Patrick Carman

Reviewed by Bill Capossere
and Caitlinn Skye Walker

Patrick Carman is the bestselling author of the Land of Elyon series, as well as the Elliot's Park series, the Skeleton Creek series, and the Atherton series. He got his start as a storyteller weaving bedtime tales for his two daughters. He lives in Walla Walla, Washington, with his family. Read or listen to the first chapters of Patrick Carman's books at his website.

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The Land of Elyon — (2003-2008) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Inquisitive twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in the walled town of Bridewell. This year, she is set on solving the mystery of what lies beyond the walls. Legend says the walls were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills. But what exactly is it that the townspeople are so afraid of? As Alexa begins to unravel the truth, pushing beyond the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment — and exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear.

Patrick Carman The Land of Elyon: 1. The Dark Hills Divide 2. Beyond the Valley of Thorns 3. The Tenth City 4. Into The Mist 5. Stargazer

book review: The Dark Hills Divide THe Land of Elyon Patrick Carman The Dark Hills Divide: Interesting premise but passive character and little spark

Patrick Carman's The Dark Hills Divide has a good if not all that original premise at its core — a kingdom of four cities completely walled in and a 12-yr-old heroine who longs to see what's beyond the walls. The walls were built a generation ago by Thomas Warvold, a well-traveled adventurer who came up with the idea to overcome people's fears of expansion into unknown and allegedly dangerous lands by building walled roads and towns using temporarily freed convicts as laborers. Decades later, Warvold's death sets into motion a slew of activity as the towns are threatened by those inside and out (internal kingdom strife, a possible high-level traitor, the supposedly re-imprisoned convicts) and previous assumptions are questioned (the dangers of the outside land, the effectiveness of the walls versus their societal cost, etc.). At the center of all of this is young Alexa Daley, daughter to one of the town's mayors, friend and confidante of Warvold, frequenter of the kingdom's largest library, and all-around pest to the man in charge of the kingdom's safety—Pervis. When her dream of seeing what's beyond the walls comes true, Alexa uncovers a plot against her city and a possible traitor. She also discovers magical stones, talking animals, and a new perspective on the walls' consequences.

All of this could have been put to good use, but The Dark Hills Divide falls mostly flat. Part of the problem is that Alexa is, especially in the first half, far too passive a character. She is told what to do by adults or animals and then she goes ahead and does it. There's little sense of adventure or danger in what she does and simply declaring her adventurous or heroic or frightened doesn't make her so. The land outside the walls is covered pretty perfunctorily so it never really comes alive for us. The same is true of the land inside the walls, where we meet relatively few people (all of them seemingly old or middle-aged men — where are the women and children?) and get very little sense of culture.

The plot is also problematic. As mentioned above, there is little sense of danger or suspense for the first half of the book; the arduous journey/quest Alexa makes is mostly conveyed through telling us it's arduous and by describing her blisters. Again, there's little sense of substance to it. The puzzles in the story seem arbitrarily constructed and solved, adding little to the story and feeling therefore more of a gimmicky add-on because puzzle stories are "in" nowadays. And there are some plot points that don't seem to add up or don't flow very naturally from the story. The second half of the book, as Alexa searches for the traitor among them, is better than the first, but not particularly strong itself, only in comparison to what comes before. In the end, The Dark Hills Divide as a whole is a disappointment, falling flat in most aspects of good fantasy — strong world creation, compelling plot, vivid characterization, imaginative spark. Not recommended. —Bill Capossere

Atherton — (2007-2008) Ages 9-12. Publisher: From the creator of the Land of Elyon comes a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world — created as a refuge from a dying Earth — that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants. Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove; a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets; and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. When Edgar discovers a book which contains the history of Atherton's origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world — quite literally — begins to turn inside out.

Patrick Carman Atherton: 1. The House of Power 2. Rivers of Fire 3. The Dark Planet

children's fantasy book review Patrick Carman Atherton 1. The House of Power 2. Rivers of Fire 3. The Dark Planet The House of Power: “At last he had a grip on the mysterious thing he’d been hunting for …”

The House of Power is the first installment in Patrick Carman's ATHERTON trilogy. As such, it is expected that there be some ‘setting up’ for the next book. These expectations are surpassed, as there is little else but setting up for most of this book.

