I've generally stayed away from Middle Grade stories but this was such a good pickup! It was creepy for a book aimed at a younger audience, but there was great comic relief thrown in to break up the intense and/or scarier parts. I loved the take on where dreams come from and I really enjoyed how the Dream World is divided into nightmares and dreamers as well as how many different types there were. The characters were fantastic, the story flowed so well, and this book has definitely ignited an interest in MG books!

Loved this book the whole way through. I love the books that hold you till the end, they are so much fun

This book was full of hope, sorrow, dreams and nightmares. I was pulled into the story by the cover, which is stunning. But I was hooked by the plot and the characters. Nell Perkins and her brothers travel through a world of dreams and nightmares to save their mother, and in fact mothers from all over the world that have been kidnapped. With the Help of a fearless Traveler, they navigate their way.

I felt like these kids were constantly getting the raw end of the deal. I didn't think they'd ever catch a break, just when things started to look up for them there was a twist and things went south again. Obviously I can't spoil the ending for you, but they make friends and enemies along the way and Nell's brother George is there to provide some comic relief. Also, this book added greatly to my fear of clowns.

Overall it's a great read, an exciting story with likable characters and only a hint (and I really mean that in the the slightest way possible,) of a love story.

As a book lover and a mother, I have a list of books that keeps growing of all the books I am excited to read with my kids. My son recently turned 6 years old, so most of these titles are getting closer and closer to reality. I get giddy thinking about introducing him to Harry Potter, Narnia, Roald Dahl and Rick Riordan, just to name a few. And, now, I have a new title to add to add to that ever-growing stack of fantasy books. I am pleased to introduce children’s book fans to The Fearless Travelers’ Guide to Wicked Places by Pete Begler.

Let me begin by saying, whoa. This book is fantastic! I mean, you should recognize if I am grouping it with Roald Dahl and Rick Riordan, it means I am a big fan. Children’s book for middle age kids are often hit or miss for me, but the ones that stand out are amazing. This is definitely the case for The Fearless Travelers’ Guide to Wicked Places.

This hefty novel contains several fast-paced chapters with exciting and scary adventures that make the pages fly by. As an adult, I had a hard time stopping reading to do the things I needed to be doing. The novel focuses on a young girl named Nell who has the gift of seeing what others around her cannot see. When her mother is taken by a cloud of witches, she and her brothers must make a trek into the Wicked Places, the land of Dreams and Nightmares, to save her.

Imagine every good dream and every nightmare you had a kid – they are brought to life in this book. The children can fly as comets, animals wear clothing and whales are made of stars. But, there are also scary, evil clowns, skeletons and clouds that rain knives and blood. It is a delightful fright fest (if there has ever been such a thing, this is it).

While Nell and her brothers and their new friends have to battle evil enemies, travel through various dream worlds (beautiful and terrifying) and find their way through mazes, they must also remember who they are. By staying true to themselves and saying yes to facing obstacles, they will find their way home.

This book was so much fun! I cannot wait until my son is old enough to read this one. If you have a reluctant reader, this would be a great choice. It has something for everyone. This book was just released this week and I am thankful I got to be one of the first to read it and tell others about it.

This book had a very strong start, but unfortunately I found myself getting bored in the last third. I’m not entirely sure that it would hold the attention of a reader of the target age-group. Then again, maybe the hopping between so many different fantasy elements would appeal to that younger reader.

When their mother is kidnapped by a witch and turned into a bird, Nell Perkins and her brothers must travel to the Dreamlands in order to to not only rescue their mother, but also to prevent an everlasting war from breaking out between Dreams and Nightmares.

This book started off really strong. There were some interesting ideas going on, between Nell’s ability to see people’s “inner animals”, to the young women in the town going missing. At this point, the characters seemed quite vibrant and interesting.

