Rating: 5/5
Genre: Middle Grade/Tween Fantasy
Pages: 306
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Dark times are upon us. Neci is back and she is more dangerous than ever. The warriors are forced to pick a side and to stand up for what they believe in. The race is on to find the missing warrior first. It’s the only way to prevent a war from happening and to stop Neci from destroying everything. Emily Knight has to get sharper, stronger and faster because Neci has made her a target and someone is going to great lengths to hurt her. Can Emily win the race? Or will Neci take her down once and for all? – Amazon.com
So earlier this year I read the first book in this middle grade series and absolutely loved the book. I got another chance to read the second installment in this series and absolutely loved it. The story continues with Emily Knight and her struggles to not only fit in at school and figure out her feelings for a certain guy friend of hers, but also to figure out what she should do concerning Neci, the big bad villain of the series. I thought this book did really good character development wise. There are not a lot of books out there that conquer the tween phase and I thought A. Bello did magnificient with Emily’s inner monologue and her growth as a character and as a girl overall. I also thought the plot was very intriguing, it kept me wanting to read throughout the book and the pacing was very well done as well. Not too fast or too slow. This is also another book with a ton of diversity in it. Not only is Emily, our main character, a strong black female (I believe she’s British? I think this is set in the UK? Correct me if I’m wrong!) but Emily lives in a blended family with her godparents, her friends come in different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, and nothing about this feels forced like it does sometimes in some of the books I’ve read in the past.
The only downside I had about the book was that I felt that as a middle grade read it might be a bit too much for younger middle graders. That’s the downside of the reading system is that there’s not a middle ground between middle grade and young adult. If there was (a tween reader?) then this book would certainly fit into that category.
Verdict: If you haven’t checked out this series for you or your children then WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Go check it out now and see why I love this series! This would be a perfect Christmas present for any fantasy lover and especially younger tween fantasy lovers.
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