Woo-hoo! It's here!
Summer is here, the kids are out of school, and I'm having a ball reviewing science-fiction and fantasy books from now until the start of Fall semester. Some will be continuations of books I've already reviewed, like today's. Other will be complete, whole series I've read over the COVID social distancing / reduce the curve isolation period.
Even if your library isn't open, and doesn't have a Summer Reading Program for your kiddos (many have cancelled due to COVID closures and reopening restrictions) this year, they can and should read up a storm of books that interest them over the summer. As a parent, you can help prevent the Summer Slide (no, it's not a good thing) by promoting reading to your child or children.
And a great way to do that is to slide high-interest, fun books under their noses (or load them on their Kindles or phone apps) and just make them available.
All year I review other types of high-interest books, and books for teachers to consider using in their ELA and Social Studies curriculum, but summer's time for pure sci-fi/fantasy fun!
I'm so excited to finally post my first Summer Reads review! I've been holding onto this one for months, just dying to talk it up!
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read Book 1, stop reading now. My review's going to start where Book 1 left off. For my review of Book 1 (last summer), click here.
Daniel has lost the Book of Planets to the Sinja. They're using it to foment war, and nothing the Truth Seekers do to defuse escalating conflicts seems to work. There's conflicts brewing in places where there should be none, and the Sinja know how to defeat Truth Seeker forces, and they're always, always, one step ahead of the Truth Seekers.
Until Daniel gets a tip about a downed starship named the Coldstar, and he investigates it -- with Alice the Hammertail, his trababsaur from the relic mine, and a little pinguino-form robot, Jasper.
Daniel finds out nothing about himself, as he hoped. Instead, he rescues several hundred kids, kidnapped kids, grubs like he had been in the relic mine, before he escaped. They're about to be delivered to the Sinja.
He rescues them, with help from his fellow Truth Seeker Ionica and Nails and Astrid, and they set up a trap to figure out who sent him the tip.
I'm not going to reveal any more. Just know, Daniel and Ionica set in motion events that help them understand how the Sinja have been one step ahead of the Truth Seekers the entire time.
In the final showdown between Daniel and the Sinja, Blink Darkada, the betrayer from Book 1 and Daniel's bestest grub friend from the relic mine, makes an appearance -- and redeems himself.
And finally Daniel and the Truth Seekers know how to stop the Sinja dead in their tracks.
We really enjoyed this one, possibly more than Book 1. It didn't feel as rushed at the end, and the story -- even though it's a second in an ongoing series -- felt satisfying, as several plot points from Book 1 came full circle. It still left lots of questions unanswered and we can't wait to read number 3!
