SPOILER ALERT







What is it with ALWAYS killing off the black characters! For goodness sake, there was only one! I feel the same about most fantasy with diversity. Either the brown people are the bad ones or if a main character--get killed off (or are the 1 character who never gets a HEA). Same disappointment I felt with X-Men 1st Gen.

I kid you not, as soon as it became obvious that that Jett and Kiri were in 'like', I knew he was going to die. Sigh.....

So far, the only series left that I have any hope for is Lightbringer by Brent Weeks.

Fantastic! This book continues the adventures of the seven elven lords. As with some series the second book seems to be written just to get to the last book. Not so here! This book is absolutely amazing buy it now! ( )

I was really excited to read this book. I loved the first book in this series, The Curse of the Spider King, it looked like it was setting up a wonderful epic fantasy series. This book was okay, but there are just too many characters and too many switches in viewpoint...it is hard to ever really get into the story.

This book picks up right where the first one left off; the Seven are fleeing the Spider King's ambush and going into the hidden elven realm of Nightwish. In Nightwish they will start their training and learn both how to work together and how to make the most of their abilities. In the end the big question is; will they be able to confront and defeat the Spider King?

I really really loved the first book and was excited to see what this middle grade epic fantasy developed into. Well...let's just say this book wasn't as good as I expected. This book has a major problem that takes away from everything else and that is the number of characters. The number of characters alone wouldn't be a problem if the authors didn't try to tell the story from all of their individual views. This results in a story that is very fractured. In one chapter you might change view point 4, 5, or even more, times. Rather than giving us a better picture of what is going on, the opposite happens. Basically everytime I really started getting into the story I'd get jerked away and have to start reading from a different perspective.

The crazy shifting from one character to another leads to another problem. I didn't care about or really get to understand any of the characters. The boys' names are so similar (Jimmy, Johnny, Tommy, Jett) that I was always struggling to remember who was who. Thinking okay Tommy like bows, Jett is strong, etc. I basically has to stereotype the characterse in my mind to keep them straight. In addition to this we don't get to spend enough time with any of the characters to really get to understand them and their motives; in general we never hear what they think, just what they do. Occasionally the authors step back to have a poignant moment with a character, but these are scarce and seem awkward.

Okay, so the above are my main problems with this book. There were still a lot of things that I did like. The authors have created a solid fantasy world, that could be extremely engaging. The action scenes are well done (if fractured because of the constant viewpoint switches). The story itself is epic in proportions and never drags, it is fairly well paced. The story wraps up at a good point, but leaves you with an idea about what the next book will be about.

Overall, I am sad to say, that because of the number of characters whose viewpoint you read from I found the story fractured, anagonizing to get through, unengaging, and filled with characters that I never could really care about. I had enough trouble getting through this book that I probably won't read anymore in the series. This is too bad because I love the world that the authors have created and think this could end up being a wonderful epic fantasy series. Maybe if future books try and focus on just a couple characters they will better and I will give them a shot. As of now though, I think I will skip future books. I would recommend the Fabelhaven series by Brandon Mull or John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series in place of this series; both are great fantasy series aimed at the Middle Grade audience. ( )

Archery, Swords, Fire, Speed, Spies, Hidden Secrets, New Lands to Explore, Unknown Enemies, Spiders, Elves and much more are in this book by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper.

The elven lords have returned, but even in their home land they face trouble and confusion...
Johnny~ Learning of his true family and has trouble with over protection
Kiri Lee~ Has mixed feeling and uncertainty
Kat~ Sadness over her earth parents
Autumn~ Wants to be more independent.
Jimmy~ Bitterness and trying to fit in
Jett~ Has a deadly choice
Tommy~ Learning to be a leader

I felt this book started out slow and boring. Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper spent a huge part of the beginning describing the land of Allyra. I felt like I was detached from the lords because of that.
Suddenly it is as if Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper figured out what the plot would be and then they started the action.

You meet the Spider King and see how evil he is. Disputes are happening among the Elders. A quest for the map is sent out. Past mistakes are arising. The lords are in training and are learning about their skills, their heritage, friendship, and Ellos.
With little time, will they be ready to fight the Spider King?
The Battle was well written and there were only a few boring parts. Though I think the ending was just a little odd. I wish that Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper had done something else.
On the plus side the ending had one of the best/worst twist ever... I still can’t believe that happened…

Things I didn’t like,
The lords ages~ I felt they would get mixed up. One moment they are 13 year olds, then the next they’re acting like they are 30. And the romance of the book was a little old for the age of the kids. I don’t see why Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper had to pair them up like that, I feel it didn’t help the plot at all.
And the Gnomes were a little odd, I don’t think they fit the setting.

But other then that it was a good book, not the best by these two authors but still good. ( )

After narrowly escaping the Spider King and fleeing to their homeland of Allyra, the seven young elfin lords struggle to master their powerful gifts and recover the fabled Keystone before the Spider King and his legions of monsters succeed in performing the largest genocide the world has ever seen.

After a perfect five star record six books running, Wayne Thomas Batson has finally written a mediocre novel. To their credit, he and Christopher Hopper handle the many protagonists very well, developing each as well as could be expected, but the stiff dialogue, slow action scenes and out-of-the-blue ending will keep this one off my reread list.

Don’t get me wrong, Venom and Song is definitely a good read, I was just expecting more from such incredible authors.