Susan Gerber

Do not like. It missed in two aspects - one is personal to me, one more structural. The personal one is - this veers way too close to horror for my taste. I suspect that a real horror aficionado would find it rather dull, but not for me. The other is - characters' actions, motivations, language, understanding seem to vary randomly, to suit the author's needs. Sera in particular (of course, since she's the viewpoint character) veers between innocent sheltered near-child, avid snoop, and competent forest-wanderer way too often and too easily. She has no idea what being a friend really is, despite all the children (and adults) she's spied on through her years. She's explored all through the house (admittedly, more in the basement than up in the private areas), and yet she's introduced to not one but two networks of secret passages within this book (one is actually secret passages, one is ventilation tubes). And her father has tried to keep her out of the woods, warning her off and doing his best to keep her within the house - and yet he's also taught her about following water downhill to find the way out of the woods. Oh yes, and she gets totally lost on her way back from the cemetery, and then runs straight to it when she goes back - how does she find the way? Sorry. Overall, it required far more suspension of disbelief than I was able to muster. And never mind the magic popping up in an otherwise mundane setting - or the way too easy ending. I'd say it might be OK for kids (they having easier suspension of disbelief), but I wouldn't recommend it to a kid - there are better-written books around.… (mais)