Chuyển đến nội dung chính

Geeks and the Holy Grail (Camelot Code #2), by Mari Mancusi, for Timeslip Tuesday

The first book in the Camelot Code series, The Once and Future Geek, mixed time travel between the medieval world of King Arthur and our own, and it is a very entertaining book.  The second book in the series, Geeks and Holy Grail (Hyperion, October 2019), is also entertaining (though not quite as funny; King Arthur as a modern day high school student is hard to beat....).

When Morgana, sworn enemy of King Arthur, attacks the druids of Avalon, Nimue, the youngest of them, takes the Holy Grail and runs with it.  King Arthur is dying, and only the Grail can save him.  Desperate to keep it from falling into Morgana's hands, she stumbles into Merlin's Crystal Cave.  But instead of Merlin there to help her (he's on vacation in Los Vegas, in our time), there's only his very inexperienced apprentice, Emrys.  His attempt to hide the grail works, in a sense--as a small, flatulent dragon, it sure doesn't look much like a grail.  But it isn't much use to Arthur as a dragon....

Fortunately, help is on the way.  Sophie, in our world, gets a message that she's needed in King Arthur's time and immediately ditches shopping for bridesmaid dresses with her soon to be stepmother to go the rescue. Unfortunately, she takes along her soon to be stepsister Ashley, a sparkly and annoying cheerleader girl with nothing in common with geeky, gameplaying Sophie. Ashley, however, soon becomes useful as a grail dragon wrangler...Sophie isn't good with animals.

Merlin must be found to restore the grail to cup form ASAP, so Sophie and Ashley head for Las Vegas to find him, making a quick stop at home to pick up Sophie's partner in adventure, Stu. Emrys and Nemue head directly there from the middle ages, with Morgana hot in pursuit.  The Excaliber hotel has never seen such a vivid and convincing co-play extravaganza as ensues when they all meet at the medieval feast....but in order to turn the dragon back to a grail, fairy magic is needed, and the modern kids head off to the land of fairy to get the magic herb they need.

In any event, it all works out well.

It's light-hearted entertainment, given some depth by Sophie's discovery that there's more to Ashley than just glitter; Sophie does some nice growing up in realizing that other people have feelings and points of view worth respecting....Nimue and Emrys are solid additions to the cast of main characters, Merlin's time bending use of modern technology is always fun, and the Vegas high jinx, and the dragon grail, are delightful.  I look forward to the next book!

Nhận xét

Đăng nhận xét

Popular Posts

The Secret Deep, by Lindsay Galvin

The Secret Deep , by Lindsay Galvin (Scholastic, Feb 4 2020), is a sci-fi mystery/adventure that's difficult to review, because it's best read without spoilers, but hard to talk about without them.  So conclusion first--this is a fun adventure with science pushed to fantastical limits, with lots of ocean adventure, and a thought-provoking consideration of the ethics of medical consent.  It's upper middle grade (classic "tween")-- 11-14 year olds. There's some nascent romance, but it's not a plot point.   It wasn't really a book that hit all the right notes for me, but if you look at Goodreads you'll find lots of readers who loved it. It begins with two sisters, Aster and Poppy, flying to New Zealand to live with their aunt after their mother dies from cancer.  Aunt Iona is an oncologist, but she wasn't around to help her sister; instead, she was travelling frenetically around the world, helping various disadvantaged communities, seemingly unawa...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

The Moon Over Crete, by Jyotsna Sreenivasan, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Moon Over Crete , by Jyotsna Sreenivasan (1996, Smooth Stone Press), is a slightly older children's time travel story, interesting for several reasons. It's the story of a modern girl, 11-year-old Lily, whose mom is Indian American, and whose dad is European American.  Lily is finding it difficult being a girl--her best friend is interested in dressing to impress boys, a boy in her class is sexually harassing her and no one is doing anything about it, her mother isn't letting her do things (like go exploring off in the woods) that she'd be allowed to do if she were a boy.  Lily's flute teacher, Mrs. Zinn, is the only one who seems to understand Lily's growing resentment. And happily for Lily, Mrs. Zinn is a time-traveler, fond of visiting ancient Crete, where (in this fictional world) there is almost utopian gender equality.  Mrs. Zinn offers Lily the chance to go to ancient Crete with her for a few weeks,  and Lily accepts.  Having an experienced adult guid...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm

When the Stars Go Blue

By Caridad Ferrer      Once, Soledad thought that the best thing in the world was the percussion encouraging to move faster, jump higher, reach the skies. But things change. She gets into a relationship with Jonathan, a horn player from a corps, and he invites her to dance with the group.      First impressions were good, a not so usual fairy dancer, Soledad, but one with actual substance. But then, it got really cliche. She falls for the guy, obsesses over him, then, is faced with a problem that might bring her apart from him. And it kept going. She falls for another guy, Taz, a spanish soccer player, then has to choose between Jonathan and the hot soccer player. It goes the whole jealous boyfriend cycle as well. Then a twist almost brought it back from the dead for me, but it somewhat disturbed me. It reminded me of Pink's music video for  Don't Leave Me  (which I don't recommend watching). Then, guess what! It got cliche a And she even end...
Đăng nhận xét
Đọc thêm