This is Baldacci’s second YA
novel featuring the character Vega Jane. Picking up where the first novel (reviewed here) left off, Vega and her buddy Delph have successfully escaped her hometown
of Wormwood. They have entered the mysterious Quag, which is not the empty
space that she was taught it was, and there may even be a land beyond the Quag.
There might even be freedom.
But the Quag turns out to be
worse than she ever thought it could be. The pair need to battle bloodthirsty beasts
of all shapes and sizes, as well as go up against darkly magical forces. They
run across another pair of youngsters in the Quag, unsure if they are enemies
or allies.
This story certainly had its share
of drama and action. There was a death among our main cast, a necessary sacrifice
in the battle, but one that I did not expect. But there were way too many
similarities to Harry Potter for my taste. For crying out loud, the lead
character has a wand and speaks pseudo-Latin to achieve her magical goals. It
became hard not to laugh every time this happened.
I enjoy most of Baldacci’s adult
novels, and these ones are fine enough, but they just weren’t nearly as good as they could
have been. There wasn’t enough original in the story and storytelling to make
it a fully satisfying reading experience.
Source: Hoopla
No comments:
Post a Comment