Review: Tower "A Fun Read For Bellairs Fans"

Book review: The Tower at the End of the WorldThe Tower at the End of the World is yet another great plot by Brad Strickland utilizing the late John Bellairs's characters. While definitely not as good as some of Strickland's past attempts (most notably the books he completed such as The Ghost in the Mirror, or even his own The Hand of the Necromancer), it's still a fun read for Bellairs fans. For those of you who liked the immensely popular The House With a Clock in its Walls (and who didn't?), you'll be happy to know that this adventure is a sort of sequel with a mysterious, though rather one dimensional villain with a very familiar name. Lewis Barnavelt is back along with Uncle Jonathan and all their friends.

The new dust jacket illustration and frontispiece within are marvelous, catching the essence of the late Edward Gorey's style very well. But the publishers needs to let S. D. Schindler do the entire dust wrapper, not just the front! One of the special aspects of the original Bellairs novels were the illustrations - you've got an artist who can do them almost as good as Edward Gorey, so please let him do the entire jacket!

I have one small gripe. While The Tower at the End of the World is a lot of fun, Brad Strickland seems to be sticking to the same old formula a little too much. This is unfortunate. The past three or four stories have all been basically the same, only in different locales and with different characters. That's why I believe The Hand of the Necromancer is one of Strickland's best since he used some original ideas and even was bold enough to introduce a new character. Even though many of John Bellairs's novels were similar, they were never totally similar, if you know what I mean; they each had original elements that made them interesting and unique to read. Brad Strickland needs to incorporate some totally unique elements himself.

And a note to Dial: we need more 160 to 170 pagers, not 145!

Davis Bass