Cragbridge Hall, Book 1

The Inventor's Secret

By: Chad Morris

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Imagine a school in the year 2074 where students don't read history, but watch it happen around them; where running in gym class isn't around a track, but up a virtual mountain; and where learning about animals means becoming one through an avatar. Welcome to Cragbridge Hall, the most advanced and prestigious school in the world. Twins Abby and Derick Cragbridge are excited as new students to use their famed grandfather's inventions that make Cragbridge Hall so incredible. But when their grandfather and parents go missing, the twins must follow a mysterious trail of clues left by their grandfather. They must find out where their family is, learn who they can trust, and discover what secrets are hidden within Cragbridge Hall. Abby and Derick soon realize they are caught in a race with a fierce adversary to discover their grandfather's greatest secret - a dangerous discovery that could alter both history and reality.

©2013 Chad Morris (P)2013 Shadow Mountain

Critic reviews

"A fantastical futuristic read that should engage kids and families." (Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times best-selling author)

Fun, fast paced book

I enjoyed the story and characters. Fast enough pace to keep my interest. Well thought out story. Narrator did a good job.

Cute story, but faded at the end....

This was a good book. I usually quite enjoy young adult books, and this one is no different. Maybe they are just more on my level than I want to admit. Haha... This was a great storyline, but I did feel as if the story got a little too big for the author by the end. The last 1/3 of the novel was not as satisfying for me as the beginning, but well worth completing! The narrator did a fine job, too. Very good.

A very good book for the younger crowd

I enjoyed everything about this book! I am a grandmother and would like my g'kids to read this when they are older. It is a book that would bring younger children to to become interested in some stories in history. Kind of a Harry Potter situation where the students can witness history in a life like visual effect. Also an Avatar aspect where the students can control animals. I will be listening to more of this series. I also like Kirby Heyborne as the narrator.

Pretty good

This listen was quite entertaining for a book written for young adults. I always enjoy this narrator.

Lacks character.

I bought this book way back when to help support the author who had a sick kid at the time. Since I liked children’s books and I like to help authors I thought ‘what the hey’ and bought it. In the mean time I forgot I had it and it has been sitting in my library for over 6 years. The book was slow to start, then Abby met her room mate that thought she was better than she was, then the school reaction was unacceptable. I know this is a fictional book, but a lot to the story was unrealistic, without a plausible explanation to account for the sci fi parts or reactions from the characters. But if I ignore the obvious flaws the story was ok, characters were mediocre, and the story was a bit lack luster. Narrator was not to bad.

Interesting setting, poor, lazy story

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Maybe female highschoolers, but even they could use a more entertaining "slice-of-life" story.

What could Chad Morris have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Maybe a bit more acting, aside from just emulating the voices. Too many characters sounded like they didn't even care they were in the story, and his tone as a third-person narrator was too monotonous, specially at the first third of the book.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Kirby Heyborne?

My first thought was Dana Stabenow, though I don't think she ever read anything like this.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Cragbridge Hall, Book 1?

I might trim a bit at the beginning, but the book suffers more from lack of content than excess.

Any additional comments?

Took a couple of hours to get hooked on this. All you get for that time is a whiny, stupid protagonist (Abby) that can't stand up for herself and repeatedly acts unreasonably. For two hours, I was listening to a "slice-of-life" in a futuristic high school from the perspective of a character I wound up never caring for. Between that and the uninspired narration, I was about to return this book. After all that time, I still had no reason to care for the story.

Then the book actually started towards its main plot point, and Abby stopped whining as much. From there to the end, I found just enough to keep me reading. There were some fun moments, but those belonged to Rafael, a brazilian teacher's assistant, and Derek, Abby's twin brother.

In the end, I felt the book was too straightforward. In spite of all the odds, the immense stakes and the extremely rich, powerful and influential enemy, the only things that really stood between the characters and the conclusion were about a dozen henchmen with half a brain and Cragbridge's challenges. The only student against them only mattered for a bad night's sleep and a couple of blushing moments at the beginning of the book, then she disappeared. It felt like the villain barely even tried to win, or, more practically speaking, the author was trying to keep his own job of concluding the book simple.

I won't say I regret listening to the book, but I didn't get much out of it. Since I already got through the first book, I might give the sequel a go on account of it supposedly being centered around the avatars, but not anytime soon.

Book is aimed at middle school kids.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Cragbridge Hall, Book 1?

A scene early on in which there is a "roommate" conflict. Without spoilers, it was distressing and unfair social bullying...a great way to generate drama and setup a "Harry vs Malfoy" rivalry...but to me, it was an annoying drama, and the sort of things that would not actually be tolerated.

Any additional comments?

I'm generally a fan of reading "young adult" books (Harry Potter, Ranger's Apprentice, etc).. But the ones I like are easy to read, and easy to engage in, but not necessarily targeted at kids. This book was targeted at middle school kids. I can see why it's popular, but I didn't personally like it.