The Magician's Key

Following the events of The Peddler's Road (2015), 12-year-old Max is desperate to return to the Summer Isle where her brother, Carter, is trapped with the children the Pied Piper led away from the town of Hamelin.However, the only path between the lands is through a hidden and locked door. Thankfully, the white girl possesses a magical map. The key, however, proves more difficult to find. An evil magician claiming to have a Key of Everything is her only hope, but dealing with a man who employs a zombie as his butler and steals people's souls seems like no hope at all. Max and Carter can count on the aid of trolls, goblins, and elves as well as the children of Hamelin. But the most surprising and dangerous friend is the Pied Piper himself. Chapters feature multiple story threads on both sides of the locked door. Characters are much more complex and interesting in this sequel than in the previous book, making this a definite upturn from the lackluster start to the trilogy. The intersection of magic and modernity provides an interesting forum for the discussion of racial profiling, disenfranchised individuals, and the effects of evil in the world. Able writing and storytelling weave these themes into a story that won't disappoint. Depth and complexity are added to great effect in this second installment. (Fantasy. 9-12) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 4-7-Book 1 of Cody's trilogy introduced modern siblings Max and Carter and a posse of centuries-old children lured by the Pied Piper from Hamelin, Germany, to a magical island. The second volume finds Carter trekking through the fairy tale-infused Summer Isle with several New Hameliners, plus a feisty elf and a dim-witted kobold, alternately fleeing from and seeking out Slavic witches, human-size rats, and the villainous Piper himself. Sister Max-abruptly returned to the real world at the end of the first installment-teams up with an elfling and a trollson to defeat a nefarious magician and make it back to the Isle to rescue Carter and their parents. Like the earlier title, this novel juggles a convoluted cast of characters with shifting allegiances and often opaque motivations, who traverse vast distances both in the real and magical realms. With so many elements in play, the better-developed characters from The Peddler's Road receive less differentiation here, though Cody deserves credit for making new villain Vodnik a figure of grotesque cruelty but keeping him from being too terrifying. The narrative sprawl prevents readers from investing fully in any of the main characters, and the first book's touching sibling dynamic-Max's protectiveness in tension with Carter's hard-won independence-suffers as the pair navigate separate worlds. In addition, some readers may be uneasy when the Piper magically "fixes" Carter's physical disability without consulting the boy. Still, derring-do abounds, fantastical creatures flourish, and (some) foes are vanquished. VERDICT Fans of The Peddler's Road will likely enjoy this somewhat ungainly second installment in this folktale adventure series.-Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY

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