Voices in the Dark

Reader: Luke M
Age: 16
Title: The Last Descendants Trilogy Book 2: Voices in the Dark
Author: Catherine Banner
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pub Date: 9/22/10
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: No
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I liked Jared as a character, as he answered a lot of the questions in the book and was an interesting character.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book: I found the book quite confusing. The Lord Rigel part was easy to understand but Anna and Ashley's part I had no idea of how it connected until late in the story (I also had problems figuring out their genders). I was quite confused by the country names. There weren't ever any countries named that but they could travel to England? I also found the hiding of facts by parents from Anselm and everyone telling Jasmine it was nothing to be annoying. Also, everyone is so worried about the invasion of the city but there is very little on it. Finally, the Imperial Order is made to seem like Nazi Germany way too much. Killing undesirables, having rallies and street fights in an effort to look like Nazis and thus evil is way overdone. Something more original would be more interesting. Also, I thought that Anselm should have had more doubts about the king, maybe wanting some more changes. No mentioned parliament, corruption, little police control, no laws protecting tenants and no welfare. It’s no surprise people want the king gone and the youth would be the ones to want it most.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover was interesting, especially the coloring and while it did reflect the book there are more important things than the carriage they traveled in. The story is told in taverns anyways and they were traveling through countryside, not cities.
Age Range: 12-13
Quality: 2Q Needs more work
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal
Comments: A preface for the book explaining the first book and the some the hard to understand concepts like the parallel universe part would be useful.