The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan

 

(Book 13 for Once Upon a Time)

The Tapestry : The Hound of Rowan: by Henry Neff.

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Yearling; September 23, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0375838953

 

From Booklist

In a hidden alcove within Chicago's Art Institute, Max McDaniels discovers a faded tapestry. As he watches, the tapestry begins to glow; soon after, he receives an invitation to attend a private boarding school in New England. When he arrives at Rowan Academy, where young people with Potential are trained to fight an unnamed enemy, he and the other apprentices are housed in magically morphing rooms and assigned animal charges. Max is paired with the last lymrill in the world, a nocturnal creature with metallic quills. They train on the Course, where they experience different scenarios as they try to achieve a goal and move up levels as they progress. Meanwhile, apprentices and even some full-fledged agents are disappearing all over the world. This novel's sprawling, quirky boarding school has obvious parallels to Hogwarts, but Neff's storytelling boasts charms of its own, and  readers may appreciate that this magical adventure, the first installment in the planned Tapestry series, takes place here rather than abroad.

As the above preview mentions:  this book (along with others that follow) are a set up similar to Harry Potter in that Max goes off to a school that is indicated will take 6 yrs to get thru.  There are magical powers involved and a good against evil story to be told. (and even a witch and an ogre)

So far I have found that the author is very good at flushing out and giving the protagonist and other characters well defined personalities which allows one to begin to feel they actually know the characters.  This is a good thing!  I always enjoy books where I feel I really know the characters involved.

This is a YA series of books written for 9 yrs and above but I don’t feel the author “writes down” to the young.  It is a little young feeling for me to read this but at the same time it’s a welcome relief  to not have to think so much while reading! I am enjoying the story and have had 2 of the 4 books that were released  here for longer than I care to think about and so I dug them out for Once Upon a Time thinking this was a trilogy (obviously I was wrong! But in my defense it’s because I hadn’t read the first book until now, that lets me realize it is a longer series.)

I plan to read book 2 even though Once Upon a Time will be over, and if it reads as well as book one I will most likely send for the other two installments.

I just want to Thank Carl for being so nice to have Once Upon a Time each year!  And needless to say I look forward to RIP for yet another  year also!!!  Start stacking up those Gothic Mysteries now!!