Green Man Review: Raising the Griffin, by Melissa Wyatt

A revisionist YA novel about an English schoolboy who becomes crown prince of a small Ruritanian country. THE PRINCESS DIARIES it ain't.

http://greenmanreview.com/book/book%5Fwyatt%5Fraisingthegriffin.html

I'm not terribly happy with this review, because to write about both the parts I liked best and the parts I had the biggest qualms about would have involved enormous, book-destroying spoilers. I almost cut the part about Isabelle being bad news, but decided that was sufficiently obvious once she's introduced that it could stay. But the Madonna/whore issue is only tangentially related to my real philosophical problem with the book. And the element which lifts the book way above the pack is something I didn't even want to hint at.

If you decide to read the book, don't read _anything_ about it besides my review.

Green Man Review: Raising the Griffin, by Melissa Wyatt

A revisionist YA novel about an English schoolboy who becomes crown prince of a small Ruritanian country. THE PRINCESS DIARIES it ain't.

http://greenmanreview.com/book/book%5Fwyatt%5Fraisingthegriffin.html

I'm not terribly happy with this review, because to write about both the parts I liked best and the parts I had the biggest qualms about would have involved enormous, book-destroying spoilers. I almost cut the part about Isabelle being bad news, but decided that was sufficiently obvious once she's introduced that it could stay. But the Madonna/whore issue is only tangentially related to my real philosophical problem with the book. And the element which lifts the book way above the pack is something I didn't even want to hint at.

If you decide to read the book, don't read _anything_ about it besides my review.

Unspeakable

My friend Raven and I went to see M. Night Shyamalan's (Best Name Ever) THE VILLAGE tonight. While on the escalator to the theatre, we overheard this conversation:

White-Haired Woman Behind Us: "I hope no one here is going to see THE VILLAGE. My God, what an awful movie."

Gray-Haired Woman Behind Us: "Yes, terrible!"

Me and Raven: look at each other-- uh-oh.

Me: "Uh, we already bought our tickets. Is it really that bad?"

White-Haired Woman: "Oh, dear."

Gray-Haired Woman: "Everybody... Talks... Like... This."

Me and Raven: "Uh-oh."

CUT TO:

Ten minutes before the end of the movie.

Man in audience, loud: "I HATE this movie!"

Everyone else in audience: Cheers and applause.

Unspeakable

My friend Raven and I went to see M. Night Shyamalan's (Best Name Ever) THE VILLAGE tonight. While on the escalator to the theatre, we overheard this conversation:

White-Haired Woman Behind Us: "I hope no one here is going to see THE VILLAGE. My God, what an awful movie."

Gray-Haired Woman Behind Us: "Yes, terrible!"

Me and Raven: look at each other-- uh-oh.

Me: "Uh, we already bought our tickets. Is it really that bad?"

White-Haired Woman: "Oh, dear."

Gray-Haired Woman: "Everybody... Talks... Like... This."

Me and Raven: "Uh-oh."

CUT TO:

Ten minutes before the end of the movie.

Man in audience, loud: "I HATE this movie!"

Everyone else in audience: Cheers and applause.