The Message in the Painted Rock

Thank you NetGalley, Tom Blanton, and Black Rose Writing for the opportunity to review this book.

It was a delightful, fast paced read. I loved the adventures that Arthur and Mayra went on.
The character development was good, attention to details spot on and I truly enjoyed how the author
dipped our toes into a tiny bit of fun history with King Arthur and dazzled our imaginations with a wee bit
of whimsy with subtle magics. The narrative was engaging. I can see tons of kids wanting to read this exciting new book!

This is a very traditional kind of middle grade story with an old-world sort of feel which is quite nice to read, although the story is a little bit anticlimactic.

I did like the feel very much. The story nails it just right - it feels so much like the books I read when I was a kid. There's just something indescribable in that, and I'm sure you know what I mean. And even though it's set in the present day, even phones are mentioned, everything has the old days' quaintness to it. Maybe it's the small town and life is still like that in smaller places. Or maybe the author just wanted to give it that vibe. But I loved it. It's a great world to escape to.

But there were a few things that fell just a little flat for me. One is that Arthur, the main character, is an incredibly upstanding boy - maybe even too much so. I feel like real life boys might have trouble relating to him. Not many preteen boys keep their room tidy 'as a pin', read books with a dictionary to challenge themselves and ask everyone how they can be helpful and how their day went. In fact, not many adults are this great at any of those things. I'm not sure I know anyone like that. More than that, this boy rationalizes his decisions (very well) and isn't afraid of truly scary things that in all honesty he should be afraid of very much, as a kid (or even just a human being.) He's just so perfect, too perfect. Felt like a very flat character to me. Kids have tantrums. Kids never care about others more than they care about themselves. Most people never see further than their own nose until they are in their late teens. Some never learn. This boy was basically a saint.

The other thing was that I was very disappointed with the bad guy. There was barely any of him in the story. More than that, I kept thinking the good guy was the bad guy because he was just so over the top (and I admit I would have loved the story so much more if the good guy turned out to be bad guy all along, haha! *disappears in a puff of smoke*) Without this, it just falls flat. The bad guy is beaten without barely any effort. It doesn't make for much of a culmination.

But the story is still pleasant to read and would engage middle grade readers, so I definitely don't regret reading it. It was sweet.

This book is well written and the characters are described well. I liked his writing style. I plan to read more by this author.

Arthur is thirteen years old and bored. School has closed and all his friends have gone on vacation with their parents. So he knows it will be a dull summer. He goes over to a neighbor who he does errands for. She has asked his mother to have him come over. David is surprise to meet his neighbor’s granddaughter Marya. He has been asked to show Marya the sights of the town. They end up at painted rock’s small cave due to rain. Arthur shows her the pictographs on the wall of it. When the rain stops, they go home. On the next day, Arthur and Marya go back to the painted rock to see if they can figure out what it means. They are surprised by a very old man who tells them that there are powerful, evil people who want an ancient relic. They must find the ancient relic first and protect it. Will they be able to?

It is a captivating story. It depicts small town living. The novel is a mystery filled with adventure. The main characters are terrific.. they learn how important communication is especially when things seem to be going wrong. It is a combination of the King Arthur’s legend, and Spanish conquistadors. They must learn to overcome their fears. I thinks that they also learned to appreciate the wonder around them. I was completely involved with them while they were trying to solve the mystery and on their adventures. It is not just a book for children but a book for all ages!