I enjoyed the second installment of Alistair Grim's Odditorium immensely more than the first.

The older version of Grubb that acts as the narrator has faded more into the background and isn't as interruptive which I think is a good thing. The story also seems to have better pacing and you get more of a feel for the characters.

I look forward to the next installment in the series and the answer to all the mysteries we haven't had answered yet.

Spoiler

Why did Grubb's mother flee his father and throw herself from a cliff? What is the tie between his mother and the Avalonians? Is Prince Nightshade really gone and if so is Lorcan really gone as well?

Like many sequels, this isn't quite as magical as the first. I had the original at 4/5 stars. II’m giving this one 4 as well, but the original is a high 4 while this is a low 4, it is still a rather decent story. The crew of the Odditorium find themselves on a mission to find Excalibur.

Prince Nightshade reveals his true identity. Cleona feels like she’s given a bit more story, but that wasn’t truly explored as much as I’d have liked given how vital it is to this particular adventure.

Fans of the original will like this book almost as much. Those who haven’t read the first could enjoy it, but I’d really start at the first.

I’ll almost certainly carry on with the series.



* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?

This was a real corker!

The first book in the “Odditorium“ series ([b:Alistair Grim's Odditorium|23597998|Alistair Grim's Odditorium (Odditorium, #1)|Gregory Funaro|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416619550s/23597998.jpg|26485357]) was an incredibly fun book of magical adventure featuring a young orphan boy named Grubb and his experiences after meeting Mr. Alistair Grimm (inventor, fortune hunter, and some say mad sorcerer) and his amazing Odditorium. This second book picks up about one month after the extraordinary events of the first, and is, if possible, filled with even more of everything that made the first one so great. I do highly recommed reading the first book before this one however. Even though there is a nicely done summary embedded in the narrative of this one most of the characters and events carry on from the first book. Besides, why wouldn't you want to read the first one first?

I won’t provide a plot summary because it would start with revealing a major spoiler for those who have not read the first book. I will summarize by stating, as the title implies, we get to ride along with the crew of the Odditorium and its crew underwater this time in an effort to enter the gates of Avalon itself in order to acquire the fabled sword, Excalibur. Most of the characters from book one are back and a couple of new ones are added. All are interesting and Grubb’s first person point-of-view narration has an endearing way of making the reader care about all of them and how they are possibly going to get out of the myriad of predicaments that they get themselves into.

This is a book geared for younger readers and I am happy to see once again that the good guy characters solve their problems with intelligence, forethought, and courage rather than relying on some sort of magical trickery. The bad guys aren’t pushovers either and always seem to have another trick up their sleeves. The action is fast paced and kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. Part steampunk, part [b:The Phantom Tollbooth|378|The Phantom Tollbooth|Norton Juster|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427233940s/378.jpg|1782584] and [b:Chitty Chitty Bang Bang|576335|Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, #1)|Ian Fleming|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175950916s/576335.jpg|2245507], it’s always fun to experience a read like this where the odd is commonplace and the impossible is possible.

I am hopeful the author will devote every waking moment to writing the third book of what I hope will be a long and successful series. Thanks to him for providing a free copy in return for an honest review.

Well, being the second book in the series, this book had a lot to follow. If you have not already, please read my review of the second book first, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1426525728
This book took the series up a notch –as often is the case with the second books of series. It encompassed clever allusions from the previous book and had this clever way of intertwining the story into a tight coil, as the story twists and turns, constantly surprising and shocking you.
As always I will rate this book out of 100. If you are not familiar with my rating system (and if you are it's a good idea to do remind yourself too) it is explained and described in the following spoiler.

Spoiler

I have a unique rating system:

In my newer reviews (all but 1 I think!) I have a simple rating system which expands into a not so simple rating system. The 5 star system isn't enough for me, as otherwise it's hard to properly order books and see what I really think about them from a rating out of five.

I also feel that most books I read I have positive feelings about, so instead of having your typical mark out of ten, where five is ok (10 being top and 0 being bottom), I use a system where the average or halfway mark of 5 is a GOOD BOOK. A 3 marks an ok book and a 10 marks a perfect book. This allows for a greater range of marks for me to be able to use between the larger number of books (I feel positive about more books than the number of books I feel negative about) to ensure a more accurate mark to separate the books from the crowd.

