Sky Key

September 15, 2015
Endgame continues as the Players hunt for the Sky Key. The Earth Key has been discovered (The Calling, 2014), and two more keys are out there waiting to be found. Sarah and Jago have the Earth Key in their possession and have formed an uneasy alliance based on a mix of lust and trust. But Sarah still mourns the death of her Nebraskan boyfriend, Christopher, whom she was forced to kill in the closing chapters of the previous volume, a factor that strongly clouds her judgment. While Jago and Sarah hunt down the Sky Key, other Players hunt them. Meanwhile, the world is becoming aware of Endgame's existence as a giant asteroid approaches Earth and causes widespread panic. The stakes couldn't be higher, but it all feels superficial, resulting in a very long 459 pages. There's globe-trotting and a culturally diverse cast of characters, but the authors do little to explore the scenery or to color the characters. The Players sound very much alike, droning on about destiny and tough choices. The narrative structure is shaky, flipping quickly among players and locales and juggling goals with scant attention to artistry or pacing. It feels all too much like a satire of dystopian teen lit crafted with little understanding of the genre beyond its surface conventions; worst of all, it doesn't seem to care. Opportunistic, paint-by-numbers hackwork. (Adventure. 12-16)

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October 1, 2015
Grades 8-12 While this second volume in the Endgame series won't stand alone, Frey and Johnson-Shelton up the ante with hooks at every chapter and scenes of excruciating gore. The 12 ethnically diverse teen players of the first book are now winnowed to nine and diminish further as they battle one another and survive the coming Event, triggered by meteors colliding with Earth. Chapter headings stating which characters are in the section, along with their locations (such as Berlin, Mexico, and India), help readers stay focused as the remaining players search for the last two keys of the puzzle. With so much action, there's not a lot of room left for character, though there are some wonderful details: An Liu, for instance, who suffers from tics and stutters, discovering that wearing his dead lover's ears, hair, and other body parts cures his nervous twitches. Clues scattered throughout the book will guide the patient and persistent reader to an actual treasure in real life, but the main draw is likely to be the rapid pace and outrageous fight scenes. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Though the jury is still out on Frey's latest venture, his status as a big-time best-seller will push awareness and probably rope in more readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)