The Stuff of Legend: The Jungle (Book Two)

Mike Raicht

Ever since I read the first volume in this new series, I have been dying to get my hands on the next one.  I heard there was a problem with the first batch of books published–the binding wasn’t done correctly, so several dozen pages came out of the book after one reading (if it lasted that long).  This caused quite a delay in reading since libraries that got the book early had to discard it before it could be lent to many people, and people who bought the book had to sit through several returns before getting a copy that didn’t explode upon opening.  The company was really nice and apologetic about the situation, so don’t judge them on this misprint.  Mistakes happen!

Anyway, the volume was well worth the wait.  I told myself I’d read only a few pages a day but I didn’t last long.  I call this the Harry Potter syndrome.  It’s when you know the next installment isn’t coming for a while, so you try to make the current volume last as long as possible.  However, the reading is so good that willpower caves and you finish it in a few hours.  I loved every second of this volume.

There’s more betrayal (and one that comes as quite the surprise).  There’s tons of action, so those of you hoping for more fighting scenes will be pleased.  There are new characters, old characters and alliagence changes–this volume has it all.  The artist remains the same, so we get more of the quality, scrap-book like illustrations that make this series great.  The characters are so wonderfully done, I’ve fallen in love with many of them, while others are so terrible, I hate the very sight of them.  If that’s not great storytelling, then I don’t know what is.

Even though I had to wait some time to snag a copy, this series has completely captured my interest.  I’m already counting down the days until the third book comes out!