The Cracks in the Kingdom

Late on Monday night, I finished The Cracks in the Kingdom with a loud moan.  How could Jaclyn Moriarty do this to her readers?  What about the Queen of Cello?  How can Elliot and his father return?  Is Belle really having a mental breakdown?  Will Madeline's mother be ok?  And is Princess Ko as unfeeling as she appears?

I mean, really!!!!  This wild, whimsical fantasy trilogy (I hope it's a trilogy because I want answers SOON if not immediately) keeps me guessing.

This second entry into The Colors of Madeleine series returns to the Kingdom of Cello - where colors can create havoc and the entire Royal Family except for Princess Ko has been abducted.  Elliot Baranski is on the Royal Youth Alliance, an initiative supposedly designed to find ways for the Provinces of Cello to better work together.  The RYA is really dedicated to finding the Royal Family and returning them to Cello before war breaks out.

Since the Royal Family is in the World (That's us, folks.  We are the World.), Elliot needs Madeleine. 

Madeleine in turn needs her Worldly friends, Jack and Belle.  And the reader needs a neck brace from swiveling back and forth from Cello to the World to Cello to the World.

And it all gets scientific, and romantic and then, just like in the first book, A Corner of White, incredibly suspenseful.  WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!  I can't take this.  I need to know.

Who are these Wandering Hostiles who besiege the government of Cello?  Where the heck is Madeleine's father?  Why is the WSU determined to keep traffic between Cello and the World closed?  Can Elliot ever return to Cello?  Will Samuel survive? 

This review does NOT do this book,- the writing, the research, the fitting together of the smallest puzzle pieces,- justice.  Not since the Chrestomanci books of Diana Wynne-Jones have I read fantasies as intricate as this series.  Moriarty's mood is so much lighter that Wynne-Jones, (whom I miss every passing day), that it is easy not to notice how every detail is necessary to tell this story.  WOW!  Just plain wow!  Read these books.

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

Saturday Review:
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

Madeleine lives in Cambridge, UK, with her mother after running away from their former jet set lifestyle and their respective father/husband.

Elliot lives in the Kingdom of Cello where his father has been carried away - Elliot believes - by a high level Purple attack.  Colors are dangerous in Cello.

When Madeleine finds a note shoved into a broken parking meter slot, she replies.  Why not?  Could be fun!  And her new hand-to-mouth existence needs a little pizzazz.

Elliot finds Madeleine's reply.

Set against the backdrops of Madeleine's first romance with one of her homeschooling partners, and Elliot's plans for returning to the Magical North to find his father, this correspondence opens both teens' eyes to empathy and self-awareness. 

I had trouble getting into the book.  There seemed to be a slew of details added for whimsy.  As the book continued whimsy gained purpose and the ending left me wanting more.  I will have more!!!

This book is a contender in SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books.