Reviewed by Samantha Clanton, aka "Harlequin Twilight" for TeensReadToo.com
Erec Rex is back in his third adventure trying to save Alyphium. This time Baskania, aka The Shadow Prince, is back again trying to make the Stain Brothers the next kings. From the very beginning, it's easy to see that this is going to be similar to the other two books in that the quests and situations Erec faces will possibly end his life.
This time though, it's not just Erec's life in danger, it's also his best friend (and hopefully one day love interest?), Bethany's life that is also in danger. As Erec returns to Alyphium from recovering from the last quests in Upper Earth, which seems to be a pattern, he finds that Bethany is in danger and he must hurry and get to her before she makes a big mistake.
The Shadow Prince has found an "inside man," so to speak, and is gaining knowledge about Erec and his ventures, that he shouldn't know anything about. This means, for Erec, that one of his close friends is betraying the trust that he has given them. This also means that somehow, he has to outsmart The Shadow Prince, along with the Stain brothers, and complete his quests.
These quests, like all the others, seem like they are becoming exceptionally dangerous and gives me the thought that either Erec can put every superhero to shame or he will be dead by the next book. But since there are still five other books in the series and Erec is the title character, I know this is not the case.
This time Erec must "Get behind and set it free," which is quite amusing to some extent. We also get a lot of unanswered questions answered and, as usual, we get even more questions, but in due time they will all be answered, I'm sure. We learn more about The Hermit, whom we have met before, and we also learn a bit more about Oscar, Jack, and Melody (she was Bethany's roommate in the first book).
Erec's second quest in the book is to find the Awens and bind them to something else that he's supposed to get from someone that destroyed it long before. Many sorcerers have tried and failed in doing this throughout the years, and they all failed, most with their lives. If Erec chooses to not take this quest on, then Upper Earth will not survive, and eventually neither will their own world. We also not only meet The Fates, but in my case appreciate and quite enjoy them. They bring some much-needed humor and a quite a few revelations to light, plus they are just fun!
Some of the revelations we get are ones that we saw coming since THE DRAGON'S EYE, but there are others that are total surprises. There was something about THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH that THE MONSTERS OF OTHERNESS was missing, and it took me a bit to figure it out and I think I finally did. THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH was similar to THE DRAGON'S EYE in the way that we were dealing with Erec and Bethany and Kind Piter and not dealing with so many extra characters.
We learned more about why Erec should be doing this and not focusing on the fact that he is doing it just because he seems to have to do it. I am once again left wanting more in this series, but this time I have to wait a lot longer for the next book, which doesn't even have a release date yet. And knowing that I have to wait so long to finish this fabulous series just makes me even more excited and impatient to know what happens next!
Erec Rex is back in his third adventure trying to save Alyphium. This time Baskania, aka The Shadow Prince, is back again trying to make the Stain Brothers the next kings. From the very beginning, it's easy to see that this is going to be similar to the other two books in that the quests and situations Erec faces will possibly end his life.
This time though, it's not just Erec's life in danger, it's also his best friend (and hopefully one day love interest?), Bethany's life that is also in danger. As Erec returns to Alyphium from recovering from the last quests in Upper Earth, which seems to be a pattern, he finds that Bethany is in danger and he must hurry and get to her before she makes a big mistake.
The Shadow Prince has found an "inside man," so to speak, and is gaining knowledge about Erec and his ventures, that he shouldn't know anything about. This means, for Erec, that one of his close friends is betraying the trust that he has given them. This also means that somehow, he has to outsmart The Shadow Prince, along with the Stain brothers, and complete his quests.
These quests, like all the others, seem like they are becoming exceptionally dangerous and gives me the thought that either Erec can put every superhero to shame or he will be dead by the next book. But since there are still five other books in the series and Erec is the title character, I know this is not the case.
This time Erec must "Get behind and set it free," which is quite amusing to some extent. We also get a lot of unanswered questions answered and, as usual, we get even more questions, but in due time they will all be answered, I'm sure. We learn more about The Hermit, whom we have met before, and we also learn a bit more about Oscar, Jack, and Melody (she was Bethany's roommate in the first book).
Erec's second quest in the book is to find the Awens and bind them to something else that he's supposed to get from someone that destroyed it long before. Many sorcerers have tried and failed in doing this throughout the years, and they all failed, most with their lives. If Erec chooses to not take this quest on, then Upper Earth will not survive, and eventually neither will their own world. We also not only meet The Fates, but in my case appreciate and quite enjoy them. They bring some much-needed humor and a quite a few revelations to light, plus they are just fun!
Some of the revelations we get are ones that we saw coming since THE DRAGON'S EYE, but there are others that are total surprises. There was something about THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH that THE MONSTERS OF OTHERNESS was missing, and it took me a bit to figure it out and I think I finally did. THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH was similar to THE DRAGON'S EYE in the way that we were dealing with Erec and Bethany and Kind Piter and not dealing with so many extra characters.
We learned more about why Erec should be doing this and not focusing on the fact that he is doing it just because he seems to have to do it. I am once again left wanting more in this series, but this time I have to wait a lot longer for the next book, which doesn't even have a release date yet. And knowing that I have to wait so long to finish this fabulous series just makes me even more excited and impatient to know what happens next!
