Book Review of "The Children" by Melissa Albert

 

Hey readers! I just finished a new release from the popular YA fantasy author, Melissa Albert. "The Children" is her debut adult novel, and it is quite the ride! Keep reading this blog post for all of my favorite moments from the book, and get all of the information you need to decide if you should read it, too.

The Children

by Melissa Albert

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.

In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.

Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s fantasy world?

The Children is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It's for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own. ( from amazon.com)

Book Review and Discussion of
"The Children" by Melissa Albert

What Worked For Me

 

Great Hook and Writing Style

I absolutely love the hook of "The Children". The synopsis totally sucked me in, and when the reading experience wasn't measuring up (see below), that hook kept me going for longer than most would. I am a huge fan of family drama; anything heavy on interpersonal growth and exploration - sign me up. Melissa Albert's writing style kept me reading as well; I really enjoyed it - many good turns of phrase and quotes that I held onto. She has definitely transitioned well from young adult into a more adult-appealing style. 

"The Children" drops you into lots of family lore and a dynamic world, but not too much. I never felt lost, but also the book moves fairly quickly with shorter chapters. I enjoyed the way that Albert described young Guinevere's view of the world, in particular. 

I love the questions that "The Children" led me to think about. "The Children" explores the stories we write about ourselves and the stories others write about us. What happens when the worlds we wish were true, the ones we present to the world as the truth, are questioned or exposed as a lie? And then, what is our reaction when the memories and people that we protected are exposed for what they really were?

Flashbacks without Repetition

"The Children" was heavy on flashbacks and perspective changes, which can be frustrating as a reader, but Melissa Albert used them very thoughtfully. During each change,  you are learning new information. There isn't a particular time period or perspective that I preferred because they all equally contributed, and overall the plot felt balanced.

What I Struggled With

Lots of Moody Details

Overall, I enjoyed Albert's writing style, but especially towards the last half of the book, the interpersonal exploration took a back seat to very moody descriptions of details and setting. These were particularly frustrating, as they felt like dead ends. So much time and energy were given to details that it felt like there should be a story there, and then it just dropped as a plot line.

Underwhelming Ending

"The Children" is being marketed as gothic fiction, and it definitely had me wanting twists and turns. However, many of the twists were hinted at long before they actually occurred in the story, so the ending fell flat for me a bit without any big "reveal". 

Magical Realism

The biggest struggle for me reading "The Children" was that I am not a fan of magical realism, particularly when it doesn't come into play until the very end of the book. It is my least favorite "literary surprise". "The Children" has that dreaded surprise, in spades. Magical realism is the entire end of the novel, and the hinge on which each twist and resolution rests. If magical realism isn't your thing, like me, then I would steer clear of this read.

Comment down below if you have read "The Children" by Melissa Albert. Let me know what worked for you in this book and what you struggled with while reading or click the linked image below for more content.