Halfway through The House of Power all that was still happening was the suggestion of more problems, and it seemed that I would have to read the rest of the trilogy to get any answers at all. The House of Power seemed to be purely background knowledge with holes in it. There are some exciting plot developments at the end, but those are left as a cliffhanger.

Even so, it was a pretty good set up and, once the plot finally started to move, the writing was crisp and well done. The characters began to show their true colors, and startling developments were plentiful. Exciting scenes of danger and madness took hold and the story became quite riveting.

I think this is strictly a YA series for a YA audience (a group to which I belong). I doubt that Atherton can be read and enjoyed by all ages. I’m sure many in the target age group will love the story of Edgar, Isabel, and Samuel’s adventure to find out more about their changing world.

The House of Power is a pleasant story even though it ends with a cliffhanger. I recommend reading it with the sequel, Rivers of Fire, on hand because that book is a much stronger installment than The House of Power. If you were disappointed with the exciting look of The House of Power, you will be immensely gratified by Rivers of Fire. So read on! —Caitlinn Skye Walker

children's fantasy book review Patrick Carman Atherton 2. Rivers of Fire Rivers of Fire

Rivers of Fire is by far the strongest book in the ATHERTON trilogy. From beginning to end, the plot moves quickly, the characters develop and play to their own strengths, mysteries are resolved, bravery is tested, lives are lost, radical changes begin anew, foes are slain. And all while Atherton shows its true self.

Rivers of Fire picks right up where The House of Power left off — in the middle of a battle — so it gets going very quickly. All the way through Rivers of Fire there are major (and quite interesting) plot developments, and there is very little obvious ‘just setting up’ for the final installment, The Dark Planet. This makes for some wonderful story telling. By the end, there are many answered questions and a few large (but somewhat distant) unanswered ones. Thankfully, this installment doesn’t end with a major cliffhanger.

The characters in Rivers of Fire are exceptional. Even the minor characters have a meaningful role to play. From evil overlords to quiet shepherds, they are deep, well thought out, and some surprise us at the end.

I highly recommend Rivers of Fire, for it makes up for where the first installment fell short: It’s got non-stop action, great plot development, and deeply felt characters. Young readers, Rivers of Fire will grip your imagination from page one to the end. —Caitlinn Skye Walker

children's fantasy book review Patrick Carman Atherton 3. The Dark Planet The Dark Planet

He was so proud of him and all that he’d done, proud enough to never call him his maker again.

The Dark Planet is the conclusion to Patrick Carman's Atherton trilogy about a young boy, Edgar, and his adventures while finding out who his father really was. Along the way he makes numerous friends on Atherton, and the Dark Planet itself. He knows he was made for a purpose, he knows he doesn’t have real parents like everyone else, he knows his maker went to a great deal of trouble to save a handful of people on a made world. What he doesn’t know is that his adventures aren’t over yet.

The Dark Planet is written nicely. The characters are deep, the settings detailed, and the plot very well thought out. The main problem I found was that the first two thirds of the book went too slowly. You could see that plot developing, but it was getting nowhere fast. It was not, in other words, thrilling.

However, the last third of the book was stupendous. The plot tightened up, the characters came alive, there was edge-of-your-seat action, suspense, and at the end the feelings flowed out of the characters and it was hard to tear my eyes off the page. The beginning: boring. The end: awesome.

A good conclusion to a lovely trilogy, especially the conclusion of the conclusion. —Caitlinn Skye Walker

Skeleton Creek — (2009-2011) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek... and Ryan and Sarah are trying to get to the heart of it. But after an eerie accident leaves Ryan housebound and forbidden to see Sarah, their investigation takes two tracks: Ryan records everything in his journal, while Sarah uses her videocam to search things out... and then email the clips for Ryan to see. In a new, groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts — Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.

children's fantasy book reviews Patrick Carman Skeleton Creek 1. Skeleton Creek 2. Ghost in the Machine

Patrick Carman Skeleton Creek book reviews Skeleton Creek

In the Skeleton Creek duology, best friends Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher team up to investigate the mysterious goings-on at an old mining dredge in their town. The story is told in Ryan’s journal, in which he records his thoughts and his correspondence with Sarah; and in Sarah’s films, creepy Blair Witch-style videos that are accessible on the Internet using passwords given in the text. Before I go any further, I should say that Skeleton Creek is not fantasy and is better categorized as mystery.

