Rating: 
Summary: a lovely fantasy
Review: a delightful and refreshing fantasy novel. The characters are quite intriguing and full of personality. the descriptions jan siegel uses in decribing the mythical characters helps you imagine the rock man and others. I look forward to reading the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: A pretty good book, but hardly flawless. I'm not certain why so many people classify it as a kids' fantasy book -- look at the bottom of the page, where it says "Fantasy - General." Perhaps it's the plot similarity to such books as "Dark is Rising."The sixteen-year-old heroine, Fern, is an intelligent and grounded young woman who is staying with her brother, while her father is off in the US. Also staying there with Fern and Will is Alison, a woman who might be a witch... Strange occurrances crop up around the old house, and a hermit called the "Watcher" warns Fern of Alison's intentions. Alison is searching for the Key to the sunken city of Atlantis, that would allow a living mortal to enter death -- without dying him/herself. Fern has a strange power from Atlantean heritage, that allows her to search for the Key - and to combat Alison/Alimond, and a man named Javier Holt. What follows is a very intriguing quest for Atlantis. I found that Siegal's prose sometimes got a bit overwrought and overdetailed, though it had some truly beautiful imagery. And she managed to keep the much-drawn-on idea of Atlantis from becoming yet another seen-that-done-that tale. Unfortunately, the last third dragged a bit and the climax was rather... sputtery. It could have used more work. What I didn't like was the idea of a 16-year-old making love to an older man on a beach. The language was not explicit or tawdry, it was very poetic in fact. However, the idea of it is rather icky in itself, and I found the romance factor irrelevent and distracting. It's a pretty good book, hardly the best I've seen. But it is definitely worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: A pretty good book, but hardly flawless. I'm not certain why so many people classify it as a kids' fantasy book -- look at the bottom of the page, where it says "Fantasy - General." Perhaps it's the plot similarity to such books as "Dark is Rising." The sixteen-year-old heroine, Fern, is an intelligent and grounded young woman who is staying with her brother, while her father is off in the US. Also staying there with Fern and Will is Alison, a woman who might be a witch... Strange occurrances crop up around the old house, and a hermit called the "Watcher" warns Fern of Alison's intentions. Alison is searching for the Key to the sunken city of Atlantis, that would allow a living mortal to enter death -- without dying him/herself. Fern has a strange power from Atlantean heritage, that allows her to search for the Key - and to combat Alison/Alimond, and a man named Javier Holt. What follows is a very intriguing quest for Atlantis. I found that Siegal's prose sometimes got a bit overwrought and overdetailed, though it had some truly beautiful imagery. And she managed to keep the much-drawn-on idea of Atlantis from becoming yet another seen-that-done-that tale. Unfortunately, the last third dragged a bit and the climax was rather... sputtery. It could have used more work. What I didn't like was the idea of a 16-year-old making love to an older man on a beach. The language was not explicit or tawdry, it was very poetic in fact. However, the idea of it is rather icky in itself, and I found the romance factor irrelevent and distracting. It's a pretty good book, hardly the best I've seen. But it is definitely worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: A Necessary Circle
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that it seemed as if the bookwas broken into two stories, but I believe that it serves a thematicpurpose. I appreciate the way that the author brought us full circle (or perhaps only 180 degrees?)with the introduction of a storm-tossed ship from the viewpoint of a mermaid reveling in the chaos (what happened to her by the way?) to the viewpoint of the sailor the mermaid destroys in that same storm at the end of the novel. We are given several clues throughout the novel about the identity of the sailor she kills, but confirming his identity and knowing what he was thinking made the situation more tragic. This theme of seeing the same situation from a different viewpoint is continued throughout the novel (ex. the two sorceresses on either side of the portal both bent on using the key) and I think the way that the story appears broken into two parts is necessary. Fern is looking for the key in both the English countryside and in Atlantis, and essentially, both stories culminate at the same time -- only her position and viewpoint have changed. By the end of the novel, you are able to see the connections that all the events had to each other. All in all, a good read. I enjoyed it and can't wait for the sequal
Rating:
Summary: A very good book, but a bit difficult of a read
Review: I am almost done with this book, and I think it is very good. I would probably call it a page turner. I love these kinds of "urban fantasies", although a Charles DeLint novel it isn't. My only complaint is it is sometimes really hard to follow,...not in plot but the author quite often seems to really go overboard on the verbage, so much so that I've skimmed over some of those paragraphs or had to reread it because it was too hard to understand and I really didn't feel like sitting there slowing down to understand what she was saying in her descriptions. The story itself is good and Atlantis itself is very fascinating. I will buy the sequel to this book when it comes out in July, but please, Ms. Siegel, keep the wording a little lighter and less verbose! (By the way, I am 33 and I would not exactly call this a children's book, as I've seen some people call it. For instance, the language is at a higher level. The only thing juvenile about it is that the heroine is 16 years old. But glad it's a girl!)
Rating: 
Summary: Promising start, but overall disappointing
Review: I enjoy books that portray magic in a modern setting, so I was intrigued by the promise of this book. The author does a good job of stage-setting, weaving strange happenings and an increasing sense of magic and mystery into the otherwise mundane setting of the English countryside. Unfortunately, just as the magic begins to manifest, the main character is sent off to ancient Atlantis, on yet another variant of the "teenager is the chosen one who must save the world." The book never really recovers from the change of setting, and any sense of reality or character development is lost. The are other authors who do a much better job of sustaining both the sense of magic and the development of interesting, believable characters.
Rating:
Summary: Promising start, but overall disappointing
Review: I enjoy books that portray magic in a modern setting, so I was intrigued by the promise of this book. The author does a good job of stage-setting, weaving strange happenings and an increasing sense of magic and mystery into the otherwise mundane setting of the English countryside. Unfortunately, just as the magic begins to manifest, the main character is sent off to ancient Atlantis, on yet another variant of the "teenager is the chosen one who must save the world." The book never really recovers from the change of setting, and any sense of reality or character development is lost. The are other authors who do a much better job of sustaining both the sense of magic and the development of interesting, believable characters.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Enjoyable
Review: I enjoyed this book so much I ordered the sequel from amazon.co.uk (since the sequel is, at present, unavailable in the US). A great segue for readers (of almost all ages--there is only one truly adult passage in the book) of Harry Potter into the realm of more adult fantasy. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Really good book.
Review: I haven't read to many books that involve Atlantis (in the past and present), present day England, Witches and Wizards, Ghosts, werewolves, mermaids and other creatures out of legend. And I have never read a book that pulls it off as well as this one. This book is like a modern fairy tale and the story is wonderful starting at page one and doesn't let up until the end. I really became attached to the characters and thought they were well written. The dialouge was sharp and Siegal does wonders with her very descriptive brand of writing.
I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: best book i've read all summer!!!
Review: i loved this book! the plot started to move faster and faster until i couldn't put the book down if i wanted to. the story made complete sense and yet went plunging into atlantis and immense fantasy. the characters are well written and believeable. i recommend this book to anyone who loves a new twist on things.
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