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Shaking Palace (2013)

by Raju Vashishta(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Prancing Peacock Publishing

series

Magical Riddles

review 1: Like the children in the Mysterious Benedict society, these four genius teens (two boys and two girls) will save their world with intelligence and charm in Raju Vashishta’s first Magical Riddles book. The story’s fun, with a simple set-up that blends fairy-tale castles and kings with touches of modern political idealogy and business. The characters each have their own backstories—parents’ jobs, siblings’ rivalries, and more. And the riddles are nicely intriguing.Some editing or translation glitches could be easily resolved—a familiar riddle struggles under the use of “shortened” instead of “shorter”; children go out rather than through a door before knowing that it leads outside; and so on. But the ideas are clear and interesting enough to keep children... more trying to out-guess the protagonists.Simple text reminds me of childhood radio stories, but the touch of (innocent) romantic interest is a little older and distinctly more modern. Education, cooperation, and care for others become important factors both in the problem and its solution. And a nice touch of magical chance reminds readers that not everything depends on intelligence. A fun kids' novel that could lead to an interesting series.Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and promised to give my honest review.
review 2: Magic Riddles is the story of the Shaking Palace in Magija. Four students from the Intellectual Development Training School were chosen to complete challenges to find four golden nails and four bricks that had been magically hidden by the king's brother. King Blain had ruled over Magija and had made bad decisions that had led his brother, King Cedric, of the neighboring kingdom to put a magic spell over his castle and hide the four golden nails and four golden bricks. It was time for King Cedric to keep his promise to his brother. If the four students, Isis, Amber, Cole and Henry, can complete the trials they can save the castle and the kingdom. The riddles were very creative and I enjoyed them, for the most part. I liked that each time the four were successful and found a golden nail King Cedric would give a gift to his brother's people. Each gift was well thought out and was helpful to the economy and kingdom as a whole. The people were very understanding in his decisions. Without giving out the story, I liked the first and second trial. I don't remember the third trial being listed as a trial. It took way too long and became very repetitive and boring. I know they found the golden nail, but by the time they did, I don't remember it. The fourth trial was interesting. I never did find out why Raju mentions everyone's eye color. Does it have anything to do with the story or was he just overly describing every character? Although Magical Riddles was a quick read, I don't think I will read it again. I, honestly, finished reading because it was such a quick read. Any longer and I think I would have abandoned it for a different story. If I do recommend this book to anyone, it will be for some of the riddles, but not the story. Parts of the book would be good as stand alone, but as a story, they do not work. less

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