Review: Jack's back.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2014
This sequel to Claus continues Jack's story in an unusual manner. Pawn has become Mr. Frost, driven from the North Pole by a programmed compulsion that controls his actions for the next 200 years. He builds a commercial toy empire in South Carolina while perfecting cloning technology. The goal is to bring back Jack.I didn't much like Jack. I felt some sympathy for him throughout the first book; this time I felt that only at the end of the story. I liked Frost/Pawn much better. He really wasn't a pawn after all, and proved to be pretty shrewd. I enjoyed all of the characters, but the helpers were my favorite, even though I pictured them as concrete yard gnomes. Christmas has no magic here at all