This book, like the first one, was very so-so for me. It had good points--Barty was annoying but entertaining, and again, the plot was good. It was also the first time I ever read about the Rosetta Stone kicking the bucket, which was cool. I liked the fact that Barty shapeshifted and worked magic more in this one. I liked the fact that some of the irritating characters from Amulet were gone. Barty's description of his minotaur shape was priceless; I remember it to the word even now, and I read the book years ago.Unfortunately, there are down points that drag at its rating, too. The 1001 Unnecessary Footnotes Marathon continues full-force (my gosh, don't those footnotes ever get sore feet?), and the writing in this one was actually worse than in Amulet. The prologue was brilliant, but Nate and the wizards' many problems...I just didn't care. They all set my teeth on edge with their whining. And the corpse-candle...I can't forget or forgive the corpse-candle. It, and its entire surrounding scene, have been a thorn in my side for years. If you're going to put it in the book, man, put it in the book! If you aren't, which is fine since this is a children's book, then don't pretend like you're going to.
(sigh) I wasn't horribly bored so much as horribly irritated, but it wasn't an awful book. It was, and I think always will be, the last book in this series that I've read (see my review on Amulet for reason, I'm tired of repeating myself).
