Rating: 
Summary: BORING
Review: The headline is my teenage daughter's one word review of this book. I thought she was being unfair until I tried to read it myself. No wonder she didn't like it! There was nothing and no one in it she could relate to. My daughter and her friends are nothing like the girls in this book. Sure, it's supposed to be a fantasy, but shouldn't the characters have more than one-dimension? And shouldn't something interesting happen? I have to echo my daughter - this book was BORING.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting charactors that desrvea better story..
Review: The main charactor of Gentian,(whom I liked,although she(and her group,the ironically named Giant Ants", were a bit precocious for my taste at times) are an unusual group of young girls who'd rather discuss Shakespeare than boys & fashion. A highly mysterious (and handsome)boy,Dominic ,shows up in the neighborhood in time to shake up Gentian's placid existance. His amibiguity and Time Machine project kept me reading.Unfortunately,the project, like the book,never seems to take off and a strange spell(or curse?) that they father placed on his daughters so they would'nt ever want to run off with any handsome,intriguing young men sends the story off in an unsatifying direction(which,hopefully. I certainly he lifts by the time they're of age! ) Overall,this book was less about fantasy and more like an updated Little Women(whom the author refers quite a bit) Not would you'd expect,but not terrible either,just a bit of let-down.
Rating: 
Summary: these are not real people
Review: the only other book of pamela dean's i've ever read was TAM LIN, and this one has the same fault -- the people aren't real. they are much too articulate and literary, and it's as if dean is standing back from them with a copy of BARTLETT'S. i don't know any teenaged girls like gentian and her friends. i wonder what pamela dean was like as a teenager.
Rating: 
Summary: Welcome back to "Normal"
Review: This book was like reading a dream. It seemed to be one of those young adult books where everything is based upon the main character's coming of age in a universe skewed just a little crueler and more pointedly pessimistic than reality ... at first. However, I found the book in the science fiction section and it was marked fantasy, so I stuck it out. When I was through, I felt as though my world had been turned inside out and reality was in the book, where I ought to be, and I was in the dream, where I really didn't want to be. It intrigued and delighted me, and, in the places where I would normally have skipped text or description, I found myself forced to read onward. The prose was tightly woven and the references, though many, were appropriate. It reminded me of a Mary Gentle text, yet it was much more powerful and reverberating, in the same way that Patricia McKillip's writing can be memorable. I suggest it to anyone liking to curl up with a deeply intricate heroine and a masterful case of enchantment. After I finished it, I read it again, then I went out and found other books by Dean ... just to see if she wrote like that all the time. She does.
Rating:
Summary: Please judge her by Tam Lin, not this one!
Review: When I finished Tam Lin, I felt like I had been spun around with my eyes closed - I was dizzy, but profoundly changed from how I had been before. When I finished Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary, I felt almost the same way - dizzy, but slightly ill. Pamela Dean has so much more potential than she exhibits here!The characters are bizarre and lovely, the atmosphere enchanting, the literary quotes intriguing but overwhelming, and the plot weak. When I read the last page, I thought, "Surely there must be more!" The ending was akin to "And then I woke up; it had all been a dream." I liked most of the characters, but I want more Juniper and less Gentian. The Giant Ants are interesting, but with the exception of Becky, are less than three-dimensional. The prose is beautiful and humorous and lively, but ultimately is not enough to carry the novel past the poor ending. I liked Dominic, and as I read, I thought I understood his motivation, but as it turned out, I never got the chance to find out. He was never allowed to explain himself or his actions. The ending was simultaneously too easy and too harsh. Please do yourself a favor and read Tam Lin before you attempt this one!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: You don't read Pamela Dean books, you fall into them and forget the world. She remembers what it feels like to be a child, and especially what it feels like to be a bright girl. Can't wait for her next book.
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