HAVOC

This sequel to Malice (2009) draws the rival casts of evil monsters and teenage rebels into climactic battles both in this world and the parallel one behind the pages of a comic. As Seth makes his way back into Malice with the talismanic Shard and joins the effort to mount an attack on the dread Deadhouse, a new ally, Alicia, nervously tracks the House’s sinister master Tall Jake to the decrepit English psychiatric hospital where Grendel—the mad, disturbed, misshapen graphic artist (and maybe god?) who has created both the comic and the world it depicts—is imprisoned. Like the opener, this features expertly meshed multiple plotlines, colorful supporting characters (notably a clockwork sabertooth and a Malice resident afflicted with “regenerative leprosy,” meaning that he keeps losing body parts that then grow back), frequent eerie skitterings and sudden feelings of dread plus nonstop action that breaks, occasionally, from prose into graphic-novel–style panels festooned with noisy sound effects. A real crowd pleaser, with further episodes possible but not necessary. (Graphic hybrid/fantasy. 11-13)