I loved this introduction to the series. It's an interesting world. It is very much like "Harry Potter", but more accessible for a younger audience. It's a quick, easy read, too.

I liked a lot of the ideas presented in the series. A lot of the characters were fun, especially Charlie's uncle and the Flames.

My main issues are that it kind of peters out by the end of the series. Yes, it's nice to see Charlie and his friends maturing and coming into his powers - I enjoyed that part - but the books stayed too goody-good for too long.

If you want some easy, pleasant fantasy/supernatural, take a gander at these books. I'd avoid the last three or so in the series, though. ( )

haters will compare this to harry potter when it’s closer to x-men. yes it’s childish and yes my joy for this series is 50% nostalgia but this is genuinely such a fun plot/conspiracy with cute good-natured characters and to young readers I recommend it over hp

The Charlie Bone series was taking up a large amount of valuable shelf space in my library and hadn't been checked out in a while. I was considering weeding it and asked a colleague what she thought of the series. She loves it and recommends it as a series similar to Harry Potter with an easier reading level. I knew I needed to read it myself so that I could recommend it to students and provide an accurate book talk.
Charlie Bone has no siblings, his father is presumed dead, and he lives with his mom, uncle, and two grandmas. Because his grandma with special powers funds their living situation, they all abide by what Grandma Bone says. One day, Charlie discovers that he can hear people in photographs. When Grandma Bone learns of this special power, she immediately enrolls Charlie in a boarding school. From one photograph, Charlie learns that there is a baby who was stolen years ago and now attends his school under a hypnotization. Charlie and some of his friends, work together to solve the mystery of who this person is and how to awake her from her hypnosis.
This book is full of adventure, mystery, and suspense. It moves quickly due to simple sentences and large spacing between lines. Reluctant readers would feel successful completing this thick book. A few parts of the story were a little confusing to me, but I don't think students would be hung up on this. It is definitely not as captivating as the Harry Potter series, but is a great introduction to longer fantasy books.

Rereading this series and it holds up pretty well! ( )

This review covers the entire series:

I discovered this series when I was around 12 years old (I think? It was a long time ago.) and, when I turned 20, bought every single book in an attempt to put a lock on my childhood nostalgia. I then proceeded to read every single one of them, and now, here we are.

I’ll start off by saying this – this book series is not the best thing I’ve ever read. The final rating will reveal that. That being said, I think it merits some originality. So, here we go!

The series’s main character is Charlie Bone, a Child of the Red King. Who’s the Red King? He’s this guy who lived hundreds of years ago, a magician for all intents and purposes. The Red King had a host of powers, and he also had ten children. Each child had one of his awesome powers, and all their descendants have an awesome power too. So far, so good. It’s kind of like the X-Men in that regard, especially with this next point: the kids, in the late 20th century (this book is based in the late 1990s) all go to this special school in the UK where they can be around each other. The school is, in fact, the King’s old castle converted into a mansion for the Bloor family, and also an academy for Gifted Youngsters.

Jesus Christ, yeah, it really does sound like X-Men here. And Harry Potter. There’s a lot of familiar elements there.

Each kid who’s a definite descendant of the Red King has some awesome power, as I said before. Charlie’s is ‘picture travelling’ – he can enter a photo or a painting and talk to the people inside it, gathering information and maybe even taking artifacts if he needs it. He’s the only picture traveler the series introduces us to, but there are so many other cool powers – Asa is a shape shifter, Emma can fly, Billy can talk to animals, Paton can control electricity, Manfred is a hypnotist, Tancred can control storms. The whole thing is full of characters with weird and wonderful abilities who create a cast of very delightful teenagers. While the book is written for children and can sometimes fall a bit flat if you’re an adult reader, the characters themselves are very interesting to follow. They’re not perfect, and they’re still learning how to sort things out for themselves, but you really do enjoy watching them do just that.

The story develops in a way that I wasn’t expecting, culminating in a giant battle between the Red King’s evil and good descendants. In a true show of morality, the characters fight away what’s left of the evil influences, and triumph happily by the eighth book. However, I did feel like the ending of the series was a bit anticlimactic; the victory went a bit too smoothly, and the whole thing was just a bit too ‘feel good’ for me. This might be coming from the part of me that really enjoyed the Harry Potter series and how it really made me feel for the characters going through the Second Wizardring War. But still.

On a positive note, the characters are lovable, the books are the perfect quick-and-easy read for a boring Christmas vacation, and honestly, (and here I’ll put a SPOILER WARNING) the book when Charlie finally finds his father again after all those years is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever read.

Final rating: 3/5. Keep in mind, these are children’s book. But if anybody wants their kids to read something light and enjoyable, this is definitely it! ( )