Tom, Beth, Ethan, Jess T and Jess P from Warblington School tell us what they think of The Planet of Oblivion, volume seven of The Darksmith Legacy - a linked series of novels with additional online elements. CONTAINS SPOILERS!
What was the story about?
Jess T: The doctor and Gisella travel to oblivion to try and find the Darksmiths. When there, they found that there were Dravidians being grown to become one of the most feared races in the galaxy. The doctor and Gisella had to try and stop them before it was too late...
Ethan: The story is fairly exciting, featuring lots of suspense and intrigue.
Tom: The plot had an air of mystery and suspense.
What are the characters like?
Jess T: Some of the characters seemed a bit pointless and they all had complex names that were hard to remember. I understand though that aliens can't be called Bob and Freddie!
Jess P: The Dravadians are described well and the writer has created a good description of the people of Ursulonamex.
Ethan: The characters were fairly standard, being not particularly exciting, but not too bad either!
Tom: The Dravidans manage to give off a menacing air despite a rather thin description.
Was it exciting?
Jess T: This book seemed to not get going for ages. I was over half way through before there was any mention of the hives.
Were there any particular highlights?
Jess T: It was really tense when they were fighting off the Dravidains close to the end. There were several points when you thought they wouldn't survive.
Ethan: For me, one of the highlights was when we found out the Dravidians real plan...
Jess P: The particular highlight is fighting off the Dravadians because it had lots of description and I thought that the idea of using the fire extinguisher to ward them off was cool!
Were there any particular lowlights?
Jess T: The first half of the book was really slow paced. It curved around the point and waffled the whole thing!
Ethan: There were bits where the story slowed too much.
What do you think of the story so far?
Jess T: As a whole, I think that the books flow nicely and the last few paragraphs of the previous book is repeated at the start of the next book so it is easy to catch up on any small details that you have forgotten.
Does this book make you want to read on?
Jess T: I want to finish the series now as it is on a big cliff hanger.
Ethan: Definitely made me want to read on and finish the series.
Would you recommend it?
Jess P: I would recommend it to confident 8 and 7 yr olds.
Jess T: I would recommend it to anyone interested in the environment as it dips into how other species work, and how organisms survive now and in the past.
Tom: I'd recommend it to Doctor Who fans or children aged 9 - 12.
What do you think of the website
Jess T: Really boring now. I got excited when a different screen came up after the first set of "hot and cold" type games, but then it fell back into pattern with every other one.
Jess P: The website is slightly changing.
What score would you give the book?
Jess T: 6/10.
Jess P: I would rate it at 8 1/2 for the tension.
Tom: 7/10 - it had all the elements of a good novel, but didn't really expand on them to improve the story.
Ethan: I'd give it 9/10 because the plot was good and there were twists and turns.
With thanks to Bruce Ashcroft for arranging this review.