Therefore, instead of the 5 star system, I start with a rating out of ten and expand it to a rating out of 100. Here is how I do it:

I use this basic system:

0/10: I would recommend you not to waste your time reading this, it was simply abysmal.
1/10: A very boring or bad book which I did not enjoy.
2/10: A pretty bad book, but you should read it to make up your own mind.
3/10: An ok book.
4/10: A pretty good book, but nothing special.
5/10: A good book.
6/10: A great book, I would recommend to a friend.
7/10: Simply an amazing book, I would highly recommend to everyone!
8/10: I love this book and have probably read this many times over, a must read and a book I could not put down!
9/10: A stunning book, which I probably read in a day, and if you have not read it I will sit you down and force you to read it. I could probably rave about this for days on end!
10/10: Simply perfect and it’s my favourite book(s) ever.

The idea being that the comment beside each mark would be the comment I would give a passer-by if they asked me, after I had read it, what I thought about it. This is more based on my basic feelings of the book, just how I come out of it, without going into much detail or analysis. Having used these basic ratings I expand them to a mark out of 100, looking in more depth at the book. I analyse plot, character, suspense and any let downs that I felt the book had. I take the base mark and times it by ten*, so 8/10 is equal to 80, etc. I then add or subtract 5 marks based on my in depth analysis of the book and whether I felt it deserved more or less marks.

* Of course I can't add 5 to 100/100 so instead I start at 95 (the maximum mark for a 9/10 book) and keep adding from there onwards. I don't subtract from it because it wouldn't be a 10/10 book if I could find significant things to take away from the book. I also can't subtract 5 from 0/100 so instead I start at 5 (on the basis that no book which has been published can be quite that abysmal without further analysis) and subtract marks as I see fit.

I will often do 2 reviews of a book - one to show my immediate emotions and feelings having just read it, and one a significant amount of time afterwards to try to rid myself of bias and to try to structure and order my thoughts properly, and although I probably have just reread the book, my review will lack those initial feelings you get of first reading the book and that amazing twist, because it doesn't quite affect you the same afterwards, although I do try to take this into account.

So, what were my initial thoughts of the book, and therefore my mark out of ten? This book was just that much better than the other book that I thought that it was easily lovable and it did, for me, manage to encompass a stunning book. It included more of an awesome storyline, clever mythology woven into. It was really original and for this reason I thought that it moved a step upwards from the previous book. Grubb became a character who was easier to talk on and on about. The plot was so much more driving, and I think the Arthurian legends were well integrated. The book felt more at home, less awkward or clumsy and lost a few of the less gripping sections, was higher-octane and just felt slightly more… lovable. For this reason I gave it a 9/10; a brilliant mark.
So how would I mark it out of 100, based on the mark 90/100? Well I will analyse the book in three ways; its style of writing, its characters and its plot.

**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SPOILER CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE BOOK. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK, PLEASE DO NOT EXPAND THE SPOILER. **

Spoiler

The Characters
The characters retained their allure from the previous book – with the enchanting Avalon presenting its new and mystical characters beautifully. Abel Wortley (The Prince) is scarier, more evil and a more sinister villain. Grubb too manages to really develop as a character, keeping all his “cor blimey”s with him; but growing up from the humble chimney sweep to the apprentice of Alistair Grim. All the characters grow together as a single unit, and seem to interact that bit more naturally –there was even some dry humour here and there. The father-son relationship between Grim and Grubb allowed both characters to be more accessible and the reader could really relate to them. Grim became a much more father like figure, kinder –but also played as Grubb’s mentor; slowly guiding him through the world of odditoria. Grubb himself really grew and became so much older and more mature. He was just that bit more lovable and heroic –he really is becoming a great character. Mad Malmuirie is one of the best crazy villains I have ever encountered. Crazy, yet powerful, she is astonishingly revealed to be the Lost Princess. All of this really ramped up the suspense and I couldn’t help but love it. Lorcan Dalach is a character who one simultaneously is suspicious off and respects as a loyal member of the Gallownog. He adds a bit of spice to the mix along with the addition of Professor Oscar Bricklewick. We also see the goose, Moral, a clever and mysterious goose who lays a golden egg for him and once again adds to the magical charm of this book. Nimue and her fellow Avalonians continue to help the plot along, as well as the uses of the rest of the characters in really uplifting the feel and plot of this book. However I admit that, despite the characters being more lovable; I could not talk about them for days – still. I hope that this will be rectified soon!

