Reading: THE ODDMIRE, BOOK 2: THE UNREADY QUEEN - William Ritter

Possibly the best gratification you can get, when reading the sequel/second-in-a-series to a good book, is when the sequel actually surpasses the original. My fanboy-ship of William Ritter's work began with Jackaby - to this day in my top-five YA books of all time - and from that series alone Ritter became one of my few auto-buy authors. When I read The Oddmire, Book 1: The Changeling - his middle-grade novel featuring trolls, goblins, pixies and the Wild Wood's mysterious Queen of the Deep Dark (among other creatures, and humans) - I found myself completely caught up in the story of twin brothers Cole and Tinn, and their quest to find out which of them was a genuine human boy and which had been born a goblin. Very well-written, full of action and suspense, and characters (human and otherwise) you really care about ... and this follow-up, in which the young brothers try to help their friend Fable - daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark, unsure of her own future abilities to rule - when a very bad guy with an even worse agenda seeks to start a war between the simple townsfolk of Endsborough and the creatures of magic that inhabit the bordering Wild Wood. Good as book one was, book two really expands on story, characters, and the world-building of both the human and creature realms. Tinn, Cole, their mom Annie, Fable, even the Queen have all grown since their previous adventure, even as the kids still put doing what they feel is right over listening to their mothers, all as Fable tries to find where - if anywhere - she fits into it all (truly a wonderfully funny, humane character ... especially for a future queen). We also meet new friends and new enemies, (the lines sometimes blurring between which is which), and as battle lines are drawn the reader will find affection for members of both sides, making for an even more tense final confrontation. William Ritter is terrific; never more so than in this fast-moving, action-packed tale that also tackles the meaning of friends and family - and those who become both. A wonderful sequel, better than its predecessor, and this reader couldn't be more tickled that a hint of book three even popped up by The End.  4.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.