Review Detail

The Spindlers was OK, nothing special. I felt Lauren Oliver tried a bit too hard with creating a fantasy world with mystical creatures. I probably would have enjoyed it more if The Spindlers didn't start to bore me halfway through... and I was really looking forward to reading this . I was raised on fairy-tales (who wasn't?) so I LOVE fantasy involving other worlds as well as magical creatures. The story starts off with Liza waking up to find that her brother, Patrick, is not her brother at all, but a replacement.

"One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated her and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not."

After reading the first paragraph it continued to meet my expectations and kind of scared me:

"Across the table, the fake-Patrick began rearranging the cereal letters on the outside of his bowl. He spelled out three words: I H-A-T-E Y-O-U. Then he folded his hands and stared at her with that strangely vacant look, as though the black part of his eyes had eaten up all the color.

"Stop bothering your sister."
Here's what the real Patrick would have done: He would have stuck out his tongue, or thrown his napkin at Liza in retaliation, or he would have said, "It's her face that's the bother."
But this impostor did none of those things. The impostor just stared quietly at Liza and smiled. His teeth looked very white."

*Shivers* Tell me reading that didn't send chills down your spine.

Liza is a very truthful person, so after finding out that the spindlers took her brother's soul and planted eggs in his body, she tells her mother that he was taken Below and plans to get him back. Her mother, being stressed out due to unpaid bills, has had enough of Liza and her made up stories.

Despite Liza's bravery to venture Below filled with creatures, I didn't like her much. She was a very whiny person. There were only a few characters I enjoyed: Mirabella the rat and the nocturni. I loved Mirabella and her mother-like personality and her sweet voice. I find it rather humorous this particular rat dressed herself as a human and wore a wig as well as make-up. The nocturni were very interesting creatures, they're the ones that gives us are dreams (you'll read more about them). The Spindlers didn't seem like much of an original tale; rather, it reminded of few and I think you'll feel the same way, too.

It was a nice shot a writing this (there are some very memorable passages), but The Spindlers is not all it's cracked up to be despite the pretty cover and interesting synopsis