Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2025 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Art Portfolio Purchase Art WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr
Amulet 7: Firelight by Kazu Kibuishi
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Smoke and Shadow Part 2 by Gene Luen Yang
Babymouse: Dragonslayer by Jennifer L. Holm
Booked for Trouble by Eva Gates
Camp Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm
Cat In The City by Julie Salamon
Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko
The Circle of Lies by Crystal Velasquez
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Ellen's Lion: Twelve Stories by Crockett Johnson
Food Wars!, Vol. 1 by Yuuto Tsukuda
Fridays with the Wizards by Jessica Day George
Ghostbusters: Mass Hysteria! Part 2 by Erik Burnham
A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord
Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
The Locksmith issue 1 by Terrance Grace
Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
A Most Unique Machine by George S. May
My Little Pony: Micro-Series: #4: Fluttershy by Barbara Randall Kesel
My Little Pony Micro-Series: #6 Applejack by Bobby Curnow
Oz: Road to Oz by Eric Shanower
Paper Towns by John Green
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
RoadFrames: The American Highway Narrative by Kris Lackey
Serendipity and Me by Judith L. Roth
Shoplifter by Michael Cho
Sparky! by Jenny Offill
Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins
To Be A Cat by Matt Haig

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


The Circle of Lies: 05/23/16

The Circle of Lies by Crystal Velasquez

The Circle of Lies by Crystal Velasquez is the second in the Hunters of Chaos series. Ana and her three Temple friends want to find out what's happened to her aunt and uncle. Their teacher and mentor has left for Mexico leaving them to sort out their new powers on their own.

As Ana was undeniably the protagonist in the first book and given the Cancun cliff hanger, I expected the bulk of this book to be in Mexico among the Mayan ruins and surrounding villages. That's how so many of these tween fantasy adventures go nowadays.

I am delighted to be mistaken.

It's not that I don't want to know what happened to Ana's family but it's rare to be completely surprised by children's fiction. For many children's books, there are formulas that get followed. It offers familiarity and predictability something that publishers like because it sells books.

Velasquez, though, takes the reader up to the staging ground of the familiar plot trail and then veers off, forging a new path. She does this by getting one of other girls expelled &mdeash; Shani. To further mix things up, we don't go to Egypt. Instead, we go to India.

That's not to say that plot threads are dropped. Mexico is in the book too. It's just done differently. It's part of a bigger picture that gives us a chance to learn about Shani as a character and to see how the other three can work together without her.

I'm super excited to see where the series goes next.

Five stars

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:


Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis