2 for at most 2.5. Though also, I read an uncorrected proof; I do not know how likely, but there is a possibility that it actually got a massive edit before publishing, so I'm NOT saying there's absolutely no way that people would think it's good, just that unfortunately, I personally, with the ARC I read, cannot claim to feel that way.

This book has a lot of telling; a lot of how this character feel this way, along with he said this and she said that then they said this, accompanied by descriptions of all the actions they were doing while they were talking. I felt that this book's content probably only really needed half of the pages it ended up having. Pacing was also very off. I'd rather have all the characters' inner turmoil cut, and have a more detailed mythology infodump (in a better written way so it wasn't an infodump.)

Also, really; so the savior from Greenland just so happened to speak English? Sloppy.

Also published on:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1955204180

A wonderful, adventure-filled book for a middle gradder. But I enjoyed it all the same! The fantasy elements and the struggle to do good and fight evil kept me interested and turning pages! I highly recommend!

Not exactly what I was expecting and a bit disappointed. The book just didn't work for me. But that doesn't mean middle grade kids, 5th and up, wouldn't enjoy it! I tried to get into the story, but I'm not its demographic. Sorry.

I selected this book for it's attractive cover and description. Book was unique in concept.
But I was not able to connect with this book. Left it at 25%..

A great book for middle schoolers. Well written and nice story plot. Not one of my favorites its meant for a younger reading audience.

After her parents disappear, a young girl gets kidnapped too. As she tries to figure out who would want to kidnap her family and why, she will also have to try to make sense of other events that have greater implications for the world at large. Author Sinead O’Hart tackles climate change and mythical creatures all with a plucky protagonist in her mostly likable debut novel The Eye of the North.

Emmeline Widget can take care of herself. Her parents, scientists, spend most of their time on expeditions away from home, so much so that Emmeline carries around a satchel at all times full of survival essentials. She’s also read countless books on techniques and tools to help her out of almost any problem.

Her informal training may truly benefit her, Emmeline discovers, when she receives a mysterious letter from her mother. The letter states that if Emmeline is reading the words on the page, in all likelihood her parents have been kidnapped. For her own safety, the letter continues, Emmeline should leave her home immediately and travel to Paris. There she should go to the address included in the letter, ask for a Madame Blancheflour, and live with the woman until the age of 18.

Satchel in hand, Emmeline boards a ship bound for France. There she meets a stowaway who calls himself Thing because, he explains, that’s how everyone has always addressed him. Within hours of getting on the ship, Emmeline finds out that someone—or several someones—want to kidnap her as well. She and Thing do their best to evade capture, but the inevitable happens: Emmeline gets snatched from the deck by a Dr. Siegfried Bauer.

With the world’s topography changing dramatically, Dr. Bauer wants immortality. After decades of research, he has discovered he can call forth the Kraken in Greenland. Anyone who summons the Kraken and offers a living sacrifice can command the beast and utilize its powers, including those that make it live forever. Dr. Bauer set Emmeline’s parents with the actual task of drawing the Kraken out of its glacial home; Emmeline will serve as the sacrifice.

All is not lost, however. Thing begins working on a plan to save Emmeline. He meets a bevy of friends along the way who help him in his quest, and he lives through some adventures himself. As both Emmeline and Thing travel to Greenland, they will have to contend with what awakening the Kraken means not only for them personally but also for the rest of the world.

Author Sinead O’Hart’s debut novel zips along at a fast clip once Emmeline gets kidnapped by Dr. Bauer. Much of the action before her kidnapping feels like filler, however. The book begins just as Emmeline receives her mother’s letter. As soon as she’s done reading, the butler informs Emmeline she has five minutes to grab anything extra (he’s already packed her bags, of course,) before they must drive to the dock. The jarring start to the book requires a great deal of suspension of belief, and the lack of plausibility might discourage more advanced readers.

The introduction of Thing, too, doesn’t exactly make one warm up to him right away. Eventually, however, readers will grow to like him as much as Emmeline does, and O’Hart does an admirable job of keeping his back story just out of reach until it’s absolutely needed. Until that moment late in the book, though, readers will have to content themselves with accepting the fact that Thing is a resourceful orphan who is just nosy enough to follow Emmeline and then rescue her.

