Summary: After leaving Lockwood & Co. at the end of The Hollow Boy,
Lucy is a freelance operative, hiring herself out to agencies that
value her ever-improving skills. One day she is pleasantly surprised by a
visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough
assignment. Penelope Fittes, the leader of the giant Fittes Agency
wants them--and only them--to locate and remove the Source for the
legendary Brixton Cannibal. They succeed in their very dangerous task,
but tensions remain high between Lucy and the other agents. Even the
skull in the jar talks to her like a jilted lover. What will it take to
reunite the team? Black marketeers, an informant ghost, a Spirit Cape
that transports the wearer, and mysteries involving Steve Rotwell and
Penelope Fittes just may do the trick. But, in a shocking cliffhanger
ending, the team learns that someone has been manipulating them all
along. . . .
Thoughts: I'll just point out here that there are a few discrepancies in the summary up there in comparison with the actual book. But it's nothing too big. This is the latest installment in the series Lockwood and Co. which has me and Epic very sad. So much happens in here! We need the next book! The story follows the previous set up by having three different plot lines going at once. They start out separately but slowly weave together to create a mind blowing, action-packed, terrifying, tale of horror and perfection! The writing never fails to make me laugh. Some of the most frightening scenes have had me tearing up and choking on laughter because of the clever sentence structure and, best of all, the back and forth dialogue. And of course, the characters are the best. Literally my favorite combination of people, they make this series truly great. I had a tough time getting started in this book simply because of where the last one had left all of the cast but as I got into I was unable to put it down! Content: The usual amount of language for this series (D***, C***, etc). Lots of frightening scenes with ghosts. some violence and plenty of mentions of gore. Otherwise clean. Not a suggested read for anyone who frightens easily or who hasn't read the previous three books but a highly recommended read for those wanting a mostly clean, character driven book that full of thrills!
Summary: Arthur's backyard looked
like an ordinary garden until he discovered the Minimoys and their vast
world where fierce battles are fought, ferocious monsters are faced,
and one evil wizard, Maltazard the Cursed, rules from his terrifying
stronghold: Necropolis, the forbidden city. Now ten-year-old Arthur
magically transformed into a Minimoy must help them find a way into this
forbidden city in order to rescue Arthur's grandfather, recover a
stolen treasure, and save the land of the Minimoys before it's too late.
Thoughts: This is the sequel to the book Arthur and the Minimoys (which I have not read) that I found at a used bookstore. I really liked the movie, Arthur and the Invisibles as a kid and had always been curious about the series and so I went ahead and picked it up. The story basically follows the second half of the movie. It's lighthearted and childish with a touch of darker plot lurking beneath. Having seen the movie countless times I admit I was a little bored. For once it was almost complete on target only with a little more humor mixed in. So the story was good and easy to follow without the first book so long as you at least have watched the movie. If not I do really suggest reading the prequel first. The characters were nice but a bit dry. They might have gotten lost in the translation (the book is originally written in French) but that didn't change the fact that they were hard to connect with. On the other hand this was a really small book so there wasn't a whole lot of time for major development or connection. Also, this might have been established better in the first book but the characters didn't feel strange or unfamiliar, just dry. They had a habit doing things without explanation and going from one mood to the next in the blink of an eye. That being said, I still did enjoy the story and I really think that younger kids would find this book amusing. Though I did mention darker undertones above, it's nothing a small reader would pick up on/be scared of. Content: There is the fact that two ten-year-olds are considered married by a kiss but this is all that is considered appropriate and the two were hardly even supposed to touch again until several years had passed. Despite this, there are two kisses in the book. There is also a bit of violence and some dark, though not necessarily scary, plot points that are really only dark if you over think them like I do! ;) So, overall, a good kids book but without a lot of meat in the way of characters.
