The Name of This Book is Secret by Psuedonymous Bosch

If this were a normal cover for a normal book, I would tell you that this book is fantastic! Gripping! (According to their covers, all books are fantastic and gripping.) You’d meet the brave young heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest. * And you’d hear about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. If this were a normal book, I would brag about the hair-raising adventures that follow – about the brain-twisting riddles Cass and Max-Ernest solve and the nefarious villains they face. But, sadly, I can’t tell you about any of those things: they might make you want to read the book.

You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story is, too. For it concerns a secret – a big secret – that has been tormenting people like you for over...oh no! Did I just mention the secret? Then it’s too late.

I’m afraid nothing will stop you now. Open the book if you must. But, please, tell no one.

With apologies, Pseud. Bosch

*not their real names

(from book cover)

Review

I have heard really great things about this book, so when Michelle and I decided to read it together, I was pretty excited. I did not stay excited for long. Unfortunately, this book did not do anything for me. It was interesting and I’m sure it is a book that children would absolutely love, but I was not gripped in the least. I did not find myself wanting to pick up the book at all and in fact had to force myself to pick it up so I could finish it and move on to my next read.

The characters in this story were fine, but I did not find myself attached to them at all. There were some humorous moments with them, but lack of connection with them resulted in not really caring where the story went and what happened. I have no idea where the story took place (there is not a whole lot of specific information the author gives), so I did not have a connection with the setting. I did like, however, that Cass’s grandfathers live in an old fire hall. That’s pretty cool.

I think if I was a child I may have enjoyed this book. I think I would enjoy the mystery, the not knowing, I would be super curious as to what this secret is, and I’d want to read the rest of the series. If any of you know a child around 10-12 I would suggest you tell them about this book. For me, it is not one that crosses-over well between adults and children. I give this book a 2/5.

Michelle's Review

Sounds pretty cool, right? A woman at work read it, said it was great.  There was great buzz about it and it flew off the shelves.  Tammy and I decided it would be our first together read and I was SO EXCITED!!!  If I had to describe this book in one word it would be ‘underwhelming’. I tried so hard to really like this book, but I honestly just did not. 

I am not a fan of books that are narrated by a third person.  Especially when that person is always telling me to stop reading the book, and to put it down and forget about it.  I think maybe in this case I should have listened.  Surprisingly it did not get on my nerves as much as it usually does, but I am still not a fan. I also found that I just could not get into the book because the narrator would not really tell us anything about the characters.  It was all a big secret so he told us to imagine what we wanted to imagine, change their names if we wanted, image it happening in our own town, etc.  That added to my inability to really get into the book, it is just not something I like.

I am the type of person who likes to go into a book blind and I did that with this book.  I didn’t really know what it was about and I must say that I still didn’t really see the point of the book until about half way through it. By then it was too late, I just could not get into it anymore.  I did not care about the characters, and I did not care about this secret.  There was a bit of good action at the end, but I was so indifferent towards it that it was not exciting.

Would I recommend this book to others? Absolutely.  I would love to hear that people enjoyed it; I am just not one of those people.  This is the first in a series and I can pretty confidently say that I will not be reading any more.  But if you love it please tell me why, I would love to hear what others saw that I did not.

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Now you have 2 reviews for the same book and you can decide for yourself if it something you would like to try or maybe you know someone else who would enjoy it! I have included the pictures of the other books in the series (not in order.)

Happy Reading!!!