Book Review: Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace by Jonathan Friesen.

Chloe hates the name-calling. She is sick of being taunted. It isn’t her fault she has scars on her face. Instead of facing her insecurity head on, she hides away in her great grandfather’s movie theater, Aldo’s  Movie Palace. When a strange boy comes in, she is immediately curious about his background. In a series of freak accidents, she is accidentally taken into his screenplay, “Retinya.” Once there, she is forced to save the entire underworld from the evil Vapor,  and help the kingdom of Retinya remember.

I liked:

• The character development.  It was definitely among some of the better character development skills I have seen, and the characters background stories were very well rounded.
• The vivid descriptions. Obviously, until you read the book, you won’t understand the importance of the descriptions. They are pretty fantastic. It painted an excellent picture  for the reader.

I disliked:

• The lack of God. I have always known Zondervan to be a Christian company, but you wouldn’t know from reading this book. Although there are veiled references to analogies of God and the devil, there weren’t enough for me to consider this a “Christian” book. That said, if this was , meant to be a secular book, it did a good job of introducing the idea of good and evil to a secular society.
• The sadness. It was really sad. If it were a book for adults, I would understand (kind of) but this is a book for ages 10+. I hate it when people die in books. Especially when they are sick.

Overall, I did not love the book, but I didn't abhor it. Although it had its pros, it also had some cons. I would not recommend this book to anyone under age 13, solely because of the death. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good fantasy read.

This book was given to me free in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated are completely my own.