Choices – DaneCobain.com

R. L. Stine – Under the Magician’s Spell | Review

Title: Under the Magician’s Spell

Author: R. L. Stine

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 140

Rating: 3*/5

R. L. Stine – Under the Magician’s Spell

This book is yet another of the Choose Your Own Adventures from R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps series and so, as always, you know roughly what to expect as you’re getting into it. I do have to say though, that this one in particular suffered from a fatal flaw. The choices that you’re given are misleading, and there seems to be no logic behind whether the decisions you make bring about ‘The End’ or not.

Still, I’m sure it’s decent enough if you’re eight years old, and the fact that you can’t really ‘play‘ it and that it all feels kind of random is potentially a good thing. It means you’ll re-read it and see different endings.

R. L. Stine

Click here to buy Under the Magician’s Spell.

Benjamin Ludwig – The Original Ginny Moon | Review

Title: The Original Ginny Moon

Author: Benjamin Ludwig

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 364

Rating: 5*/5

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

Benjamin Ludwig – The Original Ginny Moon

This book exceeded my expectations and made me rethink the way I think about things. It’s well-deserving of a five-star review because the author is able to use language in a way that brings autism to life, which is why it’s earned comparisons to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Personally, I think it does a better job of it, and Ludwig’s Ginny Moon is quite the character – more three dimensional than most other characters, and that’s a testament to the strength of Ludwig’s writing.

Loosely speaking, the book is told through the eyes of its protagonist, 14-year-old Ginny Moon. Ginny suffers from autism and she’s currently living with her forever parents, but she wants to find a way back to her abusive mother so that she can check on her Baby Doll. Along the way, she gets herself into plenty of trouble, but you can understand why she makes the choices that she makes, even if you don’t agree with them. And ultimately, that’s one of the strengths of this book – it puts you inside Ginny’s mind, and it gives you a great understanding of the way in which she sees things.

That all comes down to the skills of the writer, and so kudos to Ludwig for that – especially because this is his debut novel. He even nailed the little twist at the end, which I didn’t see coming but which made perfect sense as soon as it happened. That’s the hallmark of a good storyteller, and Stephen King does the same in many of his books. Benjamin Ludwig is not Stephen King, but he is Benjamin Ludwig – and that’s a name that you can expect to hear more from in the coming years.

This, then, is the impressive start to what I’m sure will be a successful career. Better still, it’s the kind of book that we all should read, because it helps us to relate and understand.