It was once they arrived in the Dreamlands that things started to feel a bit more haphazard. There didn’t really seem to be much of an arc to the story; a lot of it seemed to be the characters getting themselves out of one situation, then making their way into another one completely separate. To Peter Begler’s credit, he did manage to fairly accurately create a dreamscape where nothing truly makes sense and anything can happen, but there were so many ideas crammed into this one book that it started to feel like a bit of a mess after a while.

The main characters were well-written, though they did all come across as a bit older than they were supposed to be. Their guides, Badger and Pinch, were interesting, though we never really got much of a sense of them. Pinch was a former princess who had given up her throne, but that was all we knew of her backstory. Badger had made mistakes in his past which leant him Nightmarish tendencies, but this was never gone into.

For the most part, there was nothing wrong with the writing style, apart from the fact that the dialogue tags often didn’t seem to match what the characters were saying. One example that comes to mind is “‘Glad you’re all right, kid,’ Badger snarled.” Why would he snarl that? It seemed very odd, and there were many similar cases. It’s a tiny thing, but it kept cropping up and pulled me out of the story.

This has the makings of a really good fantasy novel, and it’s possible the target audience will enjoy it more than I did. It didn’t quite do it for me, though.

This was the first middle grade novel that I’ve read in years! I was longing for something magical and light, therefore middle grade seemed like a good choice. (Nothing is quite as good as Harry Potter though). And honestly, I had so much fun reading this! It was one of those “right place, right time” books, and should I add “right mood”?

What I liked:

1 - The concept! I thought that by now (after reading million different books about magic) I’ve read all the different versions of magic and where it comes from. But! I was very very wrong! All the props go to Pete Begler for creating something absolutely unique. I don’t want to spoil things for you guys if you decide to pick this book up, and I feel that the only thing I can say is: “Your dreams and nightmares might not be exactly what you think they are!” - very intriguing, right? *pat myself on the shoulder*

What I disliked:

1 - When events happened because it was convenient for the plot but didn’t quite make any sense at all. So we all know those moments when it seems like there is no escape, the main character is in a deadly trap and only miracle will save him / her! And then by some crazy coincidence or a pure miracle help comes at the last second. We cheer, smile through happy tears and move on to the next chapter full of hope that Good will always win!
However, no matter how much of a “miracle” we are talking about here, there has to be some sort of plausible explanation (a little tiny bit of “plausibility” is all we ask for).

2 - A slight overboard of silliness and weirdness. I know this book is for children, I know it is classified as middle grade and maybe if I would be reading it when I was 11-12 I wouldn’t have this feeling of silliness, but that is not the case, is it? So the feeling remains and I wish it would be slightly better edited? to polish these rough corners of weirdness.

Full review posted on www.whimsypages.wordpress.com on the 1st of March 2017.

The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places by Peter Begler is a middle grade novel currently scheduled for release in March of 2017. Twelve-year-old Nell Perkins knows there is magic at work that she can’t yet understand. Her mother has been taken by witches and turned into a bird. Nell must journey to get her mother back, even if it takes her deep into the Wicked Places, the frightening realm where Nightmares resides. There she must break the spell and stop the witches from turning our world into a living nightmare.

The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places has a wonderful concept with a consistent amount of fantasy and imagination woven through the tale. The concept of the two realms and the threat the witches pose to all were very well done. I liked the characters of Nell and her brothers, as well as the complexity of the set up and major players. I thought the characters were complex enough not to fall flat, but the sheer volume of craziness happening and the danger brewing go to be a little overwhelming at times. I was often flipping pages eagerly and holding my breath, but I feel like I lost steam part way through. The magic and world building felt complete, and the information shared at a good pace, so that there was a limited amount of that information dump feel. A good pick for a middle grade reader looking for a complex fantasy with a good combination of adventure and coming of age. Nell's growth and self awareness was one of my favorite parts of the story, although the family relationships were another high point as far as I am concerned.

The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places was an interesting and entertaining read. I found it to be a great idea, but a bit long for my current reading mood.

