The Key to Rondo

IMPORTANT!

Turn the key three times only.

Never turn the key while the music is playing.

Never pick up the box while the music is playing.

Never close the lid until the music has stopped.

The old music box, painted with scenes of villages, dark forests, a castle on a hill and a queen in a long blue gown, has been handed down through Leo's family. Now it belongs to Leo, and although he respects its rules, his least favourite cousin Mimi does not. When the rules are broken, Leo's ordered life changes forever as they plunge together into the fantastic world of Rondo.

I was, to say, intrigued to find a full-sized novel by Emily Rodda sitting innocently in the back row of new books at the library. I used to be quite a vivid fan of this Australian author after I was plunged into the Deltora Quest series in Year 3- I still have the full collection of books, all fifteen of them, crammed between my hardbacks and my manga novel collection. I even pick them up from time to time, and fight to keep my siblings' hoarding hands off them.

Somehow, this book seemed to jump the long queue of my reading list, and I found myself carrying it along Saturday morning to umpiring to read it during my breaks. Since our blog has become plagued with numerous reviews, I thought it appropriate to add some of my own to the list.

Despite this being a book aimed at nine to twelve year-old children, I found this book charming and highly enjoyable. It reads halfway between the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis and Shrek, happily destroying the typical stereotypes of fairytale characters, while still capturing all the charm that accompanies Enid Blyton's books (Who didn't fall in love with her books as a child? My first novel was Bimbo and Topsy!). The storyline moves along at a good pace, never overwriting scenes nor hurtling along at a breakneck pace, while the characters are both believable and charismatic. My single criticism is that the ending didn't quite satisfy me enough for my liking, and the characters were prone to fits of contrariness and indecision. Otherwise, it was a very entertaining book, good for those still recovering from Twilightitus.

-RavenclawGal :)