Many of you will remember my spotlight on John’s first book in this series, Out of Abaton: the Wooden Prince. It came at a particularly challenging time for me, and provided exactly the kind of richly metaphorical read I needed. Reading Lord of Monsters provided me a similar escape this past week, but for totally different reasons. I have very cool writing news in the works, which has had me super preoccupied, and won’t be resolved for another week! When sitting on all that’s happening became too much for me, I slipped into my daughter’s room and persuaded her to loan me her newly signed copy of Lord of Monsters.

What’s amazing about these Bemis’s storytelling and these two books and the circumstances in which I read them is the level of transport possible. I wouldn’t, personally, label them super ‘voice’ heavy. Lord of Monsters is told in both Lazuli and Pinochio’s povs, and the story-telling serves the adventure rather than the other way around. However, the world building, sense of adventure, and glorious wonder that suffuses both books sweeps the reader along no matter what else demands their attention. Or, so it is for me, and for that I’m grateful!

In this second book we pick up with Pinochio and Lazuli at the Moonlit Court, in Abaton, the fabled land of magic and peace. However, there are mysterious workings afoot from the beginning, and adventure quickly finds them when a dreaded manticore attacks in the middle of a fancy banquet in the gardens. The beast has escaped a prison which was established centuries before, and she’s only the first to come calling. Pinochio must travel to the source of the problem and but a stop to the prison escapes, and Lazuli will have to come with him because of a small snag he’s experiencing–whenever he uses his magic, part of him turns to wood once again. There is nothing Pinochio fears so much as losing his humanity and becoming an automata again, so the dangerous path they are on is doubly dangerous for him.

Let’s see what Apricot-kitty thought of it:

“I liked the twists and turns among the people. Friend. Enemy. These folks didn’t seem to know which was which, and had to reconsider every time they turned around. Very like cats, that. You never know if someone’s going to give you a lick or rip off your whiskers.”

Um, yeah. I think every friend-to-a-cat  has been on the receiving end of that!

I don’t plan to post on July 3rd, because I plan to take a family weekend for the Fourth, so according to my very lazy every-other-week summer schedule, I will see you all the following week, July 10th. Hopefully with news. 😉

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday reviews, spotlights, interviews and giveaways, stop by Shannon Messenger’s blog, and happy reading!

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