Title: Midnight for Charlie Bone
Author: Jenny Nimmo
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
I purchased this ebook and chose to do an honest and unbiased review. Jenny Nimmo and Orchard Books neither requested nor are associated with this review.
The fabulous powers of the Red King were passed down through his descendants, after turning up quite unexpectedly, in someone who had no idea where they came from. This is what happened to Charlie Bone, and to some of the children he met behind the grim, gray walls of Bloor's Academy.
His scheming aunts decide to send him to Bloor Academy, a school for geniuses where he uses his gifts to discover the truth despite all the dangers that lie ahead.
Here's What I Thought:
I frequently read YA and really enjoy a lot of those books. I don't, however, normally read middle grade. My reason for choosing to read this series is that the books were first released around the time that I would have read middle grade, but the series wasn't complete until I was well past reading this level of book. I kept pondering the series and needed closure. Hence, I will be throwing in a book or two of the series every now and then to find out how it all ends.
As I don't typically read middle grade, it's hard for me to fairly review it. The plot was simplistic. The prose was clunky. Everything happened at a breakneck pace without much explanation of how we got from point A to point B. But as it's a middle grade book, this is exactly what I would expect. The target age group doesn't have the attention span for a lot of detail. I mentioned in my review for The Dragon Reborn that I never use to have the patience for those lengthy descriptions and elaborations and it wasn't until I got much older that I truly had an appreciation for it. So these complaints make sense.
The other thing that I found myself doing that I just kind of think was funny was that I was identifying more with the adults and critiquing their reactions to children doing incredibly dangerous things. Like, "Sure! There is nothing wrong with your 10 year old son running around town investigating an eight year old mystery of a stolen baby... That's totally legit parenting!" Or in Benjamin's case, "Yes, it's completely normal that you are pretty much living on your own at 10 years old because your parents seem to work literally 24/7." Needless to say, I did not have that reaction my first time reading this book when I was 11. This isn't so much an issue with the book itself, but just a note on how we really do grow up!
Despite these things, I really did enjoy the book. The magic system is interesting and I really wish it would take more of a center stage. Those that are endowed with gifts are all descendants of the Red King, a magician with many talents--although his descendants only seem to inherit one gift. Charlie can hear photographs, Billy can talk to animals, Gabriel can feel emotions in clothes, Manfred can hypnotize, and so on. I think the concept of hearing pictures is so interesting because I really haven't seen it anywhere else. I really hope that future books will expand on this magic system more. I also enjoyed the plot and solving the mystery of what happened to the baby that was traded for a suitcase.
I do think that there were several elements that were borrowed from other popular series such as Harry Potter. Bloor's Academy is essentially Hogwarts that allows muggles as long as they are geniuses. The Matron is a female version of Filch. Although Charlie does have his mother and nice grandmother, Grandma Bone and her sisters treat Charlie similar to how Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treat Harry. The only difference here is that Grandma Bone and her sisters treat Charlie like they do in the beginning because they believe him to be normal, whereas Harry is treated the way he is because he is not. In both series, it boils down to the families not thinking Charlie or Harry are fit to be considered a member of the family (even after Charlie discovers he's endowed). I'm sure there are other similarities as well, but that's what I could think of off the top of my head and I am not trying to do an in-depth analysis. So, there ya go! There are similarities between the two series.
I give this book three stars because, although there are some elements that seem to be very Harry Potterish and it seems immature with a simplistic plot, it was exactly what I expected it to be with the bonus of an interesting magic system. And I did enjoy the story itself, as well. Take my review with a grain of salt as I don't normally read middle grade books. I would recommend it as either a nostalgia read (us 90s babies seem to be all about the nastalgia don't we?) or as a book to read with your kids.
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