Book 3), The Width of the World (Vega Jane

I have read the first two Vega Jane books and I absolutely loved them! I just started The Width of the World and it is equally and even more amazing than the first two! I highly recommend this book and the entire series!

If you've read the first two books, you must read this one. It's exciting and keeps you in suspense the entire time. Very different from books 1 and 2. Continues the story, but vastly different and better.

I read about two chapters and found it to be unlike any other I have read by the author. It was extremely disappointing and I quit reading it. The last time I will buy a book online without reading a sample'

If I could give this zero stars I would. Baldacci (in an attempt to connect with a young adult audience) has dumbed down the story and the rhetoric so horribly that the book is simply unreadable. If this is the way he has written the rest of the Vega Jane series I would advise staying away from them.
I usually love books by Baldacci. In fact I cannot think of one that I haven't liked. This is just awful.

When I started reading the first Vega book, I thought Baldacci had been invaded by outlandish spirits, but finished it, and was totally mesmerized by the strength built into the 15 year old Vega Jane! Needless to say, I have enjoyed the last 2 books in the series as well!

This book is the worst book I've ever read just because the ending. The whole book up until the last page, it was my favorite series ever, but then it just ended. Hopefully I'm wrong and David baldacci will make the fourth book and it will end well. But this book ends in the worst cliff hanger ever that I've read or seen. The whole series leads up to a war against the maladons but right before the war starts the book ends abruptly. Overall this was my favorite series ever and my least favorite series ever and I recommend this book to anyone who likes magic and sci-fi and adventures

It's pretty good, but I feel like it's got a lot of action scenes that are frankly redundant and boring...there's no reason for the same basic event to happen multiple times wit the same general great escape...it seemed like filler. He should have just combined some events.

The story continues which I found intriguing and full of excitement. This book allows you to fantasize and take your thoughts back to childhood imaginations. It reads very easily and quickly. I can't wait for the next book.

I love reading the Vega Jane books the characters are so interesting, can't wait to read the next book in the series, David Baldacci is an excellent author what an imagination to come up with so many great books to read.

I just finished reading the third installment, The Width of the World, in the Vega Jane series and it was so good. I am an adult who reads everything David Baldacci writes and I knew that this was originally published for younger people but I really liked it. If you like stories about other worlds you will like this. I was just shocked at the ending because I thought it was a 3 part story and the way this ended, it seemed like there will be a fourth. What a surprise or if not, I definitely didn't care for the end. Please don't let it end like it did. I will be checking back regularly to see.

I couldn't read it, partly because it's not understandable at all without reading the prior books in the series (I had thought it was the first, but apparently not), and partly because it's written for kids and that wasn't clear at all in what I read about the book before purchasing it.

I got 20 pages in and that was plenty.

Granted, I was not familiar with the "Vega Jane" series, but I found myself disliking this "Harry Potter" wannabe. Which surprised me, as I am a great fan of his mysteries. I made an earnest effort to read this, but then I invoked the Nancy Pearl rule: Life is too short to waste time reading a bad book. If it's not good by 40 pages, it's not going to get better. Reader, I bailed at page 55. Can I get my money back?

I mistakenly bought these books not realising that they are really children's fantasy stories. Could not get through the first few chapters of the first book. Have dumped the other two. Bad purchase!!!

4 1/2 stars would really be more like it; too bad the system doesn't allow for half stars. This is a great read; can't say that it wasn't action-packed or unique. My only issue is that Mr. Baldacci may be pushing the series too far extending the series beyond a trilogy when the story could've been over by book 3. I do miss the days when a good standalone novel was the alpha and omega of a tale. A good artist always knows when to stop--I hope Mr. Baldacci knows the when here. It's not so bad when a series follows the same characters over various stories like the Chronicles of Narnia, but extending the same story to 4+ books as is typically the case in Fantasy novels these days is a touch much. Fortunately for Mr. Baldacci, he's got enough magic in his "pen" to keep us readers interested, but hopefully a "slam-bang finish" is within reach, and he'll move us on to another stellar YA adventure with a new series soon.

The unfolding story of the life and times of Vega Jane (as told by Vega herself) is a creative masterpiece by author David Baldacci. The 15-year-old Wug from Wormwood, forever curious, tells her story so matter-of-factly, conveying to the reader, in her unique voice, her hopes and desires, her doubts and fears, remorse and regret, her jealousy, her sense of wonder; her sudden unexpected victories while on the brink of defeat. In short, everything that makes a Wug a Wug. Her village sat high above but was surrounded by the Quag, an inhospitable forest filled with deadly beasts, According to the elders, nothing existed beyond the Quag, so few ever made the attempt. Vega believed otherwise and was determined to leave Wormwood to learn the truth, whatever that might be. In Book 2, she survived the Quag. "The Width of the World" (Book 3) is the land beyond the Quag. If you are a Vega Jane fan, you don't want me to tell you anything else. If you would like to read about Vega Jane, borrow or buy "The Finisher" and "The Keeper" before reading "The Width of the World".

