Into the Gauntlet

Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix

I was giddy with delight when I finally had Book 10 in my hand. Happy Dance! The end is near! And then Mr. John spoiled if for me entirely by discovering that the adventure will continue with not only The Black Book of Buried Secrets, but also Vespers Rising. Deflated.

This is where you all jump in and say, "But you don't have to read them all." Okay, double dog dare me and I might attempt to ignore them.

This, the 10th and semi-final book in the series, is written by one of my favorite children's authors, Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of the Among the Hidden series. While she is an excellent writer, this series is not her brainchild and therefore cannot compete with the library of her own original work.

I wonder if having multiple authors tackling individual installments of the series actually improved the series? A positive thought is that a child would read the series because they loved the Lightning Thief and therefore would pick anything by Rick Riordan up. And then they child might discover Gordon Korman or Jude Watson. On the other hand, no one author has the ability to put their personal mark on the series. I have a feeling that this prevented the characters being fleshed out in a more satisfying light.

One thing that I particularly like about the 10th book is that we got a better feel for the intentions more of the key players. Within a single chapter, we might get a glimpse of what Jonah, Ian, Hamilton or Alistair were thinking. I've always felt we as readers were better in tune with Amy and Dan because they are the main characters and that is as it should be. But I truly enjoyed finding out the more personal motivations behind some of the other characters.

On the other hand, there was one thing in particular that I didn't like about this installment. The book was significantly thicker than the previous volumes. It would see that there would be more meat to the story. Unfortunately, most of the book felt rushed. For instance, the gauntlet seemed to be broken and the players just ran from room to room. The characters could have been forced to work together to master the gauntlet. Instead, the characters were forced to work together through tragedy and were able to bypass the gauntlet.

The best part of this book is that it is finished. It took me forever to trudge my way through it. I just wasn’t on the edge of my seat to finish it. I finally had to sit myself down without a clock and read until I was done.

I don't want to spoil the series for anyone, so again, I'm left by saying "I told you so," and "I knew it," and "Didn't you see that coming?"

I'm excited for my next review. I finally got a chance to read something older. It's always a thrill to experience the way literature used to read!