I normally don’t read much middle grade anymore and I can’t say I was in the mood for it. But because it’s an ARC that it’s almost coming out, I decided to pick it up anyway. Also, the fact that I couldn’t read it in my kindle, and having to read in my computer (which I hate to do) didn’t help much for my excitement.

So, to actually have finished right now it had to be good! And it sure was! I am very pleasantly surprised by it. Definitely a very different and interesting middle grade story.

Since the very beginning, the story is extremely gripping. It has quite a slow start, but you just can’t stop reading it!

First of all, the world building was extremely imaginative, creative and purely beautiful. Dreamland is dark and scary, but at the same time its beautiful and inviting. It was really easy to visualize it, with all the detail the author gave. But a thing I really liked, is that he also gave space for our own imagination to unfold.

The story has a lot of twists and action. There’s always something happening. Something that doesn’t go according to plan, but that in some way puzzles together perfectly. To get their mother back to her human form, Nell and her brothers had to believe in themselves, even if others don’t. They had to believe that they could do anything, even if it seems impossible. For as long as you don’t give up, you will manage to succeed. It’s an important message for everyone and I thought it was very well developed throughout the book.

The characters are very well developed and really easy to connect with. Especially Nell. I really loved her! She was fantastic! And I loved how strong the bond between a mother and a daughter, is shown in the book through her. There’s some other characters popping up occasionally that are pretty fun to read about, and that made the book a bit more soft.

The writing was surprisingly good for a middle grade book. I find those often repetitive and basic. But this one was gripping and captivating! It was the type of writing you can feel, you know what I mean? The pace was great and although some times I got a bit lost, I still managed to follow the story pretty easily.

A thing I really enjoy in YA books is that you can profoundly feel the characters. But this book did an amazing job with it! You could feel their emotions so well, that sometimes it radiated through me (which is one of the thing I most like about reading).

The only thing I have to mention is that, this is pretty big for a middle grade book. It’s not that it’s repetitive, but like I mentioned before, there’s always something happening. And I feel that because of that it might not be everyones’ cup of tee.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it! I love stories with magic and darkness in them. And this one would be just perfect for Halloween!

Although I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This book was seriously amazing. The writing paints such a vivid picture that I could actually see what was happening. You can see the characters developing from children to fearless travelers, especially the main character, Nell. But you can see it in other characters too. I genuinely hope this book has more to come, but even if it doesn't, the book is amazing standing all on its own. Another thing I wish this book had was some images, even just at the beginning of each chapter. I think it would add to the already amazing imagery.

If you have the opportunity to read this book, I seriously recommend it.

I won this book from Netgalley and gave it to my 9 1/2 year old daughter to read, here is her review:

My mom won this book from netgalley, and gave it to me to read. Thank you to the author, the publisher and netgalley.
I am almost 10 years old. I found the reading level perfect and I found the interest level better than perfect.
My favorite part of the book was when there was a flying boat driven by a huge sea turtle that sings. I liked how the umbrella was used over and over again during the story. I also liked that Rose was turned into a bird instead of another animal.
There wasn't anything that I didn't like about the book.
I hope there is more books like this one.

When a skull-shaped cloud kidnaps Nell’s mother and turns her into a bird, she and her brothers vow to get their mother back. To do this, they must find a powerful Fearless Traveler and persuade him to take them to a land of nightmares. Once there, they will have to make the dangerous journey to see Ravenhead, the only Dreamer who can undo the curse and return Nell’s mother to her real form. Along the way, Nell and her brother battle nightmares both outside and inside themselves. The only weapons they possess are the wisdom in the Fearless Traveler’s handbook and the truths they learn about themselves.