The Plot
What can I say other than that this was the highlight of the book? Again. Last time I thought that the book had a lovely plot, but this time once again lifted the bar. I just loved how from start to finish it never felt forced, and every twist, of which there were many, was brilliant, and was not there for the sake of it. It was once again a shocking, but exciting book. I loved the tale of Excalibur and Avalon and how it all worked so well together, with the added twist of Mad Malmuirie being the Lost Princess and how this worked. I loved the reappearance of Mr. Smears; I thought it worked really well and just helped aid the book. The way that the sky ripper once again made an appearance when helping enter Avalon was clever – along with the puzzle which was solved step by step by the combined efforts of the crew. The side plots also helped develop the plot and did not detract at all. Lorcan being suspicious, Nigel being busy, the demon buggy, the necklace –it all felt like a bonus which really brought every part of the plot to life. The one part of the plot which, although being good, I thought could have been utilised even better was the necklace and how Mad Malmuirie was using it. I felt slightly disappointed afterwards at how it lost its importance afterwards. But the finale was just so brilliant –everyone was getting involved, surprises hurled continuously at the audience. It was brilliant –including Mack’s revival and use as a time stopper, Mr. Grim not being dead. And then, to ramp things up –just when I thought this novel would let the Prince live until another day –it killed him off with its final stroke –a brilliant and amazing piece of writing. But it left me wondering –who will be the enemy now? I felt like the Prince’s death was too easy, too quick. I thought a whole book would be used to tie up all the loose ends and kill off the Prince, and this kind of felt like a rushed ending to get rid of him quickly –It felt like the author ran out of steam and just thought; “Ah, screw it, he can die now.” Otherwise the plot was top notch, thrilling stuff which I couldn’t put down and drove me to read on and on; indeed I read the book in a single day.

The Style of Writing
The style of writing felt exactly the same in terms of feel. It was delightful and charming and slightly childish, but fun at the same time. This book, however ramped up the sinister, crazed villains to a slightly more mature level, as well as making many of the characters seem less juvenile. It is just lovely to read this refreshing style of writing. It rarely misses key details, rarely feels like it has skipped part of the story and doesn’t push the boundaries of too fun or crazy. The writing style really adds to the feel of the book as a whole and defines it characters strongly. The book once again showcased an irresistible plot and storyline, yet even the introduction was hard to put down due to the brilliant balance of plot, introductory chapters, characters and description. Everything fells that much more vivid than in the last book –but it does lose some of its charm. Becoming more sinister, more plot-driven and that bit more mature, the harm is still easily present, but drops off a bit. On one hand it gets rid of some cheesy moments from the book, but I think as a whole it was a loss and perhaps was really missed in the slower areas; when the author was setting up the plot and introducing new concepts or characters. As a whole I felt that this left it a bit short of the 90/100 mark for a stunning book, but barely. What another great novel. I cannot wait to read the next one.

I started off by giving this an 87 and then immediately raised it to 88. So I have decided that the final score that I will settle on for this book is 88/100; a very strong score indeed. It was a book that I would encourage anyone to get, it is most definitely worth it.

I hope that you enjoyed my review and agreed or understood my point of view. Whether you did or didn't, feel free to leave me a comment about my review. This is my second proper review, and if you enjoyed this, you can look forward to many more soon, including some from my "to read" and "currently reading" shelves.

And with that I conclude my review!

The Bookworm! :)

Alistair Grim's Aquaticum - 88/100

Check out my reading and writing blog here: https://wordpress.com/stats/day/thereadershipblog.wordpress.com

Alistair Grim and the Odd Aquaticum is a fun middle grade book filled with magic and machines! A steampunk adventure! Check out my full review at:
http://livingalifeinbooks.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-review-alistair-grim-and-odd.html

This book picks up where the first one left off. If you have not read the first book in the series you are still okay with this one though, the author does a really good job of catching the reader up in a way that does not feel "info dumpy."

Alistair Grim and his crew are bent on taking down Prince Nightshade. Aboard the Odditorium the plan is starting to take shape. The Odditorium is the flying magical place created by Grim.


This is a series I normally wouldn't be interested in. Steampunky stuff is usually over my head so I never pick it up. I'm glad I gave these a try though because they ended up being very entertaining.

Yellow fairies:


Enchanted objects:


Clumsy magic watches:


And the best..a witch:


I love when an author makes a reader branch out into something they normally wouldn't pick up.

Booksource: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for review. The author is also a nice guy that sent me a signed copy of the book also.



My friend Darth J's review perfectly captures the magic of this book's spell.

The Odd Aquaticum is just another version of the Odditorium, and this story is simply too much like the first book to really excite me (granted, I'm not the target audience!). What would have moved this from "average sequel" to "interesting entry in the series" would have been more about the Odditoria in the story - more than what there is, because there is some there - as they're far more intriguing characters than Alistair and Grubb. When the focus is on Cleora or The Golden Fairy there's something a little special there, but the whole Grimm/Prince Nightshade story just doesn't move me.

ARC provided by publisher.

Meh. Just didn't enjoy it. There were a few good parts, but for the most part it took me FOREVER (for me) to read. Just never held my attention, even when I thought it would once underwater. :/