Hello Everyone :)
I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.
The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson:
Source: Library
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Mystery
Series: Truly Devious
Synopsis:
All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.
For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.
The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
After failing to be wowed by Truly Devious, especially with how much I'd been anticipating it, I didn't have the greatest expectations for The Vanishing Stair. However, I was still interested enough in the story to want to go ahead and pick up, and I was hopeful that this one would turn the story around for me, and have me more invested into the series.
However, that unfortunately did not end up happening, and I actually ended up disliking this second release even more than I did the first.
What I Did Like:
The numerous secondary characters that Stevie comes into contact with, especially Nate. I found they added more dimension to the story, and I enjoyed the chapters more that included her interacting with them.
The setting: I really love how much detail Maureen Johnson put into the setting of Ellingham Academy, and it really does give off the perfect mystery vibe type of atmosphere.
What I Didn't Like:
When the first book ended on a huge cliffhanger, I was annoyed but I got over it because I honestly thought this was only going to be a duology. However, when this book ended in the same way, my annoyance level rose considerably. One of my biggest pet peeves with both books so far in this series is that it feels like they're both stuffed with filler content just to keep the story moving along. Both titles took me quite awhile to get through as so much of the content is mindless and boring, and I only found about a hundred pages or so of The Hidden Stair to truly be useful prose that kept me entertained. Dragging a story that could have easily been wrapped up in book into a now trilogy is not something I'm a fan of, and it really doesn't feel necessary.
The romance between Stevie and David is weird, and most often, downright toxic, and I have no idea what the author was thinking with including it. I honestly don't think this story would have needed a romance to begin with, but if she absolutely had to incorporate one, I definitely think their could have been a better candidate than David.
And speaking of David, I couldn't stand the way that Stevie changes her opinion about him solely based on learning who his dad is. If she wanted to have issues with him because she's finally figured out that he's creepy and weird, and dragging her onto a path she doesn't need to be on, well then fine. But making her whole now wariness about him because of his dad just made no sense to me. In fact, Stevie's whole fascination with hating Edward King in the first place was really not explained well enough for me to truly believe it. In this title she goes so far as to start imagining his death while she's on a plane ride with him, and that was taking things way too far in my opinion.
We don't get a lot of answers in this book, as, like I mentioned above, it's being dragged into a trilogy, but the ones we did get I found so underwhelming. Even though I didn't love the first book, I was still interested in seeing how the mystery was going to unfold, and what does unfold in this book just didn't do it for me. I really hope the third book is going to change this fact.
All in all, I found this title to be a complete disappointment, and at this rate, the third title is going to have to be pretty downright spectacular to redeem this series in my eyes. I didn't find the writing the greatest, the descriptive repetition that's constantly included started to grate on my nerves, and I hated how Stevie only interacts with her friends when there's something she needs from them.
Lastly, I didn't appreciate the inclusion of the foul language. This irritates me to no end, especially in a YA novel where it really has no business being in the first place. So often it holds no purpose to the actual story, and the story could have been told better without it in the first place.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐
I had such high hopes for this YA mystery series, but sadly, it has yet to live up to any of them.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day.
I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.
The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson:
Source: Library
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: January 22nd, 2019
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Mystery
Series: Truly Devious
Synopsis:
All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.
For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put.
The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.
(synopsis from goodreads)
My Review:
After failing to be wowed by Truly Devious, especially with how much I'd been anticipating it, I didn't have the greatest expectations for The Vanishing Stair. However, I was still interested enough in the story to want to go ahead and pick up, and I was hopeful that this one would turn the story around for me, and have me more invested into the series.
However, that unfortunately did not end up happening, and I actually ended up disliking this second release even more than I did the first.
What I Did Like:
The numerous secondary characters that Stevie comes into contact with, especially Nate. I found they added more dimension to the story, and I enjoyed the chapters more that included her interacting with them.
The setting: I really love how much detail Maureen Johnson put into the setting of Ellingham Academy, and it really does give off the perfect mystery vibe type of atmosphere.
What I Didn't Like:
When the first book ended on a huge cliffhanger, I was annoyed but I got over it because I honestly thought this was only going to be a duology. However, when this book ended in the same way, my annoyance level rose considerably. One of my biggest pet peeves with both books so far in this series is that it feels like they're both stuffed with filler content just to keep the story moving along. Both titles took me quite awhile to get through as so much of the content is mindless and boring, and I only found about a hundred pages or so of The Hidden Stair to truly be useful prose that kept me entertained. Dragging a story that could have easily been wrapped up in book into a now trilogy is not something I'm a fan of, and it really doesn't feel necessary.
The romance between Stevie and David is weird, and most often, downright toxic, and I have no idea what the author was thinking with including it. I honestly don't think this story would have needed a romance to begin with, but if she absolutely had to incorporate one, I definitely think their could have been a better candidate than David.
And speaking of David, I couldn't stand the way that Stevie changes her opinion about him solely based on learning who his dad is. If she wanted to have issues with him because she's finally figured out that he's creepy and weird, and dragging her onto a path she doesn't need to be on, well then fine. But making her whole now wariness about him because of his dad just made no sense to me. In fact, Stevie's whole fascination with hating Edward King in the first place was really not explained well enough for me to truly believe it. In this title she goes so far as to start imagining his death while she's on a plane ride with him, and that was taking things way too far in my opinion.
We don't get a lot of answers in this book, as, like I mentioned above, it's being dragged into a trilogy, but the ones we did get I found so underwhelming. Even though I didn't love the first book, I was still interested in seeing how the mystery was going to unfold, and what does unfold in this book just didn't do it for me. I really hope the third book is going to change this fact.
All in all, I found this title to be a complete disappointment, and at this rate, the third title is going to have to be pretty downright spectacular to redeem this series in my eyes. I didn't find the writing the greatest, the descriptive repetition that's constantly included started to grate on my nerves, and I hated how Stevie only interacts with her friends when there's something she needs from them.
Lastly, I didn't appreciate the inclusion of the foul language. This irritates me to no end, especially in a YA novel where it really has no business being in the first place. So often it holds no purpose to the actual story, and the story could have been told better without it in the first place.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐
I had such high hopes for this YA mystery series, but sadly, it has yet to live up to any of them.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day.
Comments
Post a Comment