Review: A mixture of childhood innocence with real-life issues, all tied together in a big ball of magic!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2012
Truth and Lies Past and Present is a lovely read complete with a collection of well-developed and described characters. I liked the mixture of childhood innocence with real-life issues, all tied together in a big ball of magic. I love fantasy reads, and whilst I enjoyed this as an adult reader, I do think it will be appreciated more by a younger reader. So, armed with my `teacher-head', I attempted to get in the psyche of an 11 year old, always a risk I know, and I do think they'd be swept away with the equal mix of likeable characters, dangerous, tension laced drama and the well-developed plot.I really like the main character Katy. I think she's truly endearing. At times, however, I was a little confused by the dialogue, in relation to the level of realism that it offered. The characters tended to respond a little too sophisticatedly to one another. Their vocab, and depth was more adult like. This, however, did not take away my enjoyment, yet a young child may struggle with the concepts and language.Overall, I both enjoyed and most definitely recommend it to young people, and adults who enjoy this magic/fantasy genre. 3  stars in total - round up to 4 for Amazon/Goodreads etc.