Asterix and the Picts Review
by By Jean-Yves Ferri, Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Reviewed by Cathy Porteus
My 8 year old son was delighted when he saw his new book, “It’s a comic book and I like comics” he said. I explained that it was a comic story about soldiers and he liked the idea of that too. He sat down happily to start reading with his Dad. The story is written in capitals in a thin font, mostly in speech bubbles, which my son found very difficult to read. After reading a few boxes, he stopped and asked for it to be read to him, so I think this would perhaps be better for a more advanced reader. The names, in particular, were unusual and tricky to work out. I like books to stretch my children’s comprehension but a difficult font doesn’t add to their overall understanding, and Romanesque names such as Impedimenta and Totorum are unlikely to be useful in everyday life.
My son enjoyed the story, which is based in the town of Gaul, where the hero Asterix is holding out against the all-conquering Romans in 50 BC. They’ve studied the Romans at primary school, so the story tied in well with this and helped provide a bit more interest.
I remember the Asterix books from when I was young. I preferred Tintin myself, as I found the plots more interesting whereas the Asterix books all seemed to be quite similar. It was a good topic to interest many children, as perhaps boys in particular are attracted to action based stories. However my son didn’t ask to read the book again, I think partly because he couldn’t read the text easily himself but also because it wasn’t broken up into sections. The story seems to run throughout the whole book, which can’t be read in one sitting. This makes it difficult to know where to stop without losing the plotline. If it had been broken down into chapters, then it would have been a good story to read at bedtime over a couple of weeks.
The book has a nice glossy cover and the pictures were colourful and appealing but it wasn’t one that I would buy again unfortunately.
Rating: 3/5
RRP: £7.99 (paperback), £10.99 (hardback)
Available to buy from Amazon here.
