Review: Spindlers

The Spindlers

Lauren Oliver

Released 10.2.2012

Harper Collins Publishers

ISBN: 9780061978081

Blurb From The Publisher:

One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not. In fact, he was quite, quite different.
When Liza's brother, Patrick, changes overnight, Liza knows exactly what has happened: The spindlers have gotten to him and stolen his soul.
She knows, too, that she is the only one who can save him.
To rescue Patrick, Liza must go Below, armed with little more than her wits and a broom. There, she uncovers a vast world populated with talking rats, music-loving moles, greedy troglods, and overexcitable nids . . . as well as terrible dangers. But she will face her greatest challenge at the spindlers' nests, where she encounters the evil queen and must pass a series of deadly tests—or else her soul, too, will remain Below forever.

Our Thoughts On:

    When we lay our heads down at night, there is a whole world existing without our knowledge and that may not be the worst part of it at all, we may lose our very souls as we sleep. Where do some of the lost children go? In Liza’s world they may have befallen a fate delivered to them by the spindlers, a horror story told to Liza by her babysitter one day named Anna. What Liza never realized was that those stories are truer than she ever thought, and there is a whole world existing from her house that threatens her very family.

    Sometimes little brothers seem to be a pain, but when one morning Liza realizes that there is something very wrong with her little brother Patrick, she also comes to the conclusion that her brother’s soul may have been taken by the spindlers. Spindlers come from our worst nightmares; spiders of every sized but with long pointy legs ending in human hands they come in the night and rip your souls out to feast upon while laying eggs in your belly. Once hatched these thousands of hungry spindlers will emerge to then feast again causing your physical body to then disappear. Those missing children vanished in the night may have been taken away in such a manner by spindlers.

     Liza’s family is so busy with their own issues that when Liza comes up to them with the realization that her brother is not himself, they ignore her thus sending Liza out to find her brother alone. Like a nightmare, Liza goes through a hole in her wall into a whole different world filled with strange entities and many dangerous. Liza takes out on her quest alone and afraid, but soon finds friendship and betrayal in these dark catacombs, through test and trials she will try and overcome her sense of hopelessness in her fight to save her little brother.

      Lauren Oliver creates a rich fantastical world that strikes fear in the childhood heart of every reader with menacing spiderlike spindlers and soul snatchers sneaking beneath our homes. With a rich plot and a great heroine in Liza, Oliver takes The Spindlers into a whole new light for readers of any age giving them the hope to move past their fears and embrace their strength to fight for what is right.