This story reminded me a little bit of The Thickety books by J. A. White in its lyrical prose and scary-whimsical storytelling. I liked the voices of each character—Nell and her brother George especially. George cracked me up with his snarky, arrogant-but-cute commentary. I loved the message about mothers and their connection to their children. Nell is told over and over that even if she’s able to transform her mother back to her human form, she’ll have no memory of Nell or her brothers. Nell refuses to believe this. She clings to her mom’s earlier words that a mother cannot forget her children, and that her body becomes the memory of them. The whole story has themes like this—where belief in things that are true trumps fears we hold. I liked that message.
One of the things I struggled with a little bit is the fact that for much of the journey, Nell and her brothers depend on an adult to fight their battles and help them through some obstacles. Especially in a story with a female lead, to have a male adult character taking the hero’s role sort of grates on me a bit. It feels like a statement that says she couldn’t do this on her own. I don’t think the author was trying to say that, but the story came close to feeling that way to me.

However, by about the halfway mark, Nell leaves her adult mentor behind and begins a journey alone. Soon she’s joined by a male friend who takes on a bit of a leading role as far as the fighting goes. Again, I’m not sure if this was deliberate, but I felt like Nell deserved a little more of the spotlight instead of being pushed into more of a support role yet again. I also kept waiting for the song shared between Nell and her mom to become a significant element. At several points it was clear that Nell and her mother’s relationship was special and it seemed like a song was part of their special bond, but that didn’t end up becoming a part of the story’s resolution. Maybe something saved for book two?

Overall, I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the truly unique story-world. I thought the characters were really fun and I couldn’t help investing in them and hoping they won the day. If you liked A Path Begins by J. A. White or Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman, you should definitely pick up this book.

Review will post 2/21/17

This delightful tale reminded me of Grimm's Jorinda and Jorindal. Nell becomes a fearless traveler in order to save her mother who has been turned into a bird.

Thanks to Capstone and Netgalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for a review!

The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places is an interesting premise, and there are a lot of very interesting characters/character concepts (the Dreamers and the Nightmares in particular are pretty inventive and fascinating) but the writing was sometimes tediously repetitive at times. I think the fact that the author normally writes for movies and TV has something to do with it, and young readers may not notice it, but after a while having characters rephrasing the same question as an answer just feels lazy and dull.

The main characters also don't react consistently - sometimes reacting too little to things and sometimes overreacting in ways that felt ridiculously overblown. And it may just be me, but I was endlessly annoyed with the stupid things the kids did. Like the first couple of times they didn't listen to Badger's warnings, okay, I get it, new scenario and not knowing what's going on. But after so many times of being imperiled due to ignoring a warning, you would think that the characters would remember to actually listen to the warning.

Overall, this should be a good book for middle schoolers who are looking for a fun fantasy. I think kids would be a little more forgiving of the things that annoyed me in the book. The world building is creative, and the action moves fairly quickly and would most likely keep kids entertained. I wish I liked this more but this was just not the book for me.

The cover of this book is seriously stunning and that's all I have to say about that. I thought the premise sounded very interesting and was really looking forward to reading this because it's classified as a middle grade novel and I am trying to get ahead of the game, so I can recommend books to my veracious little bookworms. This book started off very well and I was impressed with how things were being revealed as the plot progressed. Then it kind of went off the deep end. It was a lot of information and a lot of describing characters and places that I feel did not add to the story, as much as it bogged it down. I got about 40% in before I started speed-reading it. Normally, I would have just set this in my DNF pile...however, as I had said before, the premise was really interesting and it did start off well. I had to know what happened. There were pretty exciting parts that I did slow down to enjoy, but I feel overall that this is too much book. It may have been better off being split into smaller chunks with a little bit better flow. I also really think this would make an excellent mini series.

