Title: Koschei: The Silver-Eyed Monster
Author: A. A. Farr
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing LLC
ISBN: 1643612719
Pages: 272
Genre: Fiction
Review by: Aaron Washington
Hollywood Book Reviews
The story starts slow as the reader is introduced to Alex Campbell, a quiet elementary student. The first chapter basically covers the characters of Alex and how he relates to others. The quiet boy who is not necessarily a loner brought about two major themes in the book; bullying and low self-esteem issues in school age children. Alex often wanted to be part of the activities his peers engaged in but could not. There was also a bunch of rough boys who bullied him. Claude Delaunay, Dominic Skinner, Reva Alvarez, and Mark Kane were the bullies. I disliked this group of boys from the start.
I found the Koschei to be such a cool communication gadget. And how it only recognized the voice of the initial owner made it cooler. I would wish to own one and experiment with it. Leon and Alex were great friends too. I enjoyed the simple conversations they had. Their friendship is one of the elements that I thoroughly enjoyed in the book. The inclusion of the Koschei in the plot made the storyline interesting. The Koschei was like a miracle device – everyone was mesmerized. I like that the gadget distracted Alex from a lot of things. Alex is one strong boy that I admired. The boy tried to live a normal life even when people gossiped about his mother and told baseless stories about his family. He was my favorite character as well as Amanda, who was great in her role too.
From this book, we get to learn that fear is a terrible thing for children. Fear stopped Alex from doing some things because he did not believe in himself. The start of the book explained why Alex was the way he is. I did not think I could hate mirrors until I read this book. The mirror Alex stared at was a constant reminder of how his eyes looked. Oh, how I wish mirrors never existed because without them Alex could perhaps fail to see his eyes as often as he did. He had silver eyes which he hated, despite them being beautiful and unique. It, however, gets better at the end because Alex finally gets one of the things he wished for. It is a shame that some adults viewed him as a weirdo. Alex struck me like a sweet boy who wanted to live a normal life.
I enjoyed author A. A. Farr’s style of using vivid description when talking about characters, locations, and other objects. He beautifully illustrated every event in the book to the reader’s satisfaction. Koschei: The Silver-Eyed Monster reads like a fantasy novel infused with real-life situations. The author touched on a few issues which children and elementary students face while growing up making the story more relatable. This book is an amazing read. It is easy to find a character you are fond of in this book. I considered Dominic and his gang to be the villains. It is also a great book for teens and young adults who want to start being avid readers.