Book: The Book of Life (The Secret of the Tirthas #2)
Author: Steve Griffin
Pages: 276 pages
Read on: Kindle
Read in: 2-3 hours
Plot Summary: Exploring another of the overgrown ‘rooms’ in her inherited garden, Lizzie finds herself transported once again through a magical portal, this time to the Louisianan swampland. There she is pursued by terrifying plat eyes, half-crazy men and boys who drive her to an isolated villa, Cypress House, where a sickly girl is trapped with her housekeeper.
But Cypress House has its own mysteries Lizzie must solve if she is to find her way home. Who is Caroline Day, the ‘ghost girl’, and what is her connection to Lizzie’s past? Why does the threatened hurricane never arrive? Who is the mysterious odd-job man, Mr Paterson, who keeps turning up unannounced? And most importantly, how will she find the portal when it’s lost in the treacherous swamp?
As Cypress House reveals its secrets Lizzie realises she’s in more danger than she ever imagined, after discovering a terrifying link with the dark forces she first encountered in Kashi, the City of Light.
Praise for ‘The City of Light’, Book 1 of The Secret of the Tirthas: “an entertaining and exciting book...I can’t wait to read the next adventure.” Guardian Children’s Books.
General Thoughts: Steve first reached out to me to review the first book in the 'Tirthas' series- The City of Light. I found the premise of the book really interesting and eagerly read and liked the book. You can check read the review of The City of Light here. So, obviously, when Steve reached out to me about the second book in this series, I, obviously was most happy to read and review it! As always, my opinions are honest and unbiased.
What I Liked: Quick list:
1. Just like The City of Light, this book is very well written. The writing is pacy, precise and evocative. It brings the scenes described in the book to life very vividly.. you can almost picture the bayou, Cypress House and the various characters.
2.This is a wonderful mystery book for anyone, not just kids, who likes to read about history, myths/legends and even paranormal creatures, such as Zombies! The book is just the right amount of eerie/spooky and would not scare tweens and teens, in my opinion.
3. I liked meeting Lizzie again! I love her grit, smarts and even her sense of caution. She is not one of those annoying children/ young adult characters who are too intrepid and too dare-devil-ish with no sense of self-preservation. She thinks through her plan of action and is very seldom does anything rash.
4. Like any second book in any series, we learn more about the tirthas (mythical spots on earth where multiple realms meet) and also about the plans of the Pisacas (demons) and their allys- why are they after certain magical things called 'the artefacts' and who else is involved in planning and plotting against Lizzie and her friends.
5. We also get to meet Lizzie's Indian friends/ partners- Inspector Raj and Pandu. The events do connect between Kashi, England and Mississippi and there is a nice sense of continuity, which one does not really get to see in so many sophomoric writing efforts.
6. The new characters we met- Caroline Day and her helper Lola- were also nicely etched. The build up of what was going on with them and if they are characters who could be trusted or not was nicely done. As a reader, you keep wondering which side they are on, which was a nice touch.
What I Didn't Like: A lot of events in this book took place indoors, inside Cypress House because of the presence of Zombies, called plat eyes here, who liked to roam outside. While this in itself was not an issue as such, because we do have a parallel track of Raj and Pandu chasing down some Pisaca associates in England. However, because since most of the story is indoors, we don't get to really experience the American South in the same way that we got to experience Kashi in The City of Light.
Rating: 4/5
Highly recommend this book- it is a fun and adventurous ride with some myths and Zombies thrown in for good measure!
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