Beware of "Ingo"

There is a book out right now [the first in a series] called "Ingo". I think parents need to be warned about this book, so I'm going to post my amazon.com review below.

Also, if you feel motivated, consider going to amazon and voting for my review as "helpful" [my review is titled "Morally Bankrupt Parents Beware"] if a review gets votes, Amazon puts it at the top of the list of reviews, otherwise the review gets buried and most people never see it. I feel strongly enough about this book that I'd like for my review to be at the top - when I went there looking for help when my daughter first came home with the book, ALL the other reviews are very positive! Parents need to know the other side.

If you feel so motivated, go here to vote. Either way, help me get the word out about this series!

Here is the review:

I'm writing this review for other parents who may be making a decision about whether their children are allowed to read this book.

My father bought this book for my 9yo and she had already read almost all of it before I knew she even had it [she inhales books]. I looked for reviews on the moral content of the book and could find none, so I read the book myself so that I could discuss it with her and find out just what she'd been exposed to.

This book is full of bad behavior and immorality. Where to start?

[Warning, spoilers included below]

First, there is a fair amount of fornication. The main character is a young girl named Sapphire and her father "disappears" [apparently he has actually abandoned his wife and children to go be with the Mer people it turns out in the end]. One year later her mother is dating another man. She apparently spends the night with him, calling her children from her place of employment and telling them the "car won't start" so she's spending the night elsewhere [leaving the 13 and 11 year old children alone all night]. A recurring "ancestor" in the book is a man who abandoned his pregnant *girlfriend* and ran off with a Mermaid - this is talked about in great detail later in the book. The baby of this union is apparently the ancestor of the main character and her brother.

Second, there is an inordinate amount of lying in this book. The main character is a pathological liar as far as I can tell - she lies about *everything*, and most especially she lies to her mother. All of the characters are liars - even Sapphire's older brother who is the "honest one" is lying repeatedly by the end of the book [and isn't this nice that he's lying to protect his sister who has done horrible things?].

Third, there is witchcraft in the book. I don't mean "witchcraft" like in Harry Potter - the make believe, fairy tale kind - I mean *real* witchcraft, as in "Wicca" and "Earth Magic". One of the most powerful characters in the book is an old woman who is a Witch and uses Earth Magic. The book even opens complete with a Summer Solistic bon fire [a Wiccan holy day celebration].

Fourth, the name of Jesus Christ is used over and over as a swear word or expletive. In addition, near the end, Sapphire sings a blasphemous song she learned from her run away father.

Fifth, Sapphire and her brother are constantly doing what they aren't supposed to do - going into dangerous situations and lying about it, not doing what they are told. They are *completely* disobedient and dishonest in every single chapter of the book. Sapphire is also horribly disrespectful to her mother. Definitely not the role models one might prefer for kids.

Sixth, Sapphire experiences an addiction to "Ingo" [the underwater land of the Mer people] that is eerily similar to drug addiction. She goes there when she knows she isn't allowed to go, and then experiences a *powerful* physical and mental addiction to the place and keeps returning even after she knows how bad it is and how much danger she is in. And, while she is in Ingo, she does not care at all about her family or friends or any person in her life - all she cares about is being in Ingo and when she is not in Ingo, all she thinks about is getting back. Does this sound like an addict or what? And there is no moral value placed on this behavior - it doesn't make her "bad" that she's choosing the addiction over her family...

Seventh, Sapphire, the main character, is truly evil in my opinion. Not only is she a liar and a sneak and a disobedient, ungrateful, and very disrespectful daughter - but she also plots an actual murder. She tells the Mer people about her mother's boyfriend's plans to dive somewhere, knowing they will probably kill him if he does it. She is happy about this because she wants him "gone". She only changes her mind at the very end of the book because HE wants her mother to buy her the dog she desperately wants - because of this she decides to try to save his life at the last minute. This is the "choice" other reviewers are calling "heroic" - um, yeah. I wasn't really impressed by that - she plots murder and only changes her mind for a self serving reason, and a stupid one at that?

Eighth, aside from being evil, the main character is just plain annoying. She is a whiny brat. She is SO completely self absorbed and melancholic that I just wanted to shake her till her eyes rattled and tell her to "get over herself"!!!

The only reason I am giving this book two stars is that, apparently, this story does captivate children. My 9yo loved it. :( :( I'm not sure if this should earn the book two stars or if it only makes it a kind of Pied Piper leading children straight to hell.... I found the story line trite and draggy and extremely *obvious* personally - not good reading at all.

But, much more disturbing to me than the poor plot line and reprehensible characters is the over all moral lesson taught in the book - I would not want my child to mimic *anything* she got from this book, and now I will be doing a lot of "damage control" to try to keep this from impacting her character in negative ways.

I find it pretty awful that this book is supposed to be written for *children* and is full of this junk!!!

So, parents beware. If you are concerned that your children read good, healthy, and morally upstanding things - this is NOT the book for you.