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lolajh's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Just like the first I am left wanting more with a cliffhanger š« I really liked the inclusion of Spike being in the sequel, and him and me noticing the changes in Preston from what it was like when he was younger. What I cannot understand is why he would drink the water? He came back to study the water, and surely he didnāt think it would be normal water even after his tests coming back clear. He chose to become one of the people, to conform to the weird spell put upon Preston, and has now probably lost all humanity and motivation he had to study the water and uncover its secrets. Instead of doing more than whatever his ātestsā were (look at the water with a microscope, dammit), he gives up, rather suddenly too, and Iām really curious as to why. āThey only allowed him one sipā is intriguing too, implying that Spike maybe didnāt want to give up and he was already possessed or under control of whatever supernatural thing is going on. Most of the pictures had nothing to do with the story which was confusing and what was happening in the story was only shown in small excerpts on the page. I wish there was more, I love this story
ozshark's review
4.0
3.5 stars. I didn't realise that a sequel had been published to [b:The Watertower|321171|The Watertower|Gary Crew|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347952655s/321171.jpg|311904] until today, when I stumbled across it in our library. I had a lesson planned for the first book, so I read this to see if we would use it for a follow-up lesson. Now, having read it, I remain unsure. The elements that made [b:The Watertower|321171|The Watertower|Gary Crew|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347952655s/321171.jpg|311904] so good remain - creepy visuals, engaging layout, hidden details etc. However, I think I prefer that the end to the first book was so open-ended, whereas this makes it much more obvious what is going on. Students will still enjoy hunting for clues and noticing details and it will be interesting to see them wonder about the disconnect between the text and the images.
A good book in & of itself, I'm just not sure a sequel was needed.
A good book in & of itself, I'm just not sure a sequel was needed.
emkoshka's review
4.0
I was excited to discover a sequel to The Watertower. One of the original boys, Spike, returns to the town and the watertower to make sense of the nightmares that have been haunting him. Stephen Woolman's illustrations are every bit as sinister and malevolent as in the original and employ the same panel format to great effect, juxtaposing disparate scenes from across the world to show how far the watertower mark has spread with Spike's investigations.
This book is a lot darker than the original and strongly suggests that the watertower mark has alien origins, as conveyed through the beautifully detailed image of two affected scientists sitting at a computer inside an astronomy dome. Each subsequent page shows a different part of the world and reveals that people have been affected, but the text continues to tell Spike's story, which makes for a bit of confusing reading at first. But as the story and images unfold along separate paths, you start to realise the implications and when they converge again (on the page after the particularly creepy image of devilish-looking men sitting around a broken circle table looking at the planet earth), the unfortunate conclusion looks inevitable.
The sequel manages to capture the creepy sinister atmosphere of the original and extend it beautifully into something even scarier: alien domination. Classic and very scary science-fiction.
This book is a lot darker than the original and strongly suggests that the watertower mark has alien origins, as conveyed through the beautifully detailed image of two affected scientists sitting at a computer inside an astronomy dome. Each subsequent page shows a different part of the world and reveals that people have been affected, but the text continues to tell Spike's story, which makes for a bit of confusing reading at first. But as the story and images unfold along separate paths, you start to realise the implications and when they converge again (on the page after the particularly creepy image of devilish-looking men sitting around a broken circle table looking at the planet earth), the unfortunate conclusion looks inevitable.
The sequel manages to capture the creepy sinister atmosphere of the original and extend it beautifully into something even scarier: alien domination. Classic and very scary science-fiction.
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