Rainbow Valley Top Canadian Author
Reviews
I like this one. For some reason I find the manse children far more interesting than the Blythes; perhaps because they are practically alone and parentless in the world, pathetic in their endeavors to be good and raise themselves yet getting into sundry scrapes despite (and because of) their efforts. They are entirely endearing, and the ending sets up the final book well, with the shadow of the coming war giving us a premonition of the impending loss of their childhood innocence we enjoyed reading about for so long.
Definitely would have given this 4 stars, but the few mentions of race (derogatorily) were jarring and unfortunate.
Full (mini) review now posted! If the previous book was more about Anne’s children than the woman herself, this installment was more about the children’s new neighbors than the children themselves. A new minister has come to town, and he’s an absentminded widower with four children. These are good kids, but they’re basically raising themselves and they more than a little wild. They get into all kinds of messes and scrapes, and were a pleasure to read about. As with all of the Anne books so far, everything ends up working out just fine. This installment actually felt more like a children's book than the three or so books before it. While I would’ve loved more Anne in this story, they new little cast of characters Montgomery created were delightful, especially paired with appearances from characters I’ve grown to love as the series progresses. I can see why some Anne purists wouldn’t love this one, but it still worked for me!
2.75* There is no purpose to this book whatsoever. If you’re interested in reading about some children of a minister who are always getting into trouble even though they mean the best, then this is the book for you. If that doesn’t sound interesting, don’t bother with this book because even though it’s part of the AoGG series, it has nothing to do with Anne and her children are just an occasional guest in the story. It wasn’t a terrible read for me, but it was truly pointless and it felt that way the entire way through.
3.5/5
