The story continues, and we get a lot more fleshing out of characters, in between the plot. Great animal adventure. ( )

Hunted focuses on Colin, the sweet-thinks-he-isn't-worthy one in the bunch. I enjoyed him coming into his own some. I kind of missed reading about everyone as much as Colin though. I'm impressed by Stiefvater's ability to continue on the story without making it feel like it was written by someone else.

(Longer review to come) ( )

The series continues with book #2 written by Maggie Stiefvater. We are back on Erdas with Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan with their spirit animals. The characters are becoming more comfortable in their roles as heroes and are learning more about their spirit animal. They are on an adventure to find the next piece of the talisman, The Iron Boar of Rumfuss. Readers are introduced to a new challenge that exists in the form of a dark elixir that can force a bond between a person and an animal. The group of people forcing these bonds are called the Conquerors. The Booklist review states that “Stiefvater flawlessly continues the story that Brandon Mull started, and shifts the characters into a darker world” and I agree.
Younger readers will enjoy the struggle between good and evil. The characters have to learn to work together as a team and trust each other. Some younger readers may struggle with the different points of view. Many readers will be tempted to create their online accounts on the website that accompanies this book. Readers can go on their own adventure in a world they are familiar with. This is the 2nd book in a planned 11 (?) book series. This book will appeal to children who like fantasy action adventure series books. It is a good series for a school library and will has slightly more challenging vocabulary because of the fantasy element. It would be ideal for free choice reading and learning about different genres. This second book is a good introduction to an author who typically writes for slightly older readers. However, because it’s part of a planned series the writing is not necessarily her usual style. The books should be read in order because a lot of the details build on each other. It is a good addition to a elementary school library. ( )

This is the second book in the Spirit Animals series by various authors. I am reading this series because my 8 year old son is reading them and really enjoys them. I am going to be honest here, I struggle some with these books actually holding my interest and I am not quite sure why.

In this book Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan are training to work on their bonds with their spirit animals and with fighting together. This book introduces a new element, a dark elixir that can force a bond between a person and an animal. A group of people forcing bonds called the Conquerors enters the story; they are on the Devourer’s side. Our heroes must race the Conquerors to the wild boar Rumfuss to get the next piece of the talisman which will help to destroy the Devourer.

There are many elements and ideas I like in this book. All the characters are working to forge bonds both with their spirit animals and each other. It has been fun to watch them change and grow and learn to work as a team. All of the characters are battling both their own fears and biases and learning to accept each other.

I enjoy this world and the general premise of good versus evil.

However, I continue to struggle with this series. The story just doesn’t hold my interest all that much. There are too many plot elements that don’t quite make sense. For example why would Connor’s mother send him a note telling him how awful things are for them when she knows Connor is already struggling with a big issue? That is so not mom-like. Then why would Connor be so trusting of Earl of Trunswick after having so much bad history with him? There are just times where the plot doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

The story bounces between all four characters (and some of the enemies as well). I just feel like this is such a short book already that all the POVs really fracture the story. I had a very hard time staying engaged in it and really struggled with this book. Seriously this book is only 192 pages and it took me three days to read (I usually read 2-3 hours a day and 100 pages an hour). This is not a high reading level or a complicated book to read, but I kept falling asleep or finding reasons not to read it.

The above being said I am not the target audience for this series. My son reads them and seems to enjoy them; although he has mentioned he likes Tui Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series and Peggy Eddelman’s Sky Jumpers series better.

Overall an okay addition to this series. I do enjoy the idea behind this series, but have a lot of trouble engaging in the story. The plot doesn’t make a lot of sense at times and the constant switching between characters makes it hard to stay engaged in the story. I probably won’t read any more of this series unless my son begs me to…. ( )

Second in the multi-platform series from Scholastic Publishing, Hunted, by Maggie Stiefvater, continues the saga of four children recently bonded to spirit animals. Their quest is to save their world, Erdas, from an evil force that is quickly gaining ground, but first they must learn to become a team, not just with the animals, but with one another.

But the evil forces they are charged to overcome are on the move already. Conor, Abeke, Rollan, and Meilin have barely begun their training before they are tasked with finding one of the great beasts of the North. Rumfuss the Boar has custody of a talisman that will help their cause. But Zerif, an agent of the evil force, is aware of it too. Zerif's dark powers have allowed him to force spirit bonding on other children. They are on the move, and what's worse, those kids seem more confident in their skills than our fledgling warriors. Who will get to Rumfuss first? Will our untested young heroes figure out how to utilize the powers available to them through the spirit bonding with the animals?

In this concept each of the planned seven books is written by an established Young Adult/Fantasy author. Scholastic has also developed online games that allows readers to become a character living in this world, bond with a spirit animal, unlocking clues to help win the game, based on their knowledge of the book.

I received this book courtesy of Texas Library Association at the recent conference, where Maggie Stiefvater was the featured speaker at the closing luncheon. I had not heard of this series but enjoyed Book 2. The characters and the crisis they are dealing with, along with the spirit bonding they have experienced, were all dealt with in Book 1, Wild Born, by Brandon Mull. Necessary background information was woven into the story so it was not difficult to follow the action. Kids will probably want to read the books in order and enjoy the online video games so they can pick up the necessary clues to win the online games. The series is aimed at 3rd to 7th grade readers. ( )