Search - Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children of the Red King, Bk 1)

This book reminded me a lot of the Harry Potter series. Kid probably won't mind this at all, but as an adult, the lack of originality gets a little annoying at times. But perhaps it's part of that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" thing on the author's part...

The term "endowed" tends to also make me snicker on occasion. I think the author could've found a better word to describe the magic-like talent that some of the characters have.

Overall, it's a readable book if you don't notice that it has a lot of similarities to authors such as J.K. Rowling, Pierce Anthony and I'm sure many others I haven't read yet or notice right off the bat.

I was expecting a Harry Potter knockoff and got something surprisingly different. The characters are well-drawn, if only occasionally one-dimensional, but the villains, Charlie's great aunts and paternal grandmother, are so ridiculously nasty you will sometimes wonder why anyone puts up with them at all. These read fast and will entertain younger readers very well. Adults may have a harder time not projecting into the story how they'd get rid of the nasty aunts and grandmother...

Even as an adult, I enjoyed this book for a little fun, light reading. The first few chapters were difficult to get through, because there are definitely a LOT of similarities to Harry Potter. However, if you can stick with it, by the middle of the book you will start forgetting about the similarities and begin accepting Charlie's world as its own special place!

Great book. 5th grade and up (or advanced 4th)