Sequels

The End, by Lemony Snicket. Early in the series, the character relationships were very straight forward and expected: good guys, bad guys, and no in-between guys. Over the course of the last several books, however, the line between good and bad has become rather smudged. The author forces the reader to draw not-so-happy conclusions about characters we have come to love and rely on. Also, the author hints at important elements of the back story, but leaves them largely to the readers' own imaginings. These things are not bad of themselves, and I would actually expect them from a writing writing for an older audience. I'm not sure these are ideal for such young readers, however. I still appreciate and love most other aspects of this series, including sentence structure, vocabulary, and humor. Unlike some other children's books, these are still fun for adults, too. Stolen: Women of the Otherworld: Book II, by Kelley Armstrong. I enjoyed this series. I would have enjoyed them more if I had been able to read them in order. Curses to libraries for acquiring books in random order. One of the interesting things about the series is that, every few books, the first person perspective changes as we explore other Women of the "Otherworld." It was unexpected and a little bit awkward at first, but an interesting idea. My biggest dislike was that the characters seemed very inconsistent. It is possible to blame this on the shifting perspective or characters' growth over time, but I don't think that explains the huge differences. Rather, I suspect that the author didn't properly develop the minor characters in the first books and, when she needed to use them later, she changed them to make them more likable. It is always interesting to read these supernatural stories. Some follow traditional rules, sometimes adding new things; some veer off entirely. Both kinds are fun.