Ransom Riggs: Library of Souls (2015)

    A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom (Goodreads).

Better than the second, but still fails to recapture the magic of the first installment. At this point in the series, the photos do come off a bit gimmicky and some seem forced. It's not difficult to read; the prose is satisfying and the pacing is good, but I found myself just not caring about any of the characters. Our two protagonists have lost all charm and they don't really develop in any major way (Jacob's new ability is well-handled, though). Stuff just seems to happen to them, without their having too much involvement. The supporting cast does nothing to support them, either, at one point they just leave a character to die on a train and when that happens, I should be asking "oh, boy, what will they do about him" rather than, at the end of the book saying, "oh, yeah. I totally forgot he was in this. Huh." All that being said, when the intensity is ramped up in any scene with excitement, Riggs writes brilliantly and makes me forget all of that. I do wish the author leaned into the lovecraftian elements a bit more, because when there are hints, I am left wanting more. All things considered, yeah, I liked it. 7.6/10

 

Lincoln Pierce: Big Nate Blasts Off (2016)

    Nate has a crush on Ruby. But after his scrap with Randy Betancourt makes headlines in the Weekly Bugle, he's got a problem WAY worse than detention! Can Nate bounce back? And will the annual Mud Bowl be a blast . . . or a bust? (Goodreads.)

    It's always fun to come back to this series. It's fun, it's juvenile, and yeah, sometimes Nate is actually kind of an asshole, but I was pleasantly surprised here. He actually has to deal with some of his assholery. Not only that, but there's a really sweet plotline of conciliatory friendship between former enemies that took me by surprise. It probably doesn't go into depth as much as it could, but what more do you expect from this book? Relatively mature themes and emotional highs and lows really raise the Big Nate bar here. I loved it. 7.5/10

Rick Riordan: The Tower of Nero (2020)

    Now the former god and his demigod master Meg must follow a prophecy uncovered by Ella the harpy. Lester's final challenge will be at the Tower of Nero, back in New York (Goodreads).

    Writing a single middle-grade series over the span of fifteen years is a difficult task, since the author must retain his ageing fan and also bring in new ones. With only a few missteps along the way, Riordan has concluded this journey here with a lovely adventure. It is in this final installment that the choice of Apollo as narrator really stakes a claim. A maturity is evident that transcends age, while the overall writing remains as engaging as it was in 2005. Perhaps the fastest-paced of the five books, the action is very much non-stop, though impressively, Riordan finds space to deal with emotional issues. The singular viewpoint suffers a bit, since a few too many key events seem to take place off-screen, but other than that it flows well, is funny, and has good character development. The ending stays resonant more than your average novel, and most of the 'visitations' are satisfying and nostalgic. There might be a fair bit of fan service, but if that fan service is done well one can hardly complain. 8.1/10