The Walkers kids used to have everything. A normal life, full of books for Cordelia, games for Brendan and pony dreams for Eleanor. That was before The Incident.
The Incident that made them leave their home and find a new place to live. The Incident that led them to Kristoff House. The kids know instantly something is up with the house. First, there's a shadowy figure watching them, darting away. All they can find is a stone statue. A statue that disappears, leaving a bald woman in its place, telling Bren to leave – now. And then there's the price – the house is beautiful, old, full of antiques. And yet it's cheaper than a flat. So what's going on?
Well, the children soon find out, as they are thrown into the middle of a tangle of dark secrets – and even darker magic. Trapped in a whole other world... Without their parents... And completely, utterly alone...
When I saw House of Secrets was written by Chris Columbus, I knew I had to read it. I mean, he's a movie legend. And Ned Vizzini? He's one of the writers of Teen Wolf – a show I absolutely adore. So it's safe to say that I had ridiculously high expectations of House of Secrets. And I must say, it lived up to them. It had all the action, adventure, suspense, fantasy, humour and family feel that I'd expect from these two authors. But by far the best quality was the fantastical world – oh, and the wonderfully odd sense of humour too. And my God, kids will love this! I just know they will. It's so exciting and accessible and enjoyable and is just a really fun, pretty easy read.
The siblings were all so brilliant. They sort of reminded me of the Baudelaire siblings from the Series of Unfortunate Events – in a brilliant way. They were all so wonderfully unique and smart. And I love the relationship the three of them had – it was so real and funny. Their bickering was just hilarious. Out of the three, I think Cordelia was my favourite – she was the one I connected with instantly, what with her being smart, amazingly logical and mature, plus, with Deal being a total book-lover-slash-geek, I could relate to her the most. I liked Brendan too – he was brave and funny, with his ideas being either pure genius or, well, not so much… And Eleanor was sweet and enthusiastic and funny, as well as being tough and brave and proving an eight-year-old could totally hold her own!
Yes, the characters were amazing – they all had real personalities, all these quirks that made them, them – ALL the characters, not just the siblings. A certain WWI pilot was amazing too, as was the absolutely terrifying villainess!
The writing was good – quite basic, but we must remember we're reading at a MG level and that that's to be expected. Nonetheless, everything was wonderfully described and I loved the wit and humour in the dialogue. Sometimes it felt a little stiff, maybe, but if I'm entirely honest, I think I only think that because I'm fussy. Either way, it didn't really detract from what I really loved about the book - i.e., the plot, the kids and, even though I also hate her, the villainess.
The plot, as expected from Columbus and Vizzini, was fast-paced and action packed. I loved that about it – how it was never dull. It was the kinda plot you could just see inside your head, playing out like a movie. It was really rather addictive. It was just so suspenseful and full of action. Plus, I never knew what was going to happen next or where the plot was going. I didn't even know who was going to die – I was shocked many times!
As I mentioned before, the best part of this book for me was the world. It was so amazing – so inventive and 3D. It was so awesome and cool and new. But I was a little shaky about the whole magic thing – like, how much magic is there in the real world – is there magic or is it just 'The Book'? But again: me being picky. I only started caring once I'd finished the book and knew how it all ended. It's really just my afterthought pickiness.
House of Secrets was an action packed book full of suspense, dark magic, witty siblings and, you guessed it, a house full of secrets. I was pulled right into the story and literally raced through the story, totally hooked and desperate to know what would happen next, how the plot would end (well but with a nice twisty cliffhanger that's left me desperate for more). I really enjoyed it and I've been left desperate for it to be made into a movie – directed by Columbus, of course. It would just kick freaking butt. But really, what else do you expect from Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini?
House of Secrets didn't exactly blow me away in the way I thought it would, but it did blow me away in ways I wasn't expecting. I really did enjoy the story and definitely recommend it – especially to younger readers and us older ones who just want a good old fashioned fantasy adventure romp!
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• This article was amended on 15 April 2013. The original misspelled Ned Vizzini's name as Zizzini and implied that he was the sole writer of MTV's show Teen Wolf rather than one of a team. These have both been corrected.