Ever wonder what happens when you go to sleep, when you dream? The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places is Pete Begler's uniquely inventive perspective on this very thing. This fictional world was full of many bizarre creations such as witches, evil clowns, leprechauns, skeletons, ghosts, goblins, ghouls, vicious and friendly monsters. A work of pure YA fantasy, this book read rather like I imagine an acid trip would feel like. The storyline was dark, but infused with a sweet hope and goodness that kept the mood somewhat light even when the characters found themselves facing down the worst of dangers. The characters themselves were comical, sarcastic, empathetic, strong, dangerous, and wise. Something about the fabulous imagery and twisted conception reminded me of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Both have that sci-fi vibe and a story that revolves around a young girl adventuring, with her siblings, into mysterious other worldly locations as they try to save a parent (In Wrinkle it was the father; in this it's the mother.) from being lost out in these own known realms forever.

I like it when a story grabs me immediately so that it's hard for me to put the book down. For the most part, I felt that way about The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places. I was eager to read on to see what happened next. However there were a couple of times where I found myself overcome mentally with some of the overly constructed details that Begler used to create his amazing world. Then there were one or two other areas of the book where it seemed like a few necessary details were missing. Overall the story continued on with little issue, but I felt these missing aspects were relevant yet simply glazed over causing me to doubt the validity of what transpired. Beyond this though I found Nell's adventure through the Dreamlands and Wicked Places to be incredibly intriguing and well worth my time.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with this review opportunity.

This book was an easy read; Pete Begler has a very nice writing style that flows so you can just fly through the pages. At times the pace seemed a bit slow but never enough that I wanted to give up. The author created a very descriptive world so you could really see yourself walking side by side with the characters. His dialogue and character development were detailed and believable. I think the magical world and interesting creatures would surely appeal to the age range he was directing this book towards.

Due to the very strong theme of a mother’s love for her children, which Begler did a nice job on accuracy, as a parent I feel compelled to easily recommend this book to other parents for their kids to read.

The author has an interesting take on Dreams and Nightmares which would make for some fun discussion and creative thinking. I felt he did a good job on creating something new to capture the imagination.

I think kids around 8-12ish will probably get the most out of it and the writing style lends itself easily to be a good book to read aloud either in the classroom or at bedtime.

Love this novel! It's very imaginative and magical, and I love how there's basically all sorts of ppl in it, like clowns and leprechauns. This novel had the perfect blend of comedy and seriousness, something that is hard to do in a lot of middle grade novels. I will definitely be recommending this book to others!

**My review will publish to my blog at www.myinterdimensionalchaos.blogspot.com on Feb 1st. It has already been uploaded to Goodreads. I will add a link to the blog post once it goes live.**

You will get lost.
You will be scared.
You will fall.
You will flee.
You will fight.
You will learn.
And without a doubt,
You will find your way home.


Nell Perkins is 12-years old. She loves her mom and her brothers, and lives a relatively normal life. Until a strange storm hits. A weird purple cloud shaped like a skull appears in the air, chasing her and her mother. What happens next sends Nell and her two brothers on a magical journey through Dreamland -- witches kidnap their mother and turn her into a bird. With the help of a Fearless Traveler, the children battle supernatural killer clowns, bird witches, and other ethereal creatures in Dreamland in an attempt to return their mother to human form.

This is a beautiful, imaginative, amazing story!! I couldn't stop reading -- I just kept seeing the story unfold like a movie playing in my head. Dreamland is scary and hauntingly beautiful at the same time. The adventure to return their mother to her human form teaches the children to rely on themselves, to work together and to believe in their skills and intelligence. The tale is also sprinkled with witty humor and interesting supporting characters. I think my favorite side characters are the skeletons the children meet while riding on the bus.

The author, Pete Begler, works in television. I can honestly say that I would LOVE to see a film version of this story! It would be beautiful!! Surely Tim Burton or someone similar could take this and make a hauntingly beautiful movie or television show from it! The world-building is exquisitely creative, the characters are wonderful, and the action is intense. What a fun read! I couldn't put it down!

The Fearless Travelers' Guide to Wicked Places will be published March 1st by Capstone. This is Pete Begler's first novel.