For anyone who loves fairy tales with a twist, the Rondo series is the perfect way to escape to a world of magic and mystery. Rodda creates a new layer to the classic formula, drawing from familiar characters such as evil queens, talking animals and mythical creatures, but the addition of two protagonists from the modern world adds a new and exciting flavour. Rodda has invented an enthralling world where all of our beloved fairy tale characters exist at once, and the fate of these characters are dependent on heroes from our world.
Rodda’s enchanting writing style describes the settings so vividly that it’s easy to picture them as you read along; the way the landscapes are described could easily be illustrations from a book of fables. This makes it easy to envision the delightful town square, the enchanted forest, the troll’s bridge and the queen’s castle, making it a nostalgic and comforting read. The characters are charming and easy to love with their conveniently fitting names, and the mechanisms of the world make the reader wish it was real. The book offer plenty of twists and turns throughout as the unlikely heroes try to figure out who they can trust in this strange world that follows a different set of rules than their own. While the characters may seem one-dimensional at first, you can’t help but come to love them as the story progresses and reveals more about their lives.
A classic fantasy adventure, Key to Rondo has plenty of action, chases and peril involving magic and legendary weapons. Rodda also entwines secrets and mysteries that are slowly unravelled one-by-one, keeping you guessing and theorising when you’re not worrying whether the heroes will escape whatever danger they’re currently in. This book is truly an enjoyable piece of escapism with a deeply engaging world that will make you rethink all the fairy tales that you’ve read as a child. This is only the first book in a wonderful and thrilling trilogy; it will be difficult to walk past the sequels after you’ve read this one.
Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda is available for sale here!
The absolutely electrifying Australian crime novel ‘The Tell’ by Martin Chatterton weaves a wickedly satisfying tale of Raze Tanic, an upper-class Sydney student whose family-run an illustrious crime ring in the heart of the Australian city. Raze has everything he could ever want, except the relationship with his father, who has been jailed in a …
Melina Marchetta’s coming-of-age novel is a refreshingly mature young adult adventure that captures the feeling on the crux of growing up and watching all that was familiar with the world shift into something new. On the Jellicoe Road transports the reader to a world caught between the dreams of childhood and the horrors of reality, …
The Bronze Key is the third instalment in the Magisterium series. Picking up a year after book three (The Copper Gauntlet), Callum and his best friends are now entering the third year of their magical training. Callum has now revealed the truth about his soul to his close friends, as well as his frenemy Jasper …
Melissa Keil’s The Secret Science of Magic is a unique and compelling twist on the typical romance novel. Shift away from the typical “quirky” star-crossed lover archetypes, Keil has created the kind of relatable and complex character that exist in real life, but rarely ever play a starring role in the media. Sophia is so …
With the arrival of the new Netflix series, now is a perfect time to sink your teeth into Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. This series is unique and one of my favourites; Snicket’s narration is satirical, morbid and hilarious all at once, and although he will warn you many times that the books …
Scythe is a dystopian young adult novel by Neal Shusterman, and it tells the tale of a futuristic society in which all forms of death have been eradicated, and the only way a human can die is by being ‘gleaned’, a word which is synonymous with murder. However, only a few selection of trained individuals–known …
Book Review – Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda
Rodda’s enchanting writing style describes the settings so vividly that it’s easy to picture them as you read along; the way the landscapes are described could easily be illustrations from a book of fables. This makes it easy to envision the delightful town square, the enchanted forest, the troll’s bridge and the queen’s castle, making it a nostalgic and comforting read. The characters are charming and easy to love with their conveniently fitting names, and the mechanisms of the world make the reader wish it was real. The book offer plenty of twists and turns throughout as the unlikely heroes try to figure out who they can trust in this strange world that follows a different set of rules than their own. While the characters may seem one-dimensional at first, you can’t help but come to love them as the story progresses and reveals more about their lives.
A classic fantasy adventure, Key to Rondo has plenty of action, chases and peril involving magic and legendary weapons. Rodda also entwines secrets and mysteries that are slowly unravelled one-by-one, keeping you guessing and theorising when you’re not worrying whether the heroes will escape whatever danger they’re currently in. This book is truly an enjoyable piece of escapism with a deeply engaging world that will make you rethink all the fairy tales that you’ve read as a child. This is only the first book in a wonderful and thrilling trilogy; it will be difficult to walk past the sequels after you’ve read this one.
Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda is available for sale here!
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Book Review – The Tell by Martin Chatterton
The absolutely electrifying Australian crime novel ‘The Tell’ by Martin Chatterton weaves a wickedly satisfying tale of Raze Tanic, an upper-class Sydney student whose family-run an illustrious crime ring in the heart of the Australian city. Raze has everything he could ever want, except the relationship with his father, who has been jailed in a …
Book Review – On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta’s coming-of-age novel is a refreshingly mature young adult adventure that captures the feeling on the crux of growing up and watching all that was familiar with the world shift into something new. On the Jellicoe Road transports the reader to a world caught between the dreams of childhood and the horrors of reality, …
Book Review – The Bronze Key
The Bronze Key is the third instalment in the Magisterium series. Picking up a year after book three (The Copper Gauntlet), Callum and his best friends are now entering the third year of their magical training. Callum has now revealed the truth about his soul to his close friends, as well as his frenemy Jasper …
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Melissa Keil’s The Secret Science of Magic is a unique and compelling twist on the typical romance novel. Shift away from the typical “quirky” star-crossed lover archetypes, Keil has created the kind of relatable and complex character that exist in real life, but rarely ever play a starring role in the media. Sophia is so …
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Book Review – Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Scythe is a dystopian young adult novel by Neal Shusterman, and it tells the tale of a futuristic society in which all forms of death have been eradicated, and the only way a human can die is by being ‘gleaned’, a word which is synonymous with murder. However, only a few selection of trained individuals–known …