Antony's Library #8 - The Sleeping Sword by Michael Morpurgo
Started Reading: 21st August 2016
Finished Reading: 21st August 2016
Number of Pages: 128
First Published: May 2008
This review may contain spoilers. You have been warned!
I chose this book for the holiday because I knew it was going to be a lighter read and that it was a children's book. What I did not realise, was just how light it was going to be and how young the intended audience was (especially when The Hobbit is considered by many to be a children's book and indeed I first read it when I was around 9).
For that reason, I was extremely surprised when I finished it on the same day that I started it. However, after all the heavy reading that I had done these past few months, a break was nice and I was still able to tick it off my reading challenge.
It is hard for me to judge the book fairly as it was intended for a younger audience but I really liked the premise of the story.
In some ways, it is quite bold exposing a young audience to harshness of somebody losing their vision, especially somebody who is a child themselves. This takes up the bulk of the book and so it really goes into detail. It also exposes themes such as suicide which I thought was very deep.
As for the fantasy side of the story, I didn't really get it and it was kind of rushed. Like I said, most of the book focussed on the 'real world' issues and although I liked the premise of him going on a quest to return a sword, I did feel disappointed at just how easy it was.
Not much more to say. Like I said, it is a children's book, so it is unfair for me to judge too harshly. But I did think it did a great job exposing children to some really deep - and perhaps even dark - issues.
Next Book
The next book on my list is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Amazon has been recommending this to me for most of the year and I have been holding off. However, I kept seeing people on holiday reading it, so I decided to give it a go. I think it's psychological thriller which I have had mixed results with so far.