Happy 2019, Squinks! I’m so happy to be able to start off this new year again with a great middle-grade novel. Potion Masters #2 is out, and it’s got everything we loved about the first book and more!
1. Brewing whiz Gordy Stitser and his friends, Adilene and Max, are back for more adventures and explosions. It’s the beginning of eighth grade, so of course, the trio are faced with more than just end-of-elementary celebrations and jittery pre-high-school nerves. If you’re looking for more action outside of classrooms and after school, then you’ll really enjoy this one. We don’t get too many pages about their latest lessons – there’s just way too much fun happening outside of school for that!
2. I have grown to really love Gordy. He’s intelligent and kind, a little foolhardy sometimes, but he’s taming his wild impulses. He gets along very well with his friends AND family, which is not always the case for many kids his age. I especially love it when he just knows he’s going to get in trouble with his mom for doing something he ought not to be doing. I can almost imagine him groaning in anticipation for the punishment about to be doled out.
3. I don’t know if I’m predominantly amused or completely bugged by Max. He IS a loyal friend to Gordy, and his antics towards Adilene seem typical of someone who will eventually open his eyes to see her awesomeness someday, so he’s by no means a bad person. But ugh … Max’s persistence borders on annoyance sometimes, and that drives me bonkers, lol! I do love that he’s always hungry though. Twenty-four-hour waffle house, anyone?
4. Jury’s still out on Sasha. I don’t know if I can trust her. No spoilers here, but I’m one-hundred-percent sure that there’s more to her than meets the eye.
5. Cadence. Beautiful name. Strange girl.
6. It’s often hard to find stories (in books or in movies) where the sequel lives up to the original, but this is definitely one that goes beyond the OG story. There’s more banter among the friends, more complications in the elixirists’ world, more complicity and duplicity, more explosions and twists and turns … just more of everything!
7. My favourite part is still the Glossary of Potions at the end of the book. Now if only Cole would add a map and even more potions from all over the world next time! One can hope …
8. Teachers/parents: I really love this series. I hope it continues for many, many books. My students are very drawn to the characters and the complexity of Cole’s story. It’s as enticing and full of intelligent twists as the Blackthorn Key series, which we also love. For my review of the first Potion Masters book, click here.
Frank L. Cole’s Online Corners
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Thank you, Shadow Mountain, for sending me a copy of Potion Masters: The Transparency Tonic in exchange for an honest review.
All Squinklethoughts expressed herein are entirely my own.