I'm rereading the series that I loved as a kid and it's genuinely better than I remember it being - and I remember it being awesome! It's getting docked a little for a few portrayals of some minorities but it more than delivers in the story. Everything is so visceral and real, it captures perfectly how a child would react to the situations he is in (all of the books do), the arcs feel deserved, and the plot twists may be a little more on-the-nose and predictable (understandable for a series aimed at middle grade readers) but the way they play out always makes up for it. It deals with depression, loneliness and desperation so well, not shying away from feeling the effects, despite being written for a young audience. In all honesty, the sheer amount of gore and nastiness being dialled up to 100 makes it hard to believe that this is a kids series. There was less guts and viscera in Blood Meridian. Worth a read at any age, comfort level depending, 100% give this series a go, so many things have stuck with me.

I guessed the main plot of the book in the second chapter because I (as  someone who’s not the target audience anymore and has read a lot of ya fantasy books) found it very obvious. But I still had no idea how they’ll get there and couldn’t figure out the side plot (I’m still  shocked). 

I liked the way it was linked to the first book and I’m very curious how it’ll all fit together in the next books. 

And now to the diversity of the characters. It was very problematic. The way the main character talked about Raz’s appearance and Sharmila’s nationality when he first met then was disgusting and it only seemed like they were here just to serve as token characters. And there was the classic book/movie trope:

killing off the only black character first.