Creatures on a Quest: Broken Branch Falls Review

Premise: Gabe the goblin doesn't understand why he can't have friends from other species, like pixies and elves. Some day he would like to try a sport, but only ogres are allowed to play sports. After his goblin friends pull a prank on a group of dragons, they set off on a multi-species quest to save their entire town from dismantling.

Title: Broken Branch Falls
Author: Tara Tyler
Length: 238 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone (although there's room for a sequel)
Content appropriate for: Grades 4-6
Format: ebook provided by the author in exchange for an honest review


Three adjectives that describe this book: entertaining, fun, predictable

A fun quest novel with strong messages of accepting differences and avoiding stereotypes. I really enjoyed this world and its characters. Set at a time when humans are extinct and becoming mythological, and Earth is now populated by ogres, goblins, trolls, dragons, mermaids, vampires, etc... this book has a well-crafted, engaging world, even though the plot is a bit cliche.

 My only difficulty with Broken Branch Falls was the occasionally clunky writing.  Some things were just way too obvious. For instance, every time Rove the werewolf helped out, our narrator would say something terribly obvious like, "I'm so glad he came along." It was okay at first, but he kept saying every single time. It was exasperating. This is a complaint I have with some fiction for kids - young readers.are a lot savvier than we often give them credit for.

3.5 stars