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misspippireads's review against another edition
4.0
Belinda White from the Sweet Tooth Candy Shop is gone. Mr. Sebastian Stott, a friendly magician, took over the shop and adopted a girl named Lindy. Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon have included Lindy in their group and enjoy hanging out at the Candy Shop. Life returned to normal after Mrs. White disappeared from town with her magical candy, but the next town over, Walnut Hills, has some suspicious goings-on. Stranger still, is the disappearance of magical policeman John Dart and magician Mozag. Now they must decide if they should help their missing friends and see what's happening in Walnut Hills.
It's the return of magical treats and amazing adventures! If you enjoyed the first book, The Candy Shop War, you will enjoy the continuing story in The Arcade Catastrophe. The friends you knew in the original tale reappear to fight new enemies and make new friends. Mull's second book is an excellent continuation. He combines mystery, adventure, magic, and candy together for an irresistible reading treat.
Mulls ends the novel with hints at another book to come. This novel can be enjoyed as a complete novel, but the idea of another book is very exciting!
Reader R. C. Bray shares the adventure of Arcade Catastrophe. His low timbre is amazing at creating different characters. It was a slight shock to move from different narrators (book one used Emily Janice Card), but after the first disc the story rolls along at a wonderful speed.
Reviewed from a library copy.
It's the return of magical treats and amazing adventures! If you enjoyed the first book, The Candy Shop War, you will enjoy the continuing story in The Arcade Catastrophe. The friends you knew in the original tale reappear to fight new enemies and make new friends. Mull's second book is an excellent continuation. He combines mystery, adventure, magic, and candy together for an irresistible reading treat.
Mulls ends the novel with hints at another book to come. This novel can be enjoyed as a complete novel, but the idea of another book is very exciting!
Reader R. C. Bray shares the adventure of Arcade Catastrophe. His low timbre is amazing at creating different characters. It was a slight shock to move from different narrators (book one used Emily Janice Card), but after the first disc the story rolls along at a wonderful speed.
Reviewed from a library copy.
hnbb's review against another edition
4.0
My son wanted me to read this. I was not in the mood to read it for a while so it just sat there and he kept bugging me. When I finally started reading and getting into it I was impressed. Mull sure can create a believable fantasy world. I didn't remember a lot about the first book, but it was not necessary. (Though I am sure it would have helped me.) I would read more by Mull, definitely and recommend this to fantasy lovers.
coramae's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
onceuponthesewords's review against another edition
4.0
Not as fun as the first book, but still a great read. Give me all the magic candy!
vene121's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite as good as the first one, but still very enjoyable. I did find it disconcerting, however, that the narrator in the two audiobooks was not the same person; that took a lot of getting used to.
chelse34's review against another edition
4.0
Well, Brandon Mull pulled off another great one! I really liked this one. Almost as much as the first, but I think the first is still the top for me.
Basically another evil magician comes to town offering magical abilities to kids who will work for him. This time they are offered as stamps, not candy. Nate and his friends pretend to work for him, in order to find John Dart and Mozag who are missing.
What really made me excited was that it opened it up for another book after this one! It didn't end on a cliffhanger (thank goodness), but mentioned another evil magician that might pop up. I'm excited!
Also, has anyone played the game that comes with this book? If it's fun, I may look into buying the first edition that has "The Candy Shop War" game with it. Looks fun!
Basically another evil magician comes to town offering magical abilities to kids who will work for him. This time they are offered as stamps, not candy. Nate and his friends pretend to work for him, in order to find John Dart and Mozag who are missing.
What really made me excited was that it opened it up for another book after this one! It didn't end on a cliffhanger (thank goodness), but mentioned another evil magician that might pop up. I'm excited!
Also, has anyone played the game that comes with this book? If it's fun, I may look into buying the first edition that has "The Candy Shop War" game with it. Looks fun!
valerieelseswhere's review against another edition
4.0
Much like the first book in the series, it is full of action and clever new magic and unique characters. I highly recommend it!
ethan_libra's review against another edition
2.0
While I don't remember reading this book as much as the original, I can still remember reading it on at least two separate occasions, and enjoying it as much as the original (maybe even more). But, let's just start at the beginning. One thing I really like about this book is that it gets straight to the action. Of course, being a sequel, it doesn't have to do all of the world-building The Candy Shop War had to, but I still like that it doesn't spend lots of time recounting the events of the previous novel. In addition, the somewhat tedious "normal" scenes from the predecessor (the ones that involved teachers, parents, bullies, etc.) are next to gone from this one. Indeed, many less interesting characters are discarded, but whether the new characters effectively fill the gap is debatable. Personally, I believe that many of the new characters fall into boring, two-word archetypes; cunning henchman, loyal defender, stubborn kids. Their powers are the only things that really set them apart. The adventure also progressed much like the first book, or something like this: the kids discover a suspicious magician who wants kids to help them get a treasure. They help the magician and get in too far over their heads, endangering their friends and family along the way. Nate saves the day using the treasure, and there's a celebration. Looking back, I can see why Mull didn't write a third book; it would be pretty hard to disguise this plot once again. I don't think Brandon Mull is a lazy author; on the contrary, I see the Fablehaven series as one of the most imaginative and fulfilling middle grade series I've ever read. This was just kind of a disappointment given how much I loved the book way back when, and how much I love Fablehaven. That's about all I have to say.
statman's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't like it as much as the first book in the series, but it was still good. The ending is written such that it is obvious that there will be another book in the series. Guess I'll have to go read the Beyonders while waiting for this one to come out.
smorrison4's review against another edition
4.0
Another fun installment in the Candy Shop Wars series. I love Brandon Mull's writing, his stories are magical and imaginative. Looking forward to reading Carnival Quest next.