Review - Havoc (Malice, Book 2) by Chris Wooding (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size:  384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: October 1, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0545160452
Stand Alone or Series: Book 2 in Malice series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
  
This is the second part of the Malice series by Wooding.  I really enjoyed the first book, Malice, and thought it was an interesting combo of graphic novel and standard book.  This was a great addition to the series and gave nice closure to the events that were left hanging in Malice.  You definitely need to read Malice before reading this book.

Seth is back in the real world with the artifact that holds the secret to Tall Jack's undoing.  Katy is still in Malice and is trying to join up with the rebel group Havoc.  Both of them will need to combine their forces with the goddess Lack and the Queen of Cats if they are going to defeat Tall Jack and shut down the Malice comic book for good.

This was a great addition to the series.  The plot moves quickly with ample twists and turns to keep you guessing.  The action scenes are very well done and the setting is imaginative and captivating.  This is a hard book to put down with non-stop action from beginning to end.  I love how the story is interspersed with comic book scenes.

In general I really enjoyed this book.  I have a couple small complaints though.  The characters are never fully fleshed out; they are a bit spare and more characterization would have made this even a better book.  My second complaint is that the graphic comic scenes are kind of second rate.  I had the same complaint with the first book.  The scenes are sketchy, hard to follow, and it is hard to distinguish one character from another.

The above being said I still really enjoyed this book.  The questions from the first book are answered; we get to meet the mysterious Grendel and the mysterious Queen of Cats.  Things are pretty well wrapped up.  I am not sure if there will be more books in this series, but if there aren't I think this book wraps up things just fine.

Overall a great wrap-up to this series.  Love the creativity of Malice and the wonderful action scenes.  Not so fond of the sketchy artwork and the lack of characterization; but don't let those things keep you from reading this really engaging and creative book!  Look forward to reading more of Wooding's books in the future; I have both The Fade and Retribution Falls on my bookshelf waiting to be read!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge