Review: Compelling sequel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2012
(cross-posted from the blog Wading Through Electronic Ink)Avid readers of my blog will recall that I did not love Paranormal Public, which made me very sad, mostly because Maddy Edwards is really nice. Because I like her other stuff, and because a lot of what happened in Paranormal Public was interesting, I decided to give the second book in the series a chance. I'm really glad I did because I enjoyed it tremendously. I read the whole thing in about two days, and there were some parts that I liked so much that I had to go back and read them twice.Charlotte is back at Paranormal Public for her second semester, this time as a full student instead of a probationary one. She starts to learn to use her magic for real and even has a prestigious internship at the Museum of Masks. I'm not entirely clear on why the school has a collection of magical masks that various paranormals have made over the years, but it's kind of cool that they do.The characters from the first book continue to support Charlotte in her various quests to save the school - and the entire paranormal world - from the forces of evil. Keller is still perfect, and his aunt doesn't think Charlotte is good enough for him, but, really, who could be? Hyper Sip and sarcastic Lisabelle are now roommates. We get to see more of vampire princess Lanca, and there are a slew of new and powerful paranormals to suspect of a variety of evildoing.In terms of negatives, Charlotte often goes off on her own to do things that can only be described as colossally stupid. She gets points for the fact that she acknowledges afterwards that she probably could have made wiser choices. Nonetheless, she only lives through the book alive because she is extremely lucky, and because her boyfriend is superhumanly perfect beyond even the paranormal mean.Regardless, Museum of Masks is a good read, and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series (and Maddy's new book Spiral, which should be coming out any time now). If we continue at the current rate, we should have six more books before Charlotte graduates from college. Except I think that Keller graduates after another two. Will he find a way to stick around campus after his graduation? Or will there perhaps be new boys to capture Charlotte's interest? Only time will tell...