View source for Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

{{infobox1
|title=Serafina and the Black Cloak
|author=Robert Beatty
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Fantasy, gothic horror and suspense tumble around together in this magical story with a lively, female heroine.  I’d take the ‘American Harry Potter’ comparisons with a pinch of salt, but it will keep a keen pre-teen reader quiet for a day or two!
|rating=3.5
|buy=maybe
|borrow=yes
|pages=304
|publisher=Egmont
|date=May 2016
|isbn=9781405283786
|website=http://robert-beatty.com/
|cover=1405283785
|aznuk=1405283785
|aznus=1405283785
}}

Serafina lives in the basement of the grand house on the Biltmore Estate with her Pa, an engineer.  No one knows that they live in the basement.  No one, in fact, knows that Serafina exists, since she has been told by her Pa that she must keep herself hidden away.  She isn’t sure why, but she happily creeps around the beautiful house, mostly by night but sometimes secretly during the day, watching and observing and undertaking her self-appointed job of Chief Rat Catcher.  Serafina knows there is something a little unusual about her, but she isn’t quite sure just why and how she is different from everyone else.  It’s only when she stumbles across a fearsome man in a black cloak stealing away a child from the house that she finds she can no longer remain in the shadows, but must now do everything she can to help find the missing children.

I had heard a lot of things about this book, all very positive, and so I had been really looking forward to reading it.  Because of this, I found that I was disappointed when it didn’t live up to my expectations.  It was good, in that I found I wanted to keep on reading the story, but it wasn’t great, as I haven’t really thought of it since I finished, and nor do I feel a desperate need to read the next instalment.  For me, and for many discerning children reading the story I suspect, it was just too predictable.  There were too many clues about Serafina’s ‘secret identity’ thrown in through the whole of the story.  I guessed almost immediately, and so that felt like a disappointment.  Although Serafina had her moments of being interesting, I didn’t particularly care about her.  The start of the story is by far the best part, and as the plot evolved I liked it less and less.  At one point, Serafina falls off a mountain, tumbling down and down, hitting rocks and trees and goodness knows what, and when she found herself at the bottom and she wasn’t dead I think I lost any kind of faith in the story and in Serafina herself.  Nobody falls off a mountain and survives.  Not without a whole sack load of magic at least, and there was none apparent at this point in the story.

The villain in the black cloak was quite scary, and some younger readers might struggle with those parts of the book, whilst thrill-seekers will love them!  He is relentless in his evil pursuits, and I must admit I was a little unnerved by his actions.  These parts of the story have a very gothic horror feel to them and were, I think, the best parts of the book.  Sometimes it’s good to read something scary, so for children who are able to stand it and won’t succumb to nightmares they will probably enjoy this aspect of the story.

In general, however, the characters were disappointingly flat.  Serafina has her moments, and I think written differently she could have been great.  There was just something lacking, however, and rather than being a super female role model she frustrated me with her flirting and her rather predictable, stereotypical worries about her appearance!  She is an awesome, fantastical creature, but she’s worried about what she looks like!  I understood Serafina’s desperate, yearning need for friendship, but felt like a romantic set-up when she finally found a friend - he’s the nephew of the grand owners of the house, but of course he isn’t stuck up or dull and boring, and of course he’s fascinated by Serafina!  I did, however, like this boy’s dog and all of the dog’s ‘interactions’ with Serafina!

I struggled also with the accent being portrayed by Serafina and her Pa.  I’m guessing it was going for a sort of Southern American drawl, but it was hard to place and a little too intrusive in the writing for my liking.  Serafina comes across as less well educated in some moments, and then an insightful, smart little minx in others!  The lack of consistency was difficult to read as a grown up.  Children may, of course, skip over all of this sort of nitpicking, but I’m afraid I was expecting a new classic children’s book!  The setting did seem interesting, and as it is based on a real house I found myself intrigued about the secret hideaways and passages.  There’s lots of creeping around, and going against parental orders, and being lost in the forest and abandoned graveyards, so if your child likes that sort of thing then this will appeal.  There are also various historical fiction aspects, with an upstairs, downstairs feel to the story.

I really wanted to like this, and I think that’s why I felt so frustrated by the end of it.  It could have been so much better!  It isn’t dreadful, and there are plenty of eight to fourteen year olds who will, I am sure, love it.  But I had thought it would also appeal to me as an adult reader since there are many children and young adult books that I have loved and still love to read and this had sounded promising.  Perhaps it is trying to be too many things all at once, jumping from scary suspense to sickly romance to historical fiction.  If you’re hoping to read it aloud as a bedtime story, or give it to your avid reader who can’t get enough books to keep them satisfied then don’t be put off, it isn’t dreadful!  It was a New York Times bestseller, after all!  It’s just that in my opinion it is good, not great, and it’s a story that I’d rather borrow from the library than buy.


Further reading suggestion: For another story about a girl who is kept hidden away from the world you might like to try [[The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn by Tania Unsworth]] .


{{amazontext|amazon=1405283785}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=1405283785}}

{{commenthead}}