I really love this story. The characters are so lovable, but the situation they are in is just awful! That makes for a fantastically entertaining and inspiring book. Highly recommend going on this journey. It’s a family friendly series but also terrific for adult readers, especially with all the references to the 90’s.

Into the Red Realm is the follow-up to Into the Attic of the World. I enjoyed the first book but I think I like the second installment of the series even better. It continues the story of a group of young Florida friends (Charles, the novel’s protagonist is 13) who follow Captain Kid into a parallel dimension to rescue the Patch Fairy. The story really hit its stride about a third of the way in, when the group is forced to split up and the narrative follows Charles and the cyclops on their leg of the adventure. I ended up finishing the novel a day earlier than I planned because I couldn’t wait to see how it ended (or at least how this installment ended). The world building is strong. The world of the novel is desolate and bleak with bogs and ruins and restaurants and inns and toy stores and cyclops and shapeshifters and people with the heads of rats--all good stuff. The novel/plot is well thought out and has a nice sprinkle of “mystery boxes”--the one section reminded me somewhat of the TV show Lost. Can’t wait for the next one!