Into the Shadowlands

By Cynthia Reeg

Hi! Have you ever felt like you were someone’s favorite and then suddenly you were replaced by someone else? Well, that’s exactly how Malcolm feels. He went through a thrilling tale where Frankenstein Gordan got people back from Exxillium and one of them was Malcolm’s dad. (If you’re confused, read my review of From the Grave.) He wasn’t at all happy about that because his dad was a misfit, and he thought he was always a true-blood troll! But it turned out that Malcolm was a misfit. He could swim – and trolls don’t swim.

A new kid had come to the school. She was placed in a misfit class, though, because she was a vampire but she loved to drink milk. But only her drinking milk set her apart from everyone else. She was beginning to be Principal Snaggle’s favorite because she had stopped drinking milk and was starting to drink blood. (And she was very monsterly.) She had been taking notes in her misfit class for Principal Snaggle and it turns out that the misfit class was going on an expedition to the Shadowlands. The Shadowlands is a horrible place where there are shadows and skeletons and vines that turn you into shadows or skeletons.

Principal Snaggle wanted as few misfits to return as possible, and Malcolm had failed Principal Snaggle too many times. This trip was his last warning. Principal Snaggle had assigned him on duty to find a secret door leading to unknown places. He had failed to find it. So now they were headed out. But ever since Frank had returned Malcolm’s dad, Malcolm had loathed Frank. So, he got his best friend (Frank’s brother, Ghoulbert) to give Frank a glow-in-the-dark potion. Now he would be a glowing target for any creature.

Will Malcolm be able to get rid of misfits? Will the misfits survive in the Shadowlands? Somebody has to lose and somebody has to win! As I always say, read the book to find out!

I recommend this book to readers who like suspense and action. And this book has two sides of stories. Both are full of so many emotions, but one side has to lose and the other has to win.

PS - This is the second book in a series called "Monster or Die."

A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:

“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There are a few intense scary parts in this story, but none are really, really bad.

“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
Definitely no yucky-lovey stuff in this book! Like I said in my last review, this is a book about monsters!!