I initially read the first book in this series on a whim because my local library didn’t have the Baldacci ebook I was actually after. I had no idea what to expect from a young adult fantasy book from the author of my favorite political thrillers. I ended up falling in love with Vega Jane and rooting for her. This book takes up right where we left off at the end of the last. Vega, Delph, and Petra have made it through the Quag and now find themselves surrounded by things and they never could have imagined. While things initially appear to be peaceful and the population seems happy, Vega soon discovers that nothing is as it appears and there is an evil beyond comprehension that she must face. This sets the scene for what will be an epic battle while answering some questions and leaving you with a few more. It’s a fairly quick and easy read. Some advanced young readers who may come to this early (8 to 11 years old) may find certain elements, like scenes of torture, to be disturbing. I’m thirty and I found them disturbing!

Is DB going for 7 books in this series? I thought this was the last one. Seems like there's a few more. I like this author in his normal genre. When I came upon his YA fantasy ( not sure how to classify), thought I'd give it a shot. Book 1, fine. It's a build up. Book 2, no ending. Ok, maybe going for a trilogy like most YA, e.g. Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Maureen Johnson, etc. Book 3, still no conclusion. come on now. Wish it ended already. How many magical books of good vs evil do we really need?

While there may not be any further HP books to come, author David Baldacci has veered away from his regular mystery genre and written a tale to excite your imagination like few others. Vega Jane and her crew of friends share magic, fight fantastically scary creatures, and battle against a seemingly unbeatable evil group of people with the mind set of ruling the world, their way. Like the Harry Potter series, these are for readers of all ages, from 9 to 99. If you're not aware of this new series of books until now, I envy you, because there's already three of them for you to dive into! I personally cannot wait for the next one to be published.

The rating scale is not sufficiently low enough. I would give this book a minus ZERO. It may be the worst book I could not finish. I only got 2/3 of the way through it before giving up. I usually read about 90 books a year and have never felt this way about any other book. Mr. Baldacci should concentrate on who his readers are and what thy like to read. Over time I have read 26 of his books and enjoyed each one. When I finish a book I rate my experience on a scale of 1 to10. His books routinely rate a 9 of a 10 in my opinion.

There is an old saying he should think about. Do what you do best and not try to be everything to every one.

A decent fantasy story by an author who should probably stick to detective novels. The female lead is shallow and predictable, the relationships are a bit sour and not very believable. Tons of overexplaining, especially characters' motives. I have read the first two novels and will read the fourth, even though this one was not great. Good plot and fun magical elements.

After an interesting first book—The Finisher—Baldacci must have run face first into successive writer's blocks. The storytelling in the third book has become rote and repetitious; the heroine's actions are increasingly incongruent; and the writer's lack of commitment is evident in his contradictions.

As an example, in a flying—literally—high speed 'imminent' head on collision Baldacci wrote: "I looked up ahead and saw Endemen barely ten feet from us. At our combined speeds, we would crash into each other in another few seconds. I counted one, then two."

Since 10 feet (the distance) divided by 2 (combined speeds) divided by 2 (the few seconds) equals 1.7 miles/hour (2.7 km/hour) is not exactly a high speed event; Baldacci has proven, again, that he does not take his younger readers seriously. This lack of attention to detail is, sadly, ubiquitous in his latest book.

Vega and Delph reach the end of the Quag along with their new friend Petra. At the end of the Quag is a wall with a town on the other side. At a glance, it seems like a normal and happy town; it is only when you take a closer look that you realize that not everything is as it seems. The town is ruled by a race who brainwashes the townsfolk and steals magic from those who have it. With the discovery of a safe-haven for herself and her friends, Vega fights for the rights and life of these common folks.

Here’s the thing… three books into the series, the characters should have settled down by now. While Vega and Delph seemed to grow in book 2, the characters and their dynamics didn’t really work for me in this book. Most of them felt flaky to me for most part. The fun part in this book is Vega discovering where her ancestors came from and the training of the new recruits. Like the previous book, there is a lot of action and drama to pull the book through.

Then again, there were certain inconsistencies in the book that didn’t quite add up and made the reading experience more like a hurdle race. I was hoping that this would be the conclusion, making this a trilogy. But from the climax of the book, it is quite clear that there are more books to come in the series. On one hand, I do want to know if Vega will evolve further, but on the other hand the general inconsistencies and the inconsistency with the characters are really bummers.

At the end of this book, I am not sure whether I want to pick up the next in the series when it releases.

Ok - the story is a little weird, but once I got into it, it's actually entertaining. I've read one other Vega Jane novel by Baldacci and will probably end up reading the whole series when my library gets the books.