I loved the Legendary Alston Boys series!
Otto and Sheed live in Logan County, a place where right off the bat, you learn almost anything can happen. No, seriously, in a fantasy sense -- anything can happen. And it does.
Like most kids their age (they're cousins, not brothers, but they live together with their Grandma) they wish the last day of summer would never end.
Sheed -- so he can find a new adventure, one more way to save the county, yet again, and earn another medal from the town mayor to tie the competing girl-duo and twins, the Epic Ellisons.
Otto -- just so he doesn't have to start school the next day.
Then a strange man calling himself Mr. Flux appears and offers a camera to get a "shot" of the county, so they can "capture" the last last-day-of-summer "forever." They have no idea what they're doing when they click the button and out comes the photo. It's an old Polaroid-type camera, except…when they look closely, it isn't. It's magic.😉
They take the picture -- and freeze the county. And all its inhabitants. Including their grandma.
Not good.
How in the world will they unfreeze everybody? And who was the strange, bendy man who gave them the camera in the first place, Mr. Flux? What does he want and where does he come from?
And worst of all -- will the Legendary Alston Boys need to seek help from -- gulp -- the Epic Ellisons? Yeah.
I won't spoil any of the fantastic twists and turns. I will say, watch the Mirror Emporium's owner carefully. It's the set-up for the sequel.
In the course of unfreezing Logan County and defeating Mr. Flux, the Alston boys set up their next adventure -- or should I say mis-adventure, because you get the sense they're just as legendary for putting the county in danger as they are for saving it!
Remember when they broke a mirror at the Emporium, setting loose one of Mrs. Warden's -- oops, Mrs. Nedraw's -- worst prisoners? Well, now he's causing trouble for Logan County and it's up to the Alston boys to round him up before the "Judge" appears.
Turns out, Mrs. Nedraw's mirrors aren't just mirrors -- they're portals to new worlds. Or more accurately, prison cells for "criminals," people who've been sentenced by the "Judge" for breaking the rules.
The boys and Mrs. Nedraw take the last mirror on the left and get sucked into a world where they're forced to ask, who made the Judge the judge? And why does he get to decide who's a criminal? It's all very relative (hint).
There's also the issue of Sheed's illness, which Otto is keeping from him. It drives a wedge between the boys when it should be pushing them closer together, but that's up to them to figure out across their zany adventures.
I won't spoil the plot twists and turns, but know it's another super-close save for Logan County and Sheed. While I love them both, I kinda hope the author gives the Epic Ellisons a shot at saving the county after this!
This is the last in Sheed and Otto's Logan County adventures, and it really is a "last chance" this time.
The Fixitall cure that Sheed took in the mirror world is having…consequences. Sheed glows. So strongly, it's felt around the world. He's emitting U-rays.
And they draw weirdness to Logan County by the … storm full of toothed frogs?
Worse, Sheed and Otto's parents have taken jobs with GOO, Inc. and they work for its creepy three-headed CEO. They're rationalizing working for what simply must be an evil organization buying up real estate to gentrify the county and turn Logan's residents into unthinking Money Zombies.
The parents are home, but not for long. They plan on splitting up the cousins and moving away from Grandma's house and Logan.
It all appears hopeless until, with the Epic Ellison twins, they make their way to the Mayor's office and learn the keys to the county aren't purely ceremonial. They have purpose. A real purpose. And the strange goat, Michael Jordan, that's been harrying them from the start can possibly lead them to a solution to this mess -- at Monty FISHto's.
I can't say any more! You'll have to read to find out how it ends. Just know, it's a great adventure to end an incredibly imaginative trilogy. Enjoy!
