Review by Booklist Review
When last seen in The Finisher (2014), Vega Jane was leaving Wormwood with her staunch boyfriend, Delph (and her dog, Harry Two), to transverse the dangerous surrounding area called the Quag, where questions might be answered and trouble waits at every turn. Best-selling crime novelist Baldacci loves action, and this has plenty as the trio encounter an evil self-proclaimed king of a community of small, odd creatures, and, more important, a seer from Wormwood who has all sorts of knowledge, magical and otherwise, that can help Vega Jane learn more about the origins of her home and what she and her friends must do to get themselves through the Quag. Vega Jane also discovers powers in herself that she never dreamed of. The book maintains a good balance between story and action, but it lacks some of the more personal intrigue of The Finisher. Still, the cliff-hanger will have readers waiting for the next precarious step in her journey.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
In the sequel to The Finisher, Vega Jane, her best friend Delph, and dog Harry Two leap free of the walled village of Wormwood in search of truth and history, only to face more dangerous obstacles in the terrifying wilderness called the Quag. The action can feel relentless, but Baldacci's characters and world grow more complex with each page turned. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Baldacci piles on the monsters as he sends Vega Jane and her hunky, clever sidekick Delph through the magical Quag in this follow-up to The Finisher (2014). Escaping the walled town of Wormwood in hopes of finding the "truth" that lies beyond, the two teens befriend or, more often, flee or slaughter a laundry list of creatures: garms, amarocs, lycans, venomous jabbits, snake-haired alectos, green-blooded Soul Takers, dreads, grubbs, hyperbores, and numerous other residents of the broad, weirdly mutable wilderness. For variety, they are also twice capturedonce by a mad subterranean king and then by the Quag's 800-year-old Keeperand Vega has to die to get across a certain river guarded by a skeletal boatman. These all turn out to be only temporary setbacks, however. In blatant bids to add appeal, Baldacci supplements the teeming cast of ravening boojums with a new companion who may be an ally, a rival for Delph, or both, plus familiar elements like a ring that makes its wearer invisible and Harry Potter-esque spells, a talking book that delivers only infuriatingly vague advice, and frequent Briticisms ("Wotcha, Vega Jane"). The flights and fights are all set pieces without much sense of suspense or danger, and there are so many of them that even bloodthirsty readers might echo Vega Jane's own exhausted "Let's just finish this." Not a stand-alone episode, but definitely a pleaser for creature-feature fans. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
