Review – Shadows of the Lost Sun (Map to Everywhere, Book 3) by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 10, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0316240888
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Map to Everywhere series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Fearless adventurers Marrill and Fin have just barely stopped the Iron Tide and the evil wizard Serth from destroying the Pirate Stream. Now they’re on a mission to find Fin’s missing mother, but before they can blink, Fin’s people have found him–and they’re not as friendly as he’d hoped. In fact, they’re after a powerful wish orb that could resurrect the debilitating Iron Tide and end the world as we know it.

Without their captain Coll and wizard friend Ardent to guide them, are Marrill and Fin brave enough to take on the magic (and evil) of the Pirate Stream on their own? Find out in this exhilarating third book that raises the stakes to new heights!”

This was a good continuation to the Map to Everywhere series. There are four books planned for this series; with the fourth book (Iron Tide Rising) scheduled for release some time in 2018. These are well done middle grade adventure fantasy books that are very creative. They are decent books but sometimes I have trouble staying engaged in the story; the flow of the writing is just a bit awkward to me and I really have to focus when I read these books. For me this is not a book that grabs me and pulls me in, I really have to work at reading these.

The first part of the story deals with the Rise and the Fade (Fin is a Fade); we learn a lot of interesting stuff about them. Marrill and crew are also trying to prevent Serth from awakening a creature that will destroy the Pirate Stream.

This book is a bit darker than previous books. You see a lot of Ardent’s obsession with Annabelle come to the surface. Ardent makes many decisions that put everyone at risk in pursuit of his own obsession. At times his character is almost bipolar, alternating between jovial old wizard and cold, calculating villain.

Although I did enjoy the adventure and some of the creative places our team ventures to….I did find my attention lagging at a number of points. There is just something about the writing style throughout this book that makes it hard for me to read. It’s like the writing is a bit awkward and doesn’t flow that well. I end up really having to actively focus on each word to read it. This was one of those books where I would sit down to read it and immediately think of something else I would rather be doing. Not because it was an awful book, just because the writing didn’t flow well and the story wasn’t engaging me. I had this problem with the first two books in the series too.

Overall this was a good continuation of this series. There is a lot of creative world-building in here and some excellent adventure. I have some trouble engaging with the characters and staying engaged in the story. For me the writing doesn’t flow very well (I’ve had this issue with the whole series) so I have trouble staying focused. Because of this issue I won’t be continuing the series; I just get frustrated which how tough these books are for me to read. However, I think many middle grade readers will probably enjoy the story.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge