{"id":1397,"date":"2019-03-20T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2019-03-13T19:54:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T01:54:35","slug":"book-arlo-finch-in-the-valley-of-fire-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/20\/book-arlo-finch-in-the-valley-of-fire-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK: Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ArloArlo Finch in the Valley of Fire
\n<\/u><\/strong>Year: 2018
\nAuthor: John August
\nLength: 411 minutes \/ 6.85 hours<\/p>\n

Having already read Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon<\/em><\/a>, I decided to go back and read the book that kicked off this series. While I already knew what had happened in Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire<\/em>\u2014as the sequel frequently referenced it\u2014I still appreciated reading the details myself. I had a few questions and concerns that I hoped this book would address, and only about half of them were answered to my satisfaction. Still, I did enjoy this Harry Potter<\/em> and Boy Scouts mashup, even if it is literally that.<\/p>\n

In the sequel, I definitely got the Harry Potter<\/em> vibe, but I fully realized the almost 1-for-1 influence of the J.K. Rowling series on this series when I read this book. Unsuspectingly powerful main character with a unique physical trait? Check. Overachieving female friend? Check. Somewhat bumbling male friend? Check. Different groups categorized via character traits? Check. All I\u2019m saying is that it would have been nice to see something that wasn\u2019t so entirely derivative of the Harry Potter<\/em> formula. As it is, I\u2019d recommend the Arlo Finch<\/em> series to anyone who loves the Harry Potter<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

While I also really enjoyed the infusion of the Boy Scout-esque \u201cRangers\u201d to the Harry Potter<\/em> formula, I\u2019m still not sure I believe this book\u2019s explanation for why most people aren\u2019t aware of these supernatural happenings. Sure, they can\u2019t be photographed, but when the uninitiated families of these kids are brought together for a Court of Honor where they hand out merit badges for \u201cWards\u201d and other supernatural activities, I can\u2019t help but think that the parents would get suspicious of what\u2019s really going on in this organization. It\u2019s kind of hard to keep all these magical things a secret when you\u2019re giving out awards for them.<\/p>\n

A solid Harry Potter<\/em> adaptation wrapped in the trappings of the Boy Scouts, I give Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire<\/em> 4.0 stars out of 5.<\/p>\n

\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" \"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" \"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" \"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\"<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire Year: 2018 Author: John August Length: 411 minutes \/ 6.85 hours Having already read Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon, I decided to go back and read the book that kicked off this series. While I already knew what had happened in Arlo Finch in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,54],"tags":[1020,1577,1691,55,1580,981,1579,1692,8],"class_list":["post-1397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-0-stars","category-book","tag-1020","tag-arlo-finch","tag-arlo-finch-in-the-valley-of-fire","tag-book","tag-boy-scouts","tag-harry-potter","tag-john-august","tag-rangers","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1397"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}