The Emerald Curse
by Simon Rose, illustrated by Cynthia Nugent
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Adventurous author by Mikelle Sasakamoose, Kamloops This Week,
May 02, 2008
Alberta author Simon Rose has delved into the world
of comic books for his latest novel for young readers.
Two years after the disappearance of the world's
greatest comic-book artist Charles Kelly, his grandson
Sam finds himself drawn into the bizarre world of the
comic, thanks to a magic pen discovered in the attic
studio. Aided by the daughter of the evil Baron, Sam
must defeat the supervillains who have taken over the
world, and find a way to get himself and his
grandfather back home.
As with his previous novel The Clone Conspiracy,
Rose has once again succeeded in choosing a subject
that will capture the interest of his young readers,
and particularly boys. Filled with action and
superheroes, the story moves along quickly, and while
the first chapter should have more accurately been
labelled as a prologue, it provides sufficient
explanation to set up the rest of the book. Rose's
strength is his ability to create tension within the
story, and to bring his stories to a satisfying
resolution with minimal harm. The good-guys always
prevail, the bad guys lose, and there is no concern of
extreme violence or gore in his novels.
The persistent difficulty with this novel, and with
his other work, is the lack of true character
development, and poor dialogue. Through brief
descriptions, bits and pieces are learned about the
characters, but they are not flushed out enough to be
memorable, or inspire any real care or concern for
their outcome. The dialogue is stilted, and without
realism or flow. The exchanges between the characters
sound forced and unnatural, and read like a badly
written movie script. Even in the fantasy world of the
comic, there is no sophistication or richness of
language, and it can often cause the story to feel
flat and two-dimensional.
If the reader is seeking a happy ending with all
loose-ends tied up neatly, this book will not
disappoint, but for an audience accustomed to the
complexities of current fantasy series such as Harry
Potter, the neat ending and convenient solutions will
be disappointing. -- by Rachel Steen. Resource Links, Volume 12, Number 2, December 2006.
Calgary writer Simon Rose is back with The Emerald Curse, his strongest
middle-grade novel yet. Sam's grandfather, a famous comic book creator,
hasn't been seen in two years. Although everyone presumes he's died,
Sam's
not so sure. A mysterious pen allows Sam to transport into his
grandfather's
comic book where he finds out his grandfather is trapped.
Fast-paced and well-plotted, elementary students are sure to love it.
The
book also works great for broadening vocabularies, while the
illustrations
add life to the story. The only thing some parents may question is the
amount of violence and killing. -Kate Larking, For the Calgary Herald. Sunday, December 24,
2006 |
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