8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing audio rendition of okay books, July 4, 2006
This review is from: Spiderwick: Books 1-5(lib)(CD) (Spiderwick Chronicles) (Audio CD)
My baby brother reads Spiderwick and from his giggles I know he likes it. The Spiderwick Chronicles is one story spread over five books. The books are very short, about 120 pages each with many illustrations, and it took me a little over an hour to read each book.
After finishing the series, I would much rather recommend The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches by Robert Stanek. The Spiderwick books borrow heavily from Stanek's approach and writing style, especially the way he builds drama and spreads the story across the series - and his original approach comes off much better and is much more interesting.
In this audiobook set, books 1 - 5 of the story are combined into one. The audio is 5 hours and 40 minutes. The narrator of the first two books the biggest let down. He reads everything in one grating, irritating voice - making me wish I never bothered with the audio book. Unfortunately, the narrator of the last three books is actually worse.
The Field Guide is the first book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. It introduces the Mallory, Jared and Simon, the three Grace children who move with their mom to their Aunt Lucinda's old Victorian house. While exploring the house, the three kids discover a secret library in the house and a mysterious note. Later they find Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. The book explains secrets of the fantastic and three kids meet a brownie named Thimbletack who makes the fantastical real.
The Seeing Stone is the second book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. It is the continuing story of the Grace children - nine-year-old twins, Simon and Jared, and thirteen-year-old, Mallory. When Simon Grace's cat disappears, Jared thinks that the cat has wandered off to explore like usual, and refuses to help Simon find the missing cat. But when Jared discovers an old seeing glass - a monocle - that gives him the ability to see the fantastical world around him, he realizes that Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide was telling the truth. While using the seeing glass, he sees Simon being pulled into the forest by a group of goblins. Terrified, he gets his older sister Mallory to help go after Jared through the creepy forest. In the forest, they encounter goblins, an injured griffin, a terrifying troll, and a baby-toothed hobgoblin all the while they are trying to save their kidnapped brother, before it's too late.
Lucinda's Secret is the third book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. By this book, the Grace children - nine-year-old twins, Simon and Jared, and thirteen-year-old, Mallory - are starting to see how much Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide is putting them in danger and they decide to talk with their Aunt Lucinda about the book. The only problme is that Aunt Lucinda is locked away in an asylum. But Aunt Lucinda really isn't crazy. Simon, Jared and Mallory work to convince their mother to bring them to Aunt Lucinda for a visit. They hope to ask her about Arthur Spiderwick and The Field Guide but the angry house brownie named Thimbletack has other ideas.
The Ironwood Tree is the fourth book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. In this installment in the series, the children are taken underground to the Dwarf kingdom and the villian of the story ogre Mulgarath becomes more dangerous. It all starts at Mallory's fencing competion at school. When Mallory is up to fence, Jared notices someone with a hood going through her bag. He then goes after this person only to find it looks exactly like him and his twin brother...but has farie eyes. Later the twins find out that their sister has been taken by dwarfs and they go off to save her. Going into a underground city where everything, even the mice, are made of iron machinery. The twins find their sister in a glass coffin. She is in a strange sleep and then they also are caught. To find out the rest, you'll just have to read and find out yourself.
The Wrath of Mulgarath is the fifth book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. In this final installment in the series, the children are trying to save their mother who has been captured by the evil ogre Mulgarath. With the help of the Field Guide, as well as elves, and Hogsqueal, a sneaky hobgoblin, the children set out to defeat Mulgarath for the last time.
Although I didn't like the audio books, the printed books are all quick, good reads and recommended for little brothers.
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