Great story! Well done. ( )

In the vein of a Lemony Snicket novel, The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons opens with tragedy. Lucy's family is taken from her quite suddenly and her evil Uncle Victor comes to live with her as her legal guardian. His plan is to take over her family home. What is a young girl to do to fight back? Although the book opens with a rather sad note, I can tell you without a doubt that once it takes off it's hard to stop reading.

Lucy is quite a protagonist. Brilliant beyond her years, she is an easy character to fall in love with. Full of courage, and willing to take on whatever comes her way. In fact, one of Lucy's biggest draws is her ability to accept the unexplained. It allows magic to flow into her life and makes for an even more enchanting read. I see young readers being drawn in by the magical elements. The message here is clear and simple:

“Courage is not about being unafraid... Courage has to do with moving forward in the face of fear.”

I was simply disappointed by the lack of answers upon ending Lucy's story. The magic in this story is dazzling, but never really explained. We meet some wonderful characters during our romp through Lucy's life, but we never really see into their pasts. I'm hoping that this means this is the first of the a series that will eventually wrap things up. I for one will be happy to follow Lucy to wherever she ends up next! ( )

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since I read [b:The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons: Lucy at Sea|17383943|The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons Lucy at Sea|Barbara Mariconda|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362791179s/17383943.jpg|24034575], I've been looking forward to this book. The end of a great middle grade series can be tricky to perfect. Especially a series such as this; with a plethora of characters, locations, and backstory. Lucy is a recently orphaned girl determined to break her family's curse.

I don't want to spoil any of the previous books in the series so I'm going to keep this review brief and somewhat vague. The book begins right where the last one left off. Lucy and her group are in search of the cursed treasure of Pirate Queen Mary Maude Lee. Only when Lucy and her Aunt Pru find the treasure and return it to its rightful owners (Marni) will the curse be stopped. But until then, the sea keeps trying to claim Lucy, and The Grey Man comes often almost killing her numerous times.

This book has a few additional characters, who I found to be quite charming. Grady's mother is a seer, Mrs. Oonaugh and she is hilarious! She smokes her tobacco pipe, only instead of blowing O's she blows smoke in the shape of whatever prophecy is important at the time. Then there's Seamus, who makes Walter quite jealous by doting on Lucy. But can he be trusted?? The final new character is Old Peader. He's pretty grumpy, but made a good addition to the crew. Sometimes I feel like there are too many characters in this series, and I have a hard time keeping up. This may be because I never read the first book, I just jumped right in at the second. So it was hard sometimes keeping up. And certainly in the beginning it was a bit hard remembering who was who. But for the most part I kept it straight and remembered why I loved all of them. Oh, and there is a fairy in this one!! Nessa was hilarious and deviant and I loved every minute of her and the big mess she made.

I thought the author did an excellent job with Lucy. Her thought process was extremely mature and adult. I really like this. I love when middle grade books don't dumb down their characters. I felt like her maturity and inner monologues were extremely intelligent and realistic. Big props for that.

Other than that there isn't much to say about this amaazing adventure novel. I thought it ended brilliantly and everything came together quite nicely. I was very surprised at the end, and found myself (twice) having to reread what happened because I could hardly believe it! I quite prefer this to the obvious endings that often occur with this type of series. I'm sad to say goodbye to Lucy. I feel there is room for a spin off series with the new school and the kids of the workhouse. Perhaps we will see more of this world from the author.. Either way I really enjoyed the ride and I definitely recommend this series to lovers of adventure and historical fantasy.

( )

Barbara Mariconda's website indicates that The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons is the first in a trilogy of middle grade fantasy novels. The book takes place in the early 1900s in northeastern U.S., right along the Atlantic coast. The cover artwork is lovely and the synopsis really piqued my interest. It promises an enchanted flute, a magical mist in a mystical family home and a tragic disaster that orphans Lucy and sets her at odds against her greedy uncle and others who would steal away her heritage.

The language of the book is beautifully formed and very poetic at times while still being simple and easily accessible to the middle grade audience. The descriptions of settings, actions and motivations were all wrapped inside wonderfully articulated language that touched the senses and made for a vivid and engaging read.

The story jumps right into the action with the tragic death of Lucy's parents and continues to keep a steady pace throughout the entire book. I really loved the way the tragedy was handled and especially the disorientation, denial and grief that followed as Lucy found herself trying to recover and make sense of her life. The horrible situation into which Lucy is tossed felt a little trite and overused at first but quickly took on a fresh, imaginative turn that allowed it to be compelling even if it was a story I felt like I'd heard before (that story being: child becomes orphan, forced to bow to whims of overbearing greedy adult who just wants the family estate/money/etc).

I really enjoyed the introduction of the various magical and mystical elements in the story. I loved the concept of the possibility of a true Siren from mythology. I was intrigued and curious as to how and why the Siren was involved and kept turning page after page to try and understand the magical mist that seemed to bring the house to life in ways meant to help Lucy stay safe and progress towards some goal she did not even understand. I loved the suggestion of a family Curse potentially having something to do with the water.

In addition to the magical elements, I really enjoyed the mundane natural elements of the story. I love that the quirky little dog is named Mr. Puggsley. Just such a fun and funny name. I liked the interactions between Lucy and the housekeeper Addie. I really enjoyed the descriptive elements of the setting along the Atlantic coast and turn of the century America. I also liked the subplot that occurs later in the story when Lucy meets another group of children who aren't orphans but are separated from their family for another tragic reason.

There are a lot of things to really like about this book and the way it is written. In fact, probably my biggest complaint about this book is that there are TOO MANY things going on. The story moves at a quick pace as Lucy whirls through her life trying to make sense of the recent tragedy and figure out a way to ensure her future isn't entirely destroyed by her uncle. As her life seems to be spinning out of control, we are introduced to mystery after mystery. Who is the mysterious Siren? What is the family curse? Where does the magic of the house come from? Is Marni magic; psychic; something else entirely? I felt like the book introduced a ton of interesting and compelling ideas, fleshed them out to a degree, but then left most of the questions unresolved. As mentioned on the author's website, this is intended as part of a trilogy so I can accept that we'll (hopefully) get answers in the next book. However, I read this book unaware that it was going to be part of a series, so the lack of resolution to so many questions caught me rather unprepared and left me a little unsettled.

As to the concept of this being a trilogy, I suspect the entire trilogy will use the overarching title "The Voyage of Lucy" since honestly this first book did not involve any real "voyage" at all. The farthest any of our characters travelled was across the little bay, hardly a trip to be called a "voyage" (though I suppose it could be granted with some poetic license). At the same time, Lucy definitely makes a definite Journey of maturation and self discovery. She's a young girl and behaves impetuously and immaturely at times but she is also learning, growing and coming to her own as an admirable, strong, decisive and powerful protagonist.

Overall this is a fun story with a lot going for it. The magic, whimsy and adventure should appeal to younger readers while the intricacies and depth of the mysteries should keep older readers interested. I do see a little risk in leaving so much unresolved. While it will certainly drive readers to a sequel, it may leave some less satisfied with the initial offering. Still, the climactic ending of this book is exciting, surprising and a lot of fun and offers a good degree of wonder and satisfaction in spite of the many questions it leaves hanging. I for one am definitely looking forward to the sequel and I'm going to be pushing this book on my kids next.

****
3.5 out of 5 stars ( )