Skeleton Creek begins with Ryan recovering from a broken leg; he fell when spooked on an expedition to the dredge with Sarah. The friends’ parents forbid them to see each other, but they communicate via emails and Sarah’s videos as they continue their sleuthing. They find a history of suspicious deaths at the dredge, along with cryptic references to alchemy and, just possibly, a vengeful ghost.

Skeleton Creek sets an interesting scene, but is ultimately a little disappointing. Ryan is very introspective, and much of his narrative consists of him telling the reader how scared he is. This gets a little repetitive, along with both kids’ constant insistence that there’s something suspicious going on at the dredge and that they’ve stumbled across something they weren’t supposed to know. It’s pretty clear that there is something and that Ryan and Sarah have poked a metaphorical hornet’s nest. Patrick Carman shows this just fine and doesn’t need to tell it so much.

The scariest moment, for me, was a brief passage toward the end in which Ryan begins to doubt his own memories, and starts wondering if something terrible happened to Sarah on the same night he broke his leg. This would have been a haunting avenue to explore, but it comes out of nowhere and then vanishes as soon as it appeared. I think Carman could have done a lot more with this if he’d drawn it out longer. There’s also a scene that throws the reader right out of the story because, supposedly, Ryan is writing in his journal while snooping in his parents’ room. He only has a brief window of time to do this, yet he’s writing as he searches? It’s a little hard to swallow.

Ghost in the Machine is stronger. Ryan’s leg is improving, and this means both that he’s more able to help Sarah with the investigating and that he’s in less of a funk. Carman builds a lot of suspense in this volume. Ryan begins to wonder whether his own father is up to something sinister, and this plotline is handled very well. There’s something about not being able to trust your own parents that’s even scarier, in a way, than things that go bump in the night. The mystery builds to a satisfying conclusion. I almost think Skeleton Creekmight have been better as one book, with some of the introspection from book one trimmed out. Then again, making readers wait for the ending was probably part of the suspense!

I thought the integration of text and video worked well, in general. I did have some connectivity problems (my ISP’s fault, not Carman’s) while reading these books, and found myself wishing the videos were on a CD-ROM so I didn’t have to wait for them to load. However, that would raise the price of the books and partially negate the “new media” aspect.

I recommend Skeleton Creek for kids who like ghost stories and mysteries, and who have the patience to get through a slowish start. —Kelly Lasiter

Dark Eden — (2011-2012) Publisher: Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares — with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains.... What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden? Patrick Carman's Dark Eden is a provocative exploration of fear, betrayal, memory, and — ultimately — immortality.

YA fantasy book reviews Patrick Carman Dark Eden 1. Dark Eden

YA fantasy book reviews Patrick Carman Dark Eden 1. Dark Eden 2. Eve of Destruction

Other novels:

Thirteen Days to Midnight — (2010) Publisher: You are indestructible. These are the words that transfer an astonishing power to Jacob Fielding that changes everything. After all, there's something addictive about testing the limits of fear, experiencing the thrill of walking through fire, or saving your friend from a beating in front of the whole school. Then Ophelia James, the beautiful and daring new girl in town, suggests that they use the power to do good, to save others at risk of death. But with every heroic act, the power grows into the specter of a curse. How to decide who lives and who dies? And why does darkness seem to be chasing them? Jacob only has thirteen days to figure out how to harness a power that even the world's greatest escape artist could not outrun... and the answer is chilling: What if he has to kill the one he loves to save her? In the context of a unconventional gothic super hero story, Pat Carman has envisioned a high concept tale of intrigue, romance, friendship and adventure that probes deep into what teens face as they enter young adult years: navigating increasingly complex choices with greater consequences, as well as the grey areas blurring the definitions of right and wrong.

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