On a larger scale, O’Hart’s book feels like it’s reaching for too many things all at once. Roundabout mentions in passing of massive climate change may provoke curiosity and questions, but they don’t receive much attention. O’Hart ropes in fabled creatures, a la the Kraken (and others that get a rushed mention at the end,) but their inclusion feels more like a bid to appeal to the younger end of the target audience. A witch pops up briefly, almost as if items on a checklist needed ticking. In many other places, the mechanics of the action are entirely unclear and some of the characters come across as placeholders.

For readers who don’t mind putting aside a little bit of logic and who can enjoy an adventure for adventure’s sake, The Eye of the North might be worth a read. I recommend readers Borrow The Eye of the North.

The Eye of the North

by Sinéad O’Hart

The Eye of the North is a fantasy adventure tale intended for children in grades three through seven. The interest level would be appropriate for that range and maybe a little higher, but the reading level is too high for most third graders as it contains some fairly advanced vocabulary. It would make a good read aloud with a parent. The chapters are short. Within each chapter, when the two main characters are apart, the story jumps from one character to the other in a well-defined fashion which keeps the plot moving and the reader involved in the action of both characters.

The main character is Emmeline Widget whose parents are immersed in secret scientific research which endangers both them and their daughter. The storyline follows Emmeline’s adventures through apparent abandonment, solo sea travel, kidnapping, attacks and rescues by extraordinary creatures, and near death experiences. Along the way she meets Thing, a most unusual and self-sufficient boy. She saves his life and he repays her by following her north to lands of snow and ice to rescue her.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Random House (Knopf Books for Young Readers) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Children’s Fiction

Notes: Age Range: 8-12 years
Grade Level: 3-7

Publication: August 22, 2017— Random House (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Memorable Lines:

Even worse, a roaring river ran right at the end of their property, sweeping past with all the haughtiness of a diamond-encrusted duchess.

…her gaze was caught by a dusty head emerging from a grating in the wall. This head—the color of whose hair was impossible to determine—was swiftly followed by a grubby body dressed in overalls. The fingernails of this creature were clotted with dirt and oil, and his—its?—face was smeared with grease. As Emmeline watched, he slithered out of the hole he’d been hiding in, until all of him—and there wasn’t much—was standing in front of Emmeline with a hand held out in greeting.
“Mornin’,” he said “M’names’s Thing. Who’re you?”

The wind was rummaging through his clothing like a pickpocket looking for a payday.

Emmaline’s parents are scientists of some sort. She isn’t really sure what all they do. They travel a lot and leave her at home. Emmaline believes in always being prepared. You never know what you are going to find in the family home or on the grounds. So she carries a satchel of useful things and tries not to be surprised by what she encounters. Then one day she receives notice that her parents are missing and she is being sent to Paris immediately. She has very little time to pack or mourn and very little idea of what is going on. On the ship to Paris she meets Thing. Thing appears to be a stowaway on the ship. He has no family that he knows of, but takes an interest in Emmaline. After they set sail, Emmaline and Thing discover someone searching her room. Then they meet Sasha and Edgar who claim to want to help Emmaline. Unfortunately, before they can make up their minds to trust them, Emmaline is kidnapped by Dr. Bauer who takes her to Greenland. Thing teams up with Sasha and Edgar to rescue Emmaline. Dr. Bauer has also kidnapped Emmaline’s parents and wants their help in awaking the kraken from beneath the glacier. He believes the kraken will lead to eternal life.

This was a fun adventure story, but I felt like it needed just a bit more work. There is mention that the world is flooding, sea levels are rising, coasts are disappearing, but really no explanation for it. Emmaline’s parents work for the White Rose Society, but that too isn’t really explained. Thing’s backstory is briefly touched on in a vision he has but then nothing more is mentioned. There are a lot of loose ends that were either left hanging or just didn’t come together that well. However, I did really like Emmaline’s resourcefulness and Thing’s tenacity. Why they were such fast friends isn’t exactly clear, but they were fun characters. The rest of it seemed like a bit of a mess.

I received this book from Netgalley.

