the Land of Elyon series: book four
genre: children’s. fantasy. christianlit.
The Review
What a surprise! Stargazer is a great end to the Land of Elyon series. I absolutely fell in love with the Dark Hills Divide and was then extremely disappointed in the books that followed. However, Stargazer is so good it almost makes up for the previous three.
Characters:
Alexa is so much more mature in this final book. She is directly responsible for almost every outcome in this story (which was one of my main issues with the previous books) and really comes into her own. We see her do a lot of things in Stargazer that she would never have done in the earlier books. I have a few more comments on this in the spoilers section below.
The other characters are just as well-rounded. The other characters are just as well-rounded. Yipes, Matilda, Marcus, and the ever present cast of animal characters are interesting, unique, and adorable (Grump was one of my favorites even though he barely spoke at all).
Set-Up:
The year between Into the Mist and Stargazer must have been spent doing an extensive amount of writing exercises or something, because Carman’s writing is just that much better! The wording is more mature, more filling, and more entertaining. Stargazer doesn’t feel so much as a children’s book, as a young adult adventure.
However, the ending wasn’t quite as good as the rest of Stargazer. I felt like Carman sort of lost his groove and almost reverted back to the writing of the previous books. I won’t spoil too much, but the final climax felt corny and kind of like a cop-out. It’s also super quick and some long-distance journeys take little to no time at all.
That being said, Stargazer is definitely a great read. Was it worth reading Through the Valley of Thorns , the Tenth City , and Into the Mist ? I’m not so sure, you tell me.
Spoilers below: highlight text block to view
Alexa finding her “home” in the air was something I found to be really satisfying and might have been the best part of the book/series as a whole. It felt right with Thomas and Roland Warvold being masters of the land and sea (respectively) it was fun to see Alexa become the master of the sky.
approx read time: 4 days flat. Loved this one!
Rating: 4 out of 5 Screems™
Previous book in the series: Into the Mist
Ownership: this series has been donated to my local library!