The Age of Not Believing
by Andrew Szlachetko

Release Date: 1st Sep 2009
Publisher: Gomer Press
ISBN: 978 0 9563 0880 1
RRP: £7.00

Average Customer Rating:

(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

Gorgeously illustrated Christmas story...

What is immediately striking about this seasonal children’s book are the illustrations by Patricia Moffett – they have a graphical quality akin to some of the best Japanese Anime around and are simply stunning. What is also immediately transparent is that this book deserves to be hardbound; paperback lacks that heavy feeling of quality that permeates from this book and you can’t help but feel a little cheated out of the sturdiness and solidness of a good hardback.

Thomas is a little boy at that unique age – the age of not believing. It is Christmas Eve and Thomas finds himself woken by urgent whispers calling to him for help. As he is drawn closer to the voices, he suddenly finds himself in a strange land, where he discovers to his dismay that a wicked witch has cast an awful spell over all the young children making them hate Christmas!

The Age of Not Believing is a peculiar but not altogether unfamiliar concept: a child reaches a certain age and maturity when the magic of Christmas begins to lose its potency. There is nothing wrong with this notion; it is part of growing up. However, the wicked witch (along with wolf subordinates) is as similar to C.S. Lewis’ White Witch as to be a bit of a letdown in its lack of originality. Furthermore, the sudden and immediate transformation of the witch from evil old hag to youthful, good witch is so startling and abrupt that it leaves you feeling disorientated and a tad confused – ok, fairytales have happy endings (more or less), but the speed at which the story changes gear is so quick it’s enough to give you literary whiplash.

In the end, this is a rather run of the mill Christmas book; whilst it clearly aims itself at children between 5 and 8, the storyline is a little too thin to keep them entertained for long. It would have worked far better had it been written for a younger audience, with fewer words and more pictures.

Your Reviews:

Click here to login or register and leave your very own review of The Age of Not Believing

Be the first to leave your own review of The Age of Not Believing!