Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King; E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core!; Toothiana

A really excellent adventure story. Extremely well written and illustrated (although there are not many illustrations). We just finished Nicholas St. North and are just starting E. Aster Bunnymund. They are long (approx. 230 pages), but my son was able to follow along, reading a couple chapters a night. I enjoyed this story as much as my son. In fact, I may just read it again on my own. We have also read 'The Man in the Moon' which is also excellent (and much shorter and much more illustrated). I have just ordered the Sandman book as well.

I bought this because I wanted to learn more from the world of the movie, instead I discovered the one in the books is better. Not that I'm surprised, that almost always happens. They are cute little books, and the illustrations and covers are beautiful.

I was hoping for some background in the mythos behind the movie "Rise of the Guardians," which my whole family enjoyed including my 2 year old, which this book did deliver. The writing and general structure of the book was hard to get into. Overall this book took far too long to get through and I doubt I will ever return to.

They arrived earlier then the estmated date. My children and I started to read them the same night. While we haven't finished the whole series yet they enjoy listening to it and my oldest (6) has tried to read some of it herself!

This review is and will be subject to much editing and adding in the future.

*SPOILERS INCLUDED; READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*

Before I read this series I had seen the DreamWorks animated movie Rise of the Guardians and loved it. After quite a bit of fan fiction research and lots of Googling -- yes, I'm THAT sort of obsessive fan -- I found this series (and also an epic ROTG video game for my fellow video game geeks) and found so much more information about the backgrounds of the Guardians and was so much more informed when I went to see the movie a SECOND time -- again, I'm THAT sort of obsessive fan. I love how the books are separate from the movie completely and how it's a totally different storyline, but not in a bad way, if you get my drift. Don't you hate it when you watch a movie that used to be a book and you wonder if the moviemakers even read the books in the first place (Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Harry Potter, and Eragon come to mind) but this isn't like that. Everything's aligned perfectly (except for a few VERY minor things that I'm not even sure about) in both the books and the movie. It gives me a sort of...serenity, if you could call it that, inside.

But I find it very depressing that I have to wait until September 3 2013 (about the same waiting time as the time for House of Hades and Catching Fire the movie and Percy Jackson 2 the movie and Ranger's Apprentice book 12, oh boy, I'll be happy then) until the fourth book, The Sandman and the War of Dreams, comes out. (But for those of you curious enough for a tiny hint of a spoiler but not curious enough to read that page at the end of Book 3, I have a particularly reliable source of information that tells me that a "wayward lad of considerable interest named Jackson Overland Frost" is to make an appearance. YAYZ!!! And to think that all this time that I was reading the series I thought that Nightlight was an approximation of our favorite prankster and snowball thrower!)

Strangely, I have absolutely no major complaint about this series, which is saying a lot, considering on how judgemental and scrutinizing I can be. The illustrations were beautiful. The writing style was fresh and new. They were everything I require of a book or series of books -- suspenseful enough to keep the pages turning, humorous in a dry, witty style that very few and very talented authors can pull off so successfully, awe-inspiring in a way that loosens the age barriers and is good enough for all ages, yet violent in that special, heartfelt way that makes you want to punch the villain in the nose. (That might just be me, but everyone has their own opinion.)

For those of you who do not want a glimpse of the judgemental opinion and curious -- and possibly attention deficit -- mind of a thirteen-year-old, skip to the next paragraph. I do believe I have a theory about what the "weapon" that will destroy Pitch will be. So, you know how the relics so far are a bunch of things that help the Guardians with the things they are most powerful with? (for example, the third relic, the Man in the Moon's tooth, gives Toothiana her ability to separate in thousands of tiny versions of herself) Well, I think that possibly, the five relics are not in themselves the weapon. I think that maybe it will turn out that the weapon is the combined group of Guardians that hold them. (How do I know this? The moon told me so. Just kidding. It is what I would do if I was writing this book. Ah, I wish.)

My only problem is the cliffhanger at the end of the third book. AHHH! Drove. Me. Nutz. I cried about it on the phone with my best friend after I was done. I get to wait until September 3 (or whenever it is coming out, due to the fact that the release date may have just changed for sometime in October) and wonder. Oh joy.

But cliffhangers are good literary devices. At least for people who don't have to wait and can just take a trip over to the library to get the next book. HURRY UP WILLIAM JOYCE! I'M WAITING!

So overall? Five stars.

Continue the series? Definitely.

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What? I really liked these books.

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My family loves William Joyce tales and these books are great examples of his skill and imagination. Joyce elaborates on his Man in the Moon picture book by describing the development of the Guardians of Childhood. The stories are filled with fantastic characters, whimsical cities and gripping adventures. You will not be able to put it down. The chapters are relatively short and we typically read one a night. Exceeded our expectations, we cannot wait for more books in the series.

The books are well written and even better illustrated. The creativity in the storylines and development of the classical characters is ingenious. However, these books are quite dark for the age group for which written. My 8 year old is very highly gifted and although read the first book with ease, came to me when she was done and said "there isn't enough redeeming qualities in the book to outweigh all the evil feelings." Fairly we'll said I believe. Good does triumph though- just not to such a degree as we thought younger (pg rated) children needed. My daughter also says there's enough evil in the world that she doesn't want to feel it when she reads.
Just not for us, but still original works that others who aren't as sensitive in nature and are okay with darker/sinister themes.

This is a wonderful series of well-written, beautifully designed books. However, to go to the trouble and expense it took to design, print, glue, bind, collect and shrink-wrap only PART of the series was just plain stupid. Who wants to buy a boxed PARTIAL set? Box the WHOLE series, you idiots!