Review: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver and H. C. Chester

I had been excited to read this book for a long time. Because I adore middle grade books. And I thought this one looked oh so awesome. So yesterday I finally decided to start it. I did enjoy it a lot. But, sadly, I did not love this book. And that's depressing to me. But I liked it a lot. And I did like most of the characters.

But I just couldn't love it. So I have decided to give it three stars. It wasn't the best book. But it wasn't bad either. I found the writing to be pretty amazing. And the plot was exciting, at times. I liked that it was set long ago, though it is never told which year, which bothered me. I liked reading about the city.

This story is about four children. Thomas and Pippa are both twelve. And I liked them both a lot. Especially Thomas. I loved how he could fit into anything. How he could stretch his body so much. He was a bit weird, but I adored him. He was smart too, which I liked. And Pippa was pretty awesome too. I liked her a lot. Though I would have loved to get to know her gift a bit more. Felt like she could have done much more than she could, so yeah. I hope she learns how to control it. Then there was Sam and Max. Whom I don't know how old they are. And that bothered me too. But Sam was so cute. I liked him a lot. And his gift of strength was so awesome yet awful too. Max was interesting. But I did like her, somewhat :) Loved what her gift was.

I just don't know what to say about this book. I enjoyed reading it a lot. Yet I feel like I will forget it pretty fast, because I didn't love it. Which makes me a bit sad. Hmph. But I liked most of the book, as it did have some awesome parts. Like where these four children live. At a museum of freaks, owned by Mr. Dumfrey. I'm not sure I liked this man much, though he was kind and he took good care of the kids. But the museum I liked a lot. Lots of people lived there too, and they were all interesting to read about.

I liked how the kids grew closer in this book, as it turned out that they had not spent much time together at all before it. Which was a bit sad. But I liked reading about them together, as they grew pretty close, and they spent a lot of time together. They were all pretty adorable. Though some things I disliked, how Pippa and Max kept fighting all the time. It bothered me. It was just so silly too. But I liked how Sam started having feelings for Max. It was pretty cute. Yet too little of it at the same time.

But then there were some things that I didn't like. Like, I liked all the characters a lot. Yet I don't think I loved them at all. I just didn't care that much for any of them. Well, I think I loved Thomas, as he was impossible not to love. But still. I didn't love this book. Which is just so sad. But I liked it a lot. Which I keeps saying, lol. I'm just a bit conflicted about how I felt about it. Wish it had been better. There were a lot of characters in this one. Some I liked. Some I disliked a lot. But they were all interesting. Mostly.

One thing that I didn't like much at all were the mystery part of the book. It was supposed to be exciting and mysterious. Considering there are a lot of dead bodies showing up. Which I liked. But I did not like the mystery part at all. Because everything was so obvious. Yet no one noticed it. And that bothered me so, so much. It should have been exciting. Yet I saw all the twists so early on, as they were so obvious, yet none of the characters noticed it. Not even after it had been revealed. Ugh. It was a bit annoying.

Oh. I had to add one more thing after I finished writing my review. As there was one more thing that I liked a lot about this book. There is some gorgeous artwork inside. And they are all so pretty. I just wish there had been a lot more drawings. As I adore pretty artwork in books. And in this one it was pretty awesome. And the cover is all kinds of gorgeous too. And the book without the cover jacket is oh so beautiful. I adore looking at it. So despite not loving the book, I did love all the art. So much gorgeous.

I'm trying to think about what more to say about this book. I don't think there is much more I want to say about it. It was an easy and fast read. I did like it. But I didn't love it. There was this newspaper in this one, and it bothered me oh so much. So many lies. Yet no one did anything about it. So yeah. A lot of things bothered me. But I do still think that many might enjoy this book. Because it was somewhat adorable too. Thank you to the publisher for the Edelweiss copy, though I waited for my hardcover. <3

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