Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle: 10/29/15

Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle by George Hagen is an urban fantasy about a boy learning his family's connection to a society of magical ravens. But there's a heavy price to pay and previous members of his family have gone missing because of it.

Besides being told from Gabriel's point of view, there are also the ravens who are frankly avian embodiments of the worst of American racism. Basically ravens have developed a coded language based on riddles to hide their xenophobia.

Of course our hero Gabriel loves riddles, word games, codes, and other puzzles. Mind you he doesn't have any other social skills so he's the perfect patsy for these "brave" ravens. Really, for a kid who we are told over and over again is really smart, really isn't. Beware, dear reader, of informed attributes.

But the thing that finally did me in and earned this book a "did not finish" one star was its tone. Though the book is 384 pages, it's written at a level more appropriate not for middle graders but for second graders. This book might as well be Junie B. Jones's idiot cousin meets some ravens.

One star

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