Het Verlaten Huis (The Abandoned House)

 

The second installment of the Kraaidorp (or Crow village). 

I've read the third one in this series (actually the last review I've written) which was quite good. 

This one wasn't as good. Its pace was pretty slow and when the action actually begun it didn't really felt like it justified the lackluster atmosphere the rest of the novel had. Even its apotheosis was a bit lukewarm. When they arrived in the abandoned house, an opportunity for an escape room kind of adventure could've begun, but it trailed down a different path. 

The house on the other side of Meike and Elisabeth has been empty since Quinten has mysteriously disappeared overnight, until a family of six move in. The two families quickly become friends. When there's a party for the parents, the children are left at home. No babysitter shows up and suddenly they are trapped in their house, but it seems as if their house isn't theirs anymore. All furniture is gone and all that remains is a mysterious. One by one the children disappear. Will they solve the mystery in time? 

Not much else to say, I'm thinking that the first installment will be the best. I'll let you know as soon as I've read it. 

De Vergeten Tuin (The forgotten Garden)

 

Another one in Dutch and another one meant for children.. 

This children's book is from someone my husband used to work with and who lives quite nearby, so I was curious to see how she wrote. 

The Forgotten Garden is part of Four-novel arc and this is the third novel in the series. I've got the next one lined up and all I can say is that I'm not reading them in order and nobody can stop me! 

You can read them as stand alone novels, so that will ease the pain of those OCD'ers out there. 

Overall the story revolves around a village where magic is still alive, although the villagers wouldn't know of it. They have a powerful witch in their midst, one dabbling in black magic. 

The book that I read is actually a back story. The story of how the villain became villainous. 
When I started reading I was a bit on the fence about it. Of course I must remember that I am not its main target audience so the writing is simplified, but I got some sense of too much 'spelling it out for you'. I can't pinpoint what gave me that feeling, but it was there just below the surface. 

But if you can get past the first chapters (and they aren't too long) the story actually becomes quite brilliant and maybe even a bit dark for young readers. I actually wanted to know what would happen and maybe because I haven't read the other books I was pleasantly surprised with some of the turns and twists this story made. I didn't see them coming and that's always fun. (unless you're reading Game of Thrones and they all die)

So, I do recommend this novel for both the parent and the child. My daughter hasn't read them yet. She's picky in her choices, but I think she would like them if she tried it. 

The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the grey picture at the beginning of each chapter. I found it unnecessary, especially since some pictures were repeated. 
The page outlay is also something to get used to. Not a lot of margin left, which crowds the page a bit. 
But as you get pulled into the story, those details are quickly forgotten.