.

Someone told me that this is the girl's answer to Peter Pan. And it is, but it's more than that. It's about growing up without aging, about finding a family of friends, about loyalty, adventure, and learning to have fun in even danger. It's about finding a world that fits you instead of being forced to fit the world you were born in.

These are girls I would love to have as my gang of friends. Read the beginning of their story, as CJ begins the chronicles of their adventures.

Like "Senrid," I think this story will appeal more to tweens and teens than adults--which is not to say that adults won't enjoy it. It's that the kid heroes deal with their problems in very kid-like ways. I did enjoy that the characters found clever ways to beat back the bad guys without using deadly force.

Incidentally, we learn in this book how to pronounce many of the unpronounceable names also used in "Senrid," but I wouldn't say reading "Over the Sea" otherwise made understanding "Senrid" easier.

This book is less polished than "Crown Duel," but the writing is good and the story is much easier to follow than in "Senrid." The pacing was good, the world building was very good, and the characters were very fun and interesting.

Incidentally, this book is really a series of sequential short stories about the adventures of the same characters (like a TV series) rather than a traditional novel. It's not problem, just an observation.

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