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A review by celsius273
Umberland (Everland, Book 2), Volume 2 by Wendy Spinale
3.0
Sometime I read series because I feel the obligation to continue them. Umberland is one of those cases. As my rating suggests, I don’t think that there’s anything egregiously bad about it. It’s suspenseful, pretty action packed, and filled with science but at the same time marred by less than stellar characters and a plot and ending that feels straightforward and forced.
Taking place pretty soon after the first book, Umberland is an Alice in Wonderland retelling folded in with the post-apocalyptic Peter Pan retelling of the first book. Right off the back I was hoping for some more recap of the events of the last book because quite a bit actually carries over, alas we’re tossed right in and left to recall everything on our own. Mild spoiler for the first book, it turns out that the cure for the virus “found” in the first book only masked symptoms and everyone is getting sick at an even faster rate. Luckily, through a series of miraculous info dumps, we find out that the cause of the illness is poison, specifically from an apple (so I’m pretty sure that there’s some Snow White stuff coming up later in the series) and so the book is a race to recover the apple and control the cure.
The apple lies in a maze in a long forgotten forest, the equivalent of Wonderland. The first racing party is Captain Hook and his half brother who hate each other but are stuck with each other because their mother, the Red Queen, has commanded them to journey together to get the cure. Their journey has an interesting conclusion and for as much as I dislike both of the characters because of their villainous nature, I think their storyline was a very good addition to this book. They have a really interesting dynamic, run into quite a bit of trouble, and again have a rather unexpected ending to their story.
The other racing party is Alyssa (Alice) and Maddox Hadder (ohmigod) and they follow the whole white rabbit down the hole story. These two were just bad, absolutely insufferable. Fine,
I guess the only unlikeable part is their insta-love but my god, half of the thoughts that run through Alyssa’s head stem around how attracted she is to Maddox’s hotness and the other half are her panicking about how incompetent she is. It doesn’t help that Maddox is doing everything and saving her left and right. They’re storyline is supposed to be about half the book, but it’s literally only a journey to get an apple. You have to try very hard to make a journey interesting, and theirs just didn’t work.
The last perspective is of the lost boys cast from the first book. If you can say anything, at least their story is exciting. They’re at the center of the epidemic and you really get a sense for how hectic and scary things are. Pete and Gwen have drama to sort out because they’re both dying and Doc and Pete are also fighting because Pete’s a dumbass. Again, rather unlikeable characters, but it adds to the mood. They’re kind of all stuck waiting for Alyssa to get back with the apple so that they can start working on the cure but that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on. They’re busy taking care of the sick, figuring out the science behind the virus, and preparing for the situation where Alyssa doesn’t actually manage to bring back the virus. There’s so much to panic about and if anything, I think the narration focused on the lost boys is what saves this book.
Overall, this book like its predecessor is wonderful in concept but a bit lackluster in execution. I know that as much as I say I’m on the fence about reading the next book, I’ll read it anyways because I can’t resist the urge to finish as series. I guess it’s a good thing then that it’s not too unpalatable.
Taking place pretty soon after the first book, Umberland is an Alice in Wonderland retelling folded in with the post-apocalyptic Peter Pan retelling of the first book. Right off the back I was hoping for some more recap of the events of the last book because quite a bit actually carries over, alas we’re tossed right in and left to recall everything on our own. Mild spoiler for the first book, it turns out that the cure for the virus “found” in the first book only masked symptoms and everyone is getting sick at an even faster rate. Luckily, through a series of miraculous info dumps, we find out that the cause of the illness is poison, specifically from an apple (so I’m pretty sure that there’s some Snow White stuff coming up later in the series) and so the book is a race to recover the apple and control the cure.
The apple lies in a maze in a long forgotten forest, the equivalent of Wonderland. The first racing party is Captain Hook and his half brother who hate each other but are stuck with each other because their mother, the Red Queen, has commanded them to journey together to get the cure. Their journey has an interesting conclusion and for as much as I dislike both of the characters because of their villainous nature, I think their storyline was a very good addition to this book. They have a really interesting dynamic, run into quite a bit of trouble, and again have a rather unexpected ending to their story.
The other racing party is Alyssa (Alice) and Maddox Hadder (ohmigod) and they follow the whole white rabbit down the hole story. These two were just bad, absolutely insufferable. Fine,
I guess the only unlikeable part is their insta-love but my god, half of the thoughts that run through Alyssa’s head stem around how attracted she is to Maddox’s hotness and the other half are her panicking about how incompetent she is. It doesn’t help that Maddox is doing everything and saving her left and right. They’re storyline is supposed to be about half the book, but it’s literally only a journey to get an apple. You have to try very hard to make a journey interesting, and theirs just didn’t work.
The last perspective is of the lost boys cast from the first book. If you can say anything, at least their story is exciting. They’re at the center of the epidemic and you really get a sense for how hectic and scary things are. Pete and Gwen have drama to sort out because they’re both dying and Doc and Pete are also fighting because Pete’s a dumbass. Again, rather unlikeable characters, but it adds to the mood. They’re kind of all stuck waiting for Alyssa to get back with the apple so that they can start working on the cure but that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on. They’re busy taking care of the sick, figuring out the science behind the virus, and preparing for the situation where Alyssa doesn’t actually manage to bring back the virus. There’s so much to panic about and if anything, I think the narration focused on the lost boys is what saves this book.
Overall, this book like its predecessor is wonderful in concept but a bit lackluster in execution. I know that as much as I say I’m on the fence about reading the next book, I’ll read it anyways because I can’t resist the urge to finish as series. I guess it’s a good thing then that it’s not too unpalatable.