Quest For The Golden Arrow, big scale middle Earth style fun for middle school

 

Time Stoppers, Quest For The Golden Arrow is the second book in the series by Carrie Jones. The first book in the series was one of our favorite releases of 2016. It was brisk, lively, fun and zipped along with parallel-world adventures about trolls, growing up and mystery. The sequel, Quest For The Golden Arrow is cut from a similar cloth and is a very good book, just more serious.

That’s not a bad thing, but the first book had such a sense of levity that reader who already enjoy the series might be taken off guard. Quest For The Golden Arrow starts out with a kidnapping bang and Mss. Cornelia, the elder time stopper has been taken prisoner by Raiff. Annie, the formerly nobody girl is practicing her abilities to stop time and this kidnapping put her and her friends at risk.

Annie faces a tough decision. Does she attempt to save her by going through the portal-which could lead the destruction of Aurora, her new home? Or does she do nothing, have the Raiff kill Miss Cornelia and then face the risk of being hunted down?

In reality for her, it’s not a tough decision as Miss. Cornelia is her friend, mother figure and mentor regarding her abilities to stop time. Annie rallies her friends and starts the process of finding the portals that lead to the place where the Raiff and other unspeakable evils live.

Along the way they meet a talkative dragon who is the last of its kind, some older humans who just might be Annie’s relatives and many other beings who may or may not have their best interests at heart.

The chapter’s range in length from eight to almost 30 pages long and the vocabulary is OK for middle school students. That age, through high school will easily get lost in the story, relationships, action and drama that Bloom, Eva and her friends from the first book get into.

Older readers might lose interest at a couple of points in the book, especially when the group goes to Ireland to retrieve a relic. The first book took place in the real world, while hinting at the magical world of Aurora. Quest For The Golden Arrow takes place in Aurora for the most part, except for that foray. This second book works better in the magical realm as the side story of Annie’s back story never took off for us.

It’s not accurate to say that Time Stoppers Quest For The Golden Arrow is a sophomore slump in the series. It’s just not as wildly enjoyable as the first book. This is still good, with some fine moments of middle Earth wonderment that seems to plant seeds for a strong finish.