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...
Lark and Iris look identical, but they are very different people--Lark is a dreamer, and Iris is a rational organizer and doer. They are used to using their strengths to help each other out, and they make a great team. But when fifth grade is about to begin, they find to their horror that their parents and their school have decided they should be separated. For the first time, they have to get through the school day without having each other right there, communicating surreptitiously and helping each other out.
That's not the only strange thing. Something weird is happening--things are going missing. And when Iris starts visiting a most peculiar antiques store that's just popped up, she finds herself entangled in the story of girl lost years ago, and her brother, the store's owner, who's determined to find her again. No matter what it takes. Even if it's dark magic....
So there are two entwined stories here--the sisters, forced to learn to stand on their own, and the magic that Iris stumbles into, and that all her desire for order can't control. Both are good stories in their own right, and together they make for a wonderful reading experience. I thought Lark would be my preferred sister, but Iris is the main pov character, and she grew on me lots during the book. The sisters relationship, with the stress they feel when kicked out of their co-dependent rut and the blossoming of their independence, is really well done, and perhaps stronger than the magical story, although that too was lovely.
A special shout-out to the "Awesome Girls" club at the local library that Iris is forced to attend (without Lark). Iris is all prickly and hostile about it, but the other girls really are awesome in their own ways, and their girl power helps save the day when the confrontation with the villain is reached!
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