Early Review – Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon (Arlo Finch, Book 2) by John August (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Release Date: February 5, 2019
ISBN-13: 78-1626728165
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Arlo Finch series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com for Review
Rating: 4/5 stars
“For Arlo Finch and the Rangers of Pine Mountain Company, summer camp is more than canoeing and hiking. It’s also a chance to search for ancient forest spirits and discover mysterious messages encoded in tree bark. But when Arlo and his best friends Indra and Wu stumble upon clues about the long-lost Yellow Patrol, Arlo uncovers a stunning history that leads right back to his very own family.”
This is the second book in the Arlo Finch series. I got a copy of this through NetGalley to review. This is a well written story with some fun adventure and interesting magical creatures.
Arlo is heading to summer camp with his patrol. However, something very odd happens to him when he stumbles into the Eldritch Realm and sees duplicates of his friends there. As Arlo struggles to unravel this mystery he is also drawn in to the mystery of Yellow Patrol and what happened to them.
This is a well written book that I generally enjoyed. I do wish a little less time was spent on camp politics and friendship issues. Additionally, this book deals with time travel which is always a bit of a mess. August over-explains that whole result of the time travel portion a bit too much.
Things tie up nicely in this book though and the story is set up for the next book in the series “Arlo Finch in the Kingdom of Shadows” which is set to release in 2020.
Overall this was a solid book in the Arlo Finch series. I do think kids will enjoy this series more than adults. For me there was a bit too much friendship drama and camp politics, I wanted more focus on the mysterious creatures and the Eldritch realm. I am unsure whether or not I will continue with this series at this point. That being said this is a very well done middle grade fantasy series and I think many will really enjoy it.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
