Review -The Wizard of Dark Street (Oona Crate Mystery, Book 1) by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Release Date: July 26, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1606841433
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book Oona Crate Mystery series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Oona Crate was born to be the Wizard’s apprentice, but she has another destiny in mind.

Despite possessing the rare gift of natural magic, Oona wants to be a detective. Eager for a case to prove herself, she wants to show her uncle–the Wizard of Dark Street–that logic is as powerful as magic. But when someone attacks the Wizard, Oona must delve even deeper into the world of magic to discover who wanted her uncle dead.”

I have had this book on my TBR pile for a long time and was excited to finally read it. This was an okay middle grade story set on a magical street located off of New York City. It was okay but not great.

I enjoyed some of the creative ideas and settings but didn’t find the story or characters all that engaging. At points so many fantastical things are thrown at the reader that it makes both the characters and setting hard to picture and follow. You never really get a chance to know and engage with the characters all that well. The “mystery” is also fairly predictable.

Overall this was an okay middle grade fantasy read. There are some fun and creative ideas in here; but I didn’t find the story very engaging and thought the mystery was fairly predictable.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge