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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...

The Secret

Fearless

By Cornelia Funke

Jacob Reckless has less than a year to live.  He already wasted some of it looking for magical objects that were supposed to get rid of his curse but none of them worked.  Throughout the story Jacob forgets a letter of the dark fairy's name in a violent attack from the moth sitting on top of his heart.  6.  With each bite, part of his heart is hurt.  He hasn't told his brother, Will, or his best friend, Fox.  He realizes that there is only one object that might be able to cure him of his curse -- the Witch-Slayer's Crossbow.  If shot at a leader it would not only kill the leader but the leader's entire army.  The crossbow's reputation makes many people scared of it -- people are less willing to help Jacob because they think he will sell it which could kill thousands.  But legend says that if shot with love through the heart then the person shot will be healed.  When he goes to Guismond's, the witch-slayer's, tomb he finds out that in order to get the crossbow he has to first find his heart, his head, and his hand.  But Nerron, a Goyl treasure hunter, also wants to find the bow. As Jacob hunts for these three items his life ticks away.  5.  With very little time left, Fox is captured by a blue beard, a man who captures girls and kills them by drinking their fear.  Jacob has to sacrifice some of his little time left to save her and then return to his quest.  As he continues on the moth's bites get closer together and worse.  After this detour he may not get the crossbow in time, if at all.

Fearless was very fast paced and exciting.  It was an amazing sequel to Reckless.  4.  It matched Reckless in every aspect even exceeding it in the introduction (which was actually good this time).  The characters were realistic and entertaining.  Jacob's personality (very proud, doesn't like to admit weakness) adds more to the book.  Narration from Nerron also adds to the story because Jacob's flaws are highlighted by Nerron's dislike of him.  On top of this, sympathy is created for Nerron which creates an even more complex plot.  3.  The mirror world the book takes place in is interesting.  Its twist and turns allow the plot to become more extreme and exciting.  With such limited time and constant reminders that Jacob's time is running out the tension quickly and intensely.  2.  This book was like a rich chocolate cake.  Tons of rich details were packed into one book.  Even though you can't stop eating your piece you are devastated once its gone.  1.  This book was a 4.8 because the main characters, plot, setting, antagonists, and writing style all helped create an enticing book.

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The Hippo at the End of the Hall, by Helen Cooper

If you are a fantasy fan who loves quirky small museums with collections of oddities, you will love  The Hippo at the End of the Hall , by Helen Cooper (first published in the UK in 2017, now out in the US from Candlewick, Oct 2019). Ben's invitation to the Gee Museum was delivered by bees.  He'd never heard of the place before, but despite his mother's reservations about letting him go there on his own (reservations which seem, for reasons, to be a bit much, even taking into account the fact that Ben's only ten)  he went...There, in its rooms full of taxidermidied creatures, other natural history collections, a glass bee hive, and clocks and other treasures collected by the Gee family from around the world years ago, he found magic, and the truth about his father, who died many years ago while off on an expedition of his own. Ben also found danger, one of my personal least favorite types of danger--the unscrupulous developer, in this case paired with the unscrupulous d...

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...

The Time Museum, Vol. 2, by Matthew Loux for Timeslip Tuesday

Delia and her cohort of kids training at the Time Museum to journey across the ages are back in another adventure-- The Time Museum, Vol. 2 , by Matthew Loux (First Second, June 2019).  This graphic novel has all the brightly illustrated fun and excitement of the first volume ( my review ), and even more danger and suspense. Delia and the other kids are getting ready for their next time travel mission, with the help of none other than Richard Nixon.  Nixon is a surprisingly capable instructor, and the tips and tricks he provides during training come in very useful indeed when things start going wrong.  Their mission sounded straightforward--travel back to 18th century Versailles to patch up French/US diplomatic relations, but it quickly becomes complicated by a temporal loop that brings future versions of themselves back in time too.  And then things become very strange indeed when all of them travel to a dystopian future, where an old enemy awaits.... I have to conf...

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