Operation Storm City - Joshua Mowll
Operation Storm City - Joshua Mowll
Sinkiang Desert, China: Deep in the Desert of Death, forces converge in the race to find Ur-Can - the fabled Storm City. Becca and Doug are desperate to reach the lost city and discover their parents' fate, but enemies, old and new, threaten to arrive first and take control of the ancient machine located there. Can Doug and Becca solve the final mystery and stop the power-hungry General Pugachev from endangering the planet - or will they find their parents only to lose them forever?
Book 3 in the Guild of Specialists Trilogy, and a nice conclusion to the series. Everything got nicely wrapped up, they found their parents, saved the world, yadda yadda yadda... Oh, I'm sorry, that was a spoiler. But I'm sure you didn't think that in a children's book, they wouldn't successfully reunite with their parents, and might in fact blow up the world?
In any case, despite the outcome being somewhat predictable, the story was still exciting, with lots of adventures, and shifting loyalties, and all that good stuff. The villain's final speech about why he was doing what he was doing was so awesomely petty and ludicrous; I loved it.
Another thing I kind of liked, that sounds a little counter-intuitive, is that, as a result of the span between when I read each of the three books, I was ever so slightly lost in places. Never so much that I couldn't still follow the story just fine, but certain details, I'd forgotten entirely. What I love about that is that it means Mowll didn't feel it necessary to recap everything that happened in the previous books every time. That sort of thing can be sort of handy if you are in fact reading the books as they come out, and there is a gap between readings, but now that they're all out, anyone reading them has the option of reading them all in one go, and that's when it becomes very good not to have to read summaries of what you just read. So yeah. That was something I really liked.
One thing I gotta say, though, is that based on the illustrations, every female has atrocious hair. Almost shoulder-length, but a little shorter on top (not quite a mullet, but almost), curly and shaggy... kind of like a sheepdog. It's a terrible haircut and all of them seem to have it, and I think it's a terrible thing to have done to his characters.
Generally, though, nice little series. As I've said before, great for boys who aren't into fantasy, and even for boys who have just read a lot of the more common things, because I think this one is still a bit under the radar for most people. So while I haven't had much opportunity lately to recommend kids' books, this one stays firmly in mind, and I recommend it to other co-workers to recommend to customers.
Next up: Blindness, by Jose Saramago
Sinkiang Desert, China: Deep in the Desert of Death, forces converge in the race to find Ur-Can - the fabled Storm City. Becca and Doug are desperate to reach the lost city and discover their parents' fate, but enemies, old and new, threaten to arrive first and take control of the ancient machine located there. Can Doug and Becca solve the final mystery and stop the power-hungry General Pugachev from endangering the planet - or will they find their parents only to lose them forever?
Book 3 in the Guild of Specialists Trilogy, and a nice conclusion to the series. Everything got nicely wrapped up, they found their parents, saved the world, yadda yadda yadda... Oh, I'm sorry, that was a spoiler. But I'm sure you didn't think that in a children's book, they wouldn't successfully reunite with their parents, and might in fact blow up the world?
In any case, despite the outcome being somewhat predictable, the story was still exciting, with lots of adventures, and shifting loyalties, and all that good stuff. The villain's final speech about why he was doing what he was doing was so awesomely petty and ludicrous; I loved it.
Another thing I kind of liked, that sounds a little counter-intuitive, is that, as a result of the span between when I read each of the three books, I was ever so slightly lost in places. Never so much that I couldn't still follow the story just fine, but certain details, I'd forgotten entirely. What I love about that is that it means Mowll didn't feel it necessary to recap everything that happened in the previous books every time. That sort of thing can be sort of handy if you are in fact reading the books as they come out, and there is a gap between readings, but now that they're all out, anyone reading them has the option of reading them all in one go, and that's when it becomes very good not to have to read summaries of what you just read. So yeah. That was something I really liked.
One thing I gotta say, though, is that based on the illustrations, every female has atrocious hair. Almost shoulder-length, but a little shorter on top (not quite a mullet, but almost), curly and shaggy... kind of like a sheepdog. It's a terrible haircut and all of them seem to have it, and I think it's a terrible thing to have done to his characters.
Generally, though, nice little series. As I've said before, great for boys who aren't into fantasy, and even for boys who have just read a lot of the more common things, because I think this one is still a bit under the radar for most people. So while I haven't had much opportunity lately to recommend kids' books, this one stays firmly in mind, and I recommend it to other co-workers to recommend to customers.
Next up: Blindness, by Jose Saramago