WORLD'S END

Further developing the credibility-stretching premise of Dormia (2009)—that the narcoleptic residents of a secret country are more active when asleep than awake—this sequel carries heavy-lidded half-Dormian Alfonso on a circuitous route from the catacombs of Paris to the icy Urals in pursuit both of his father and an evil 600-year-old hemophiliac superwarrior. Along with folding in many flashbacks and references to the previous episode, the authors strew the plotscape with mysterious magic boxes and balls, giant “snow snakes” and huge trees that forcibly put Alfonso to sleep any time the plot needs him to do something he normally wouldn’t or couldn’t. A point of view that freely switches among characters drains the dramatic tension—Alfonso’s long-missing father, for instance, suddenly shows up in his own subplot halfway through. Needed gear is always conveniently at hand, and much of the action either takes place offstage or is described like this: “…at the moment that the dagger pricked Alfonso’s shirt, he moved his torso so forcefully and suddenly that the man fell to the floor.” Fantasy fans can find better with their eyes closed. (Fantasy. 11-13)