A disappointing sequel.
The sorcerer’s apprentice must become the master.
In the wake of his master’s death in series opener Order of the Majestic (2019), Joey Kopecky and his friends Shazad and Leanora have become the new Order: a circle of magic users who protect what little magic remains in the world by fighting the dark forces of the Invisible Hand. This sinister group acquires and corrupts magical objects, and they’ve been searching for several magical items scattered around the world. Thanks to an old witch and the Secret Map of the World, Joey and his pals are one step ahead. The race is on in this globe-trotting sequel that does its best to expand the series’ world but comes up short where it really counts. Joey, Shazad, and Leanora are a trio of bland protagonists, with little characterization differentiating one from the other. The action sequences and magical moments are presented with little flair, and at over 400 pages, the book quickly becomes a slog, even for readers who found a bit to enjoy in the previous oversized installment. The author attempts to shade the trio’s friendship with a quarrel over Joey’s loss of Houdini’s wand in the previous book, but the conflict is entirely circular and doesn’t add much dimension. Joey and Leanora are white; Shazad is depicted on the cover with pale skin and hails from the fictional country of Jorako.
A disappointing sequel. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2490-6
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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