Oh, I struggled with this book. It took me a long time to read. I just never felt invested. The book jumped from Emmeline to Thing (yes, that is a character's name) every few pages and it was jarring to me. I never really understood the whole point or got to know the villain(s) much at all or at least not til the very end. Soory, didn't work for me.

Fun to read once. Its certainly clever. I was just never very clear on exactly what was going on or exactly where it was all headed. And I kept picturing Thing as non-human, like a hairball with eyes. Plus it breaks one of my plot rules: magic must be established as a possibility early on. To introduce mythological beings more than halfway through, after no other real indication of their existence, just didn't sit well with me. It's a pretty thrilling plot but that level of excitement is never really relayed in the writing style.

I just didn't enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. The book had an Unfortunate Events feel at the beginning, but soon the story had too much going on and I found it hard to follow what was happening and soon lost interest in the book. I did finish it, but it did take me a long time to.

Magical creatures, secret societies, mad scientists, dangerous treks across arctic tundras, and exciting flights from fiendish henchmen -- the ingredients for a thrilling adventure bound to appeal to a number of middle grade readers are all present and accounted for here. While the tone sometimes felt disconnected from the actual action on the page, this is something I imagine most kids will be willing to overlook in favor of Thing's simple, steadfast charms and Emmeline's Macgyver-esque. cleverness.

The Eye of the North

by Sinead O'Hart

Random House Children's

Knopf Books for Young Readers
Children's Fiction

Pub Date 22 Aug 2017 |

Emmeline finds herself headed to the north where allies have pledge to protect her after her scientist parents mysteriously dissapear. Doctor Siegfried Bauer is bound for the ice fields of Greenland where he hopes to summon the Mystical Creature said to be found in the depths of the ancient glaciers. A creature believed to be so powerful whoever controls it can control the world.

The North Witch has also laid claim to the beast and Emmeline and a scrappy stowaway named the Thing must stop them in order to save the world? Will they be able to?

Find out in The Eye of The North.

The perfect read for YA readers who love adventure!

Five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

I found it difficult to connect with this one--and I don't usually have that problem with middle grade books. Just not for me, I guess.

Just Go With It

The plot here is pretty standard. Emmeline's scientist parents disappear while on an expedition. Emmeline is shipped off, but is intercepted by villains. She enters an uneasy alliance with a ragamuffin boy and comes into contact with a secret society. Meanwhile the villain needs her in order to complete a dastardly scheme, which she and the ragamuffin boy and the society need to foil. So, where do we go with this?

Emmeline starts out as quite an angsty and grumpy pill, even before the larger plot gets rolling. Luckily, she started to loosen up and behave like a proper heroine just as I was getting tired of her. Most of this is due to the appearance, fairly early on, of the boy, (who has unaccountably given himself the name "Thing"), who is resourceful, spirited, funny, and impulsive. He carries the story, the action and humor, and often Emmeline, until she finally gets in gear. Then the two follow parallel courses until they meet again for the socko conclusion.

The book has a vaguely steampunk/Jules Verne feel, although it's not frankly steampunk. It also has an H.P. Lovecraft "summon-the-mystical-creature" flavor, although toned down considerably for middle grade readers. Mostly it is driven by almost non-stop action, with plenty of lurking, hiding, capturing, escaping, fighting, struggling, recapturing, re-escaping, and dashing madly about. Some of this is over the top and sometimes it's even a bit confusing regarding who is chasing whom and who just got stabbed with a sword. Lots of characters join the story in progress and there is a pretty substantial cast by the time we reach the dramatic conclusion. That's fine in a the-more-the-merrier sort of way, and sometimes it's good to take a breather from our two central characters.

There is a fair amount of humor, mostly thanks to Thing and a few deadpan supporting characters. Lots of bumps and holes in the plot and action scenes, but it's all in good fun, so that's not really a negative. My bottom line was that I saw this as more of an actioner than a character or puzzle adventure, and that was fine. (Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This is the PERFECT middle grade roller coaster ride--one that will appeal to both boys and girls equally. Emmeline and Thing are the perfect pair, complimenting each other's strengths and weaknesses. The reader can't help but cheer them on. Likewise, the mad scientist villain is the perfect recipe for trouble and danger. This should be a hit with readers everywhere! I highly recommend.