I finally got to finish this since I’ve been scrambling for other booktalks. Something that I’ve learned about Frank Beddor is that he’s an entertainer.
And that’s okay!
Seeing Redd is not The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and that’s okay! It’s fun.
Imaginative bursts
1. The characters really start to come into their own as Alyss is less dreamy-eyed and more monarch.
2. It expands between a mere battle of imagination as King Arch of Boarderland wants a piece of the pie. More of the Heart Queendom is seen (and yes, there are more caterpillars).
3. Lots of action, especially towards the end (like any good fantasy book these days, I guess).
4. Frank Beddor visited my library and he writes like he talks: very energetically and down to Earth. The book level lists at being high, but if students know that it’s mainly “crazy creature jargon”, they should be fine.
Rose thorns
1. I had already read Hatter M, so I was already familiar with some of the new characters, like Sacrenoir and Siren. There are descriptions of these characters, but they were scarier because I had seen them earlier in the comic book.
2. Characters die or are hurt that I hadn’t quite connected with yet.
Final conclusion: With the crazy ending of book two, there better be book three.
