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A review by emmareadstoomuch
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
5.0
Please read the following sentence as if I am singing it, joyfully:
IT’S THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLDDDDDD.
Also, I hope you mentally gave me a beautiful singing voice. I’m not saying I have one but I am saying that’s the polite thing to do.
Anyway: THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I love it so much oh my god. Unless you are new here (in which case, welcome and you have made a grave mistake), you know how I feel about middle grade. How I feel about middle grade is this: I LOVE IT.
Middle grade is like young adult if young adult wasn’t so dramatic, and didn’t have a million boring/dramatic/unnecessary subplots, and wasn’t legally required under the jurisdiction of the United Nations to contain a romance.
In other words, if everything that sucked so hard about YA didn’t exist.
A utopia!
Middle grade adventure is especially good, and this book is the most especially good example of the most especially good of the most especially good.
Even just writing about it makes me so happy I can barely type out rational thoughts!!! (Don’t say what else is new. Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it’s nice. See: the beginning of this review.)
The Mysterious Benedict Society is action-packed. It is also riddles-packed, and mystery-packed, and excitement-packed, and friendship-packed, and character development-packed, and knowledge-packed, and everything that is wonderful in this world-packed.
I loved it when I was ten. I loved it when I reread it in early high school. And I love it now, when my opinions are actually trustworthy. (Ten year old me liked every book she read and early high school me wore like 18 layers of mascara every day so don’t go around listening to either of them.)
Rereading this was a pleasure even while I was in the midst of a reading slump for the ages, which is proof that it’s good all the time no matter who you are!!
It’s also pretty shockingly diverse, for 2007. Like, could give most YA fantasy published in 2018 a run for its money.
The friendships and family in this are so wonderful, and the characters themselves are lil sweethearts you just want to hug, and the whole thing is such a tension-filled action-packed mind-blowing event that you’ll never want it to end.
Now I want to reread the sequels.
Bottom line: THIS BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK AND I RECOMMEND IT UNIVERSALLY. Also, by “recommend,” I mean “will foist it upon you by force if necessary.”
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currently-reading updates
IS THERE A BOOK IN THE WORLD I LOVE MORE THAN THIS BOOK?
the answer: probably no.
buddy (re)read with 1/3 of my kik inbox, even tho i'm not 100% sure if she's started yet
IT’S THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLDDDDDD.
Also, I hope you mentally gave me a beautiful singing voice. I’m not saying I have one but I am saying that’s the polite thing to do.
Anyway: THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I love it so much oh my god. Unless you are new here (in which case, welcome and you have made a grave mistake), you know how I feel about middle grade. How I feel about middle grade is this: I LOVE IT.
Middle grade is like young adult if young adult wasn’t so dramatic, and didn’t have a million boring/dramatic/unnecessary subplots, and wasn’t legally required under the jurisdiction of the United Nations to contain a romance.
In other words, if everything that sucked so hard about YA didn’t exist.
A utopia!
Middle grade adventure is especially good, and this book is the most especially good example of the most especially good of the most especially good.
Even just writing about it makes me so happy I can barely type out rational thoughts!!! (Don’t say what else is new. Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it’s nice. See: the beginning of this review.)
The Mysterious Benedict Society is action-packed. It is also riddles-packed, and mystery-packed, and excitement-packed, and friendship-packed, and character development-packed, and knowledge-packed, and everything that is wonderful in this world-packed.
I loved it when I was ten. I loved it when I reread it in early high school. And I love it now, when my opinions are actually trustworthy. (Ten year old me liked every book she read and early high school me wore like 18 layers of mascara every day so don’t go around listening to either of them.)
Rereading this was a pleasure even while I was in the midst of a reading slump for the ages, which is proof that it’s good all the time no matter who you are!!
It’s also pretty shockingly diverse, for 2007. Like, could give most YA fantasy published in 2018 a run for its money.
The friendships and family in this are so wonderful, and the characters themselves are lil sweethearts you just want to hug, and the whole thing is such a tension-filled action-packed mind-blowing event that you’ll never want it to end.
Now I want to reread the sequels.
Bottom line: THIS BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK AND I RECOMMEND IT UNIVERSALLY. Also, by “recommend,” I mean “will foist it upon you by force if necessary.”
--------------------
currently-reading updates
IS THERE A BOOK IN THE WORLD I LOVE MORE THAN THIS BOOK?
the answer: probably no.
buddy (re)read with 1/3 of my kik inbox, even tho i'm not 100% sure if she's started yet