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Title: anti-science and generally tedious
Review: The Phoenix was slightly endearing, with its pomposity and bluster, but only slightly.Our protagonist, David, did not win my sympathy at all. Almost the first thing he does is try to bribe the Phoenix, with cookies. Then he and the Phoenix find a sleeping creature and try to hit and kick it awake so it will tell them something. In the audio version, David's voice is annoying.The villain of the book is The Scientist. I'm offended by the portrait of "science" as hunting and killing for no good reason, and by the implication that science and magic are mutually exclusive with magic being cool and good and science being evil.The narrator of the audio version, who is also the author of the book, talks with a wide-eyed, overly explanatory inflection, like he is talking down to kids.I did not finish the book because I did not care about the set-up or the characters. I know this book is a big nostalgia hit for many, but by today's scale it's low-quality.
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