This book was okay. Just okay. I mean...there's the obvious "false advertising" of Gaiman's name in large lettering, even though he did not write alongside Michael Reaves for the sequel. But that disappointment aside, the book is not spectacular because it is simply not well written. There are constant redundant references to events from the first book, which, by page 200, get to be annoying more than helpful. The writing is not really all that captivating, even for possible teenage readers. The plot is interesting enough to keep you reading, but the delivery falls short.And it also has a publishing/editing error on page 85 that is too frustrating to miss, but that's not the authors' faults I suppose.Anyway, it's a quick read so it wasn't too insufferable to get through. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a disappointment. Following Interworld, I read the second part of the series: The Silver Dream. This was far less a pleasant surprise. The novel uses every trick in the book to make a page-turner out of it. It does so extremely obvious. That obvious, it started to annoy me. None of the characters are rounded a bit more, compared to the first book. That makes it very hard for a reader to detect the "odd behavior" of some characters the book wants to point our attention to. We haven't got the foggiest what their behavior ought to be like in the first place. Also, it wants to make sure the reader, who hasn't read the first book, knows what's going on. Fair enough. I believe the book can function on its own - save perhaps a little contextualization. But this book really goes above and beyond. It doesn't only tell the story of The Silver Dream, but it simultaneously retells the story of the first book as well. Every other page, the first book is referenced and explained. It doesn't only grind the narrative of the second book to a halt, but it's really annoying to get fed the same narrative I just read a few days earlier over and over again.That means there's very little time to tell the story of the Silver Dream left. And it shows. The story slowly unravels as three new Interworld recruits are saved from their respective worlds. Two of them - twins - are left out the rest of the narrative. So the point of them being there in this story is left to the imagination. I can only guess they will play an important role in the third installment, but they didn't function in this second part at all. The other recruit does get some attention. In fact, he gets too much attention, so when foul play is suspected it's blatantly obvious that's our guy. It takes some time for the characters to figure it out though. Not really a surprise, seeing as they're too busy retelling the first book... And when the climax is upon us, the book just stops, and tells us the story will continue in 2014. Quite an anti-climax indeed. And a huge disappointment.
What do You think about El Sueño De Plata (2014)?
Not as good as the first one. But the ball side-kick friend is still pretty cute.
—pich
I liked this book and would like to read the next.
—nick
