Actual rating: 3,5 - I am not sure how I found out about this series, perhaps from a tweet from one of the authors (John Barrowman, who I followed because he played Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood), but I knew that I wanted to read it because I thought the summary was quite interesting. I bought the first book, and was pleasantly surprised, even though it was a book written for children I enjoyed it very much. It wasn't the best story I've ever read, but I did like it enough to want to read the rest of the series.

Bone Quill starts off, I think, a couple of days after the events from Hollow Earth. The twins are under house arrest while the grown ups search for their mother. I didn't really remember anything that happened in the previous book, because it'd been a while since I've read that. But luckily, there was a sort of 'previously on...' page in front of the book. I am going to start a petition to force every author to do this at the beginning of their sequels, because that would save so much precious (re)reading time! (Of course, rereading a book is not that bad, but if you just want to start the sequel without having to reread the rest of the series, a 'previously on...' page would come in handy).

I liked the story in this book very much, loved how the twins started to find out their powers were much more than they had thought they were. They found out they can sort of travel back in time through paintings, and they also find out they are not the only ones who can do this. We learn more about the island, and about the events that happened in the middle ages after the vikings attacked. We are introduced to some new characters, and we see most of the older characters again which I liked (I really liked Zach and Jeannie).

This book was still a multiple POV story, and it was still a bit confusing whose pov the story was being told from sometimes. Because like with the previous book it sometimes seemed like the chapter was from Em's POV, and then it would change to Zach's POV sentences later. I did get used to this a bit more thanks to the previous book, but it was also still a bit annoying in my opinion. Also of course the story happens in two places - or I should say two times - at once. Present day (with Em and Matt) and the middle ages (with Solon), and I liked that. They eventually met each other near the end of the story, thanks to the twins being able to travel through time and I really hope they'll meet each other more often.

In the end, I liked Bone Quill and I will definintely be reading the third book in the series, because I just want to know how the story ends. It ended with a kind of cliffhanger, and I HATE CLIFFHANGER GODDAMNIT! Ugh. Yeah, will definitely be reading The Book of Beasts soooooooooon-ish.

My opinion on this book in one gif:
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Bone Quill picks up where the first book in the series left off, delivering just as much excitement. The characters in this series are so engaging that it's almost impossible to put the book down--all told, it's exciting, engrossing, and a wonderful wandering into meditations on the powers and intricacies of imagination and art.

Absolutely recommended. ( )

I liked this one better than the first in the series, yay for stepping it up, guys! They got a lot more story and action in a shorter book and I had a hard time putting it down at times. John and his sister definitely have a gem here and I'm so glad they wrote this series. This ending, oh my gosh. Can't wait to read the next book to see what happens. Overall better than the first, more enjoyable, and more fun. I would recommend this book. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Well done! ( )

I’ve never given it much of my time to think about stories picking up right where we left off. With Bone Quill, it turned out I happened to like it. A lot. It made it possible to get straight to action and we get rewarded with one cliffhanger after the other!

On top of that, we get to know a great deal more about the characters and their history (some are REALLY surprising!!!). And as I kinda hoped for, we get to spend much more time at the Abbey and its surroundings during the Middle Ages.

And Barrowman wouldn’t be Barrowman if there wasn’t something wicked like time travelling involved! *JACK HARKNESS MOMENT*

The missing pieces of the puzzle fell into place, but now what…?
A wonderful sequel, wich makes you long for more! ( )

Title: Hollow Earth: Bone Quill
Author: John and Carole E. Barrowman
Release Date: July 9, 2013
Publisher: Aladdin
Source: Edelweiss DRC
Genre(s): Middle Grade Fiction, Middle Grade Fantasy, YA Fiction, YA Fantasy

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Spoilers: Low
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So with the aftermath of the last book’s events fresh in everyone’s minds, the twins and Zach are on lock down until things settle down. Which means no more using powers without supervision and basically behaving themselves. Of course that in turn means they aren’t going to do that at all and in fact that draw themselves not just into a painting but also into the past. Through the painting. Thus we’re given our major plot point for the book and a really cool variation on the already familiar Animare powers.

At first they use their powers to hang out in Victorian England (which is a bit dangerous for Zach, Emily’s deaf Guardian and protector) but hey. What’s life without a little danger? That’s what Matt would say, anyway, it seems. For whatever reason he doesn’t really seem capable of listening to adults and not running off to nearly get himself killed. And he drags the others along with him. The group dynamics kind of go like that and sometimes it’s just annoying how Matt seems to lead the show when he really should be grounded or something. Of course if he were grounded it’s not like he’d actually hang around anyway. Matt! You fool!

Anyway, after hanging out and messing around for a bit they realize that they have to do something actually productive. They find that in order to stop the Hollow Earth from being opened and monsters from spilling out they need to go find ‘The Bone Quill’ which is a key that will open the gate. In order to do so their story starts to directly intersect with that of Solon in the Middle Ages – a character we saw in flashbacks that seemed a bit out of place in the first book but make much more sense now. With new time periods and new abilities come new characters – most interestingly Carik, a bad ass Viking girl.

This brings the series’ awesome quota up a bit more because now we have a strong female character (Em’s a bit of a push over at times) and we’ve got a strong (if under utilized) character with a disability. As someone with a hearing impairment, I can appreciate that.

I think I’m in the minority when I say I wasn’t quite as into this book as the first one. It’s still a good book but it ends with very little resolution and basically mandates you live in anticipation for the final book in the trilogy. (Which I suspect may get extended further depending on how sales do as the series moves overseas.) Time travel is rarely my favorite plot device but I do have to admit they did it fairly well and the idea of being able to travel in time through the paintings was really cool. But yeah. I enjoy the story and I’m looking forward to the conclusion. ( )