Simon & Schuster The Thirteen Secrets

I finished The Thirteen Secrets book this morning, I have now read all the books in the series and i feel so sad to have finished them. It was in my opinion very well written, brilliant characters, great plot, so exciting and thrilling all through out! I will say this one has been my favourite book ever, so far and also my favourite out of the four in the series including the prequel (One Wish) , i just could not put this book down and recommend to anyone who wants a magical gripping fantasy page-turner with lots of excitement.

A good read for those who enjoy fantasy!

If your children haven't read this series, then they really should. All of the characters are very well written, intriguing and larger then life. This entire series is really good fun to read. There's plenty of magic, danger, excitement, suspence and plot twists to keep kids interested right the way through. An ancient society of humans and fairies is being hunted down, one by one, by forces unknown. If they aren't stopped soon then there will be none of them left. Red is deeply involded in the danger. Tanya, Fabian and the others are drawn in along with her. I think that this whole series if fantastic, but this is the best book yet. I liked the way that the book was left open at the end, to suggest that one day the author may come back to elvesden manor and its enhabitants to begin yet another story...

I am well aware that I am much older than the target audience for this type of book! But I don't care, Ilead a pretty dull adult life and sometimes its nice to be able to escape into a magical story filled withmagical characters. I have decided (though I realise it is not possible) that I want my very own Brunswickliving in my garden!The 13 series kind of reminds me of the magic faraway tree stories by Enid Blyton that I read over and overagain when I was kid, books I still own and read from time to time. (R J Andersons series is similar andI love them just as much) I love all the characters so much, especially Tanya as she's the heroine and Ican sympathise so much with things she's experienced (not the being able to see faeries part I'd like to add)but divorce and split families and secrets. I loved witnessing her grow and accept her abilities and responsibilitiesthroughout the 3 books, she really is a wonderful character and it is such a shame that this is the last we shallhear about her.I really don't like to say too much about plot in a review, otherwise whats the point in someone reading the book?But I will say that the final battle that Tanya, her friends both human and fey and her family face is immense.It far exceeded my expectations for this book. It really has matured as a series and I felt that the finalinstalment really did it justice. I was not at all disappointed, and as sad as I am that the series is finishedI am sure I will read the books time and again and I eagerly await Michelle Harrisons next work.

This is not the new and original trilogy that we might have hoped for going from the hype surrounding it; it is instead a nicely done re-packaging of ideas you will find in many earlier books. That is not to say it is not a pleasant read, it is and I thoroughly enjoyed all three books. The author writes in an easy style and has developed the story well, populating it with characters with which one can engage. So a worthy 4 stars but nothing particularly original.