Island of Fire

xxpish - Island of Fire starts right where Island of Silence left off, and Alex and the rest of the inhabitants of Artimé are shocked that their incredible home just disappeared before their eyes. Everyone is living in a gray shack, surviving on what little food and water they have. Now Alex is their leader, and he has to figure out how to make Artimé come back before it is too late. Meghan and Samheed are still on Warbler Island, in complete darkness and unable to speak because of thorn necklaces sewn into their necks. With all of these burdens and responsibilities on his back, will Alex be able to handle it all? Will the Artiméans with thorn necklaces be able to speak again? In a wonderful third installment of a thrilling and enjoyable series, Island of Fire will leave readers wanting more. Lisa McMann strikes again with another excellent novel. My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. It was a great addition to the Unwanteds series, and I can not wait for the following books. The description was great in this book, and Lisa does a great job of making the world of The Unwanteds series very vivid and realistic. Like book one and two, I absolutely LOVE the cover art. Owen Richardson is the perfect cover artist for this series. For some reason, even though it was 464 pages long I thought it was too short. Maybe it’s because there aren’t many words on the page, or that when I read it I was on a road trip. Lisa McMann, keep writing, and I will be reading. Can’t wait to see Lisa @ #AustinTeenBookFestival! :-) I truly can not wait to read book 4 (and see the cover and title); my guess for the title is Island of Water. I bet I’ll be like, “Told ya so! :-) Also, I want to thank Emma Sector at Simon and Schuster for sending me an ARC of this book. Thank you so much, Emma!

September 1, 2014
Gr 3-7-Pre-vious series installment "Island of Silence" ended with the loss of Artime, its mage, and all the hopes of the Unwanteds, magically artistic children who were sent from their homes for being too creative. The first few chapters are a little bumpy: first Alex tries to figure out the puzzle Mr. Today left, then he gives up, then becomes a leader, and then everybody leaves the group. It doesn't appear as if the author knows whether she wants Alex to be Supermage or a colossal failure. However, the book finds its groove by the time Alex miraculously restores the land of Artime. This will be a little frustrating for new listeners, but fans of the first two books will likely stick it out, if only to find out what happens. Steve West is the third narrator in as many books. While different narrators might not be a problem for a series distinguished by different points of view or broken by significant spans of time, the discontinuity in this series is jarring, though West does an adequate job. That aside, "Island of Fire" provides an absolute firecracker of a cliff-hanger, so listeners will definitely be chomping at the bit for book four. Librarians should have the whole series on hand to give to the next student who asks for a Harry Potter or "Hunger Games" readalike.-"Michaela Schied, Indian River Middle School, Philadelphia, NY"

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.