Wafaa Samir Samir itibaren Cheremkhovo, Zabaykalskiy kray, Rusya, 673075 itibaren Cheremkhovo, Zabaykalskiy kray, Rusya, 673075

Lisa Mantchev’s Eyes Like Stars is about a young lady, Bertie, who is forced to make herself invaluable after she was asked to leave the Theatre Illuminata after a few mishaps on her part. Seen as a waste and as useless Bertie has to find a way to be truly important and therefore decides to become the Director for Hamlet redone in a new way. She is however warned that changes she invokes might not be the best idea and might tip the balance of the Theatre but alas Bertie is determined to stay and gets to work reworking Hamlet. When things start going wrong Bertie realizes just how much she values the Theatre and how much the Theatre values her. Bertie with the help of her trusted fairy friends learns the magic of the theatre Illuminata and the truth about herself. Lisa Mantchev’s characters are vibrant and full of life, funny and sticky sweet. They are not only clever, witty and funny but above all else they are truly unique. You spend page after page rolling iwht laughter or playing around with Mustardseed, Moth, Cobwed and Peaseblossom. I couldn’t get enough of their hilarity. The setting –the Theatre Illuminta –is fantastic. A theatre is a place where real magic happens and true imagination lives and breathes, where anything CAN happen; and that is how the Theatre works. I am finding I am at a lack for words to describe Mantchev’s literary brilliance. Mantchev writes with real creative brilliance and each page is filled with wittiness, cleverness and just plain old fun. The characters dance to life with magic and wit; containing life unseen before in any book. This is imagination and creativity at its best. It IS imagination. A world so rich and magnificent that it sparkles out of the pages and fills me with smiles, laughter and utter intrigue.

Call Number: 220.5 VIE Available.

A potentially interesting meditation on evil in the world that ultimately putters out. McCarthy invests the energy to engross the reader in a complex action/drama but then awkwardly dumps it and moves on to somewhat unconnected morose musings. It's fine to do one or the other, but it's pointless to go half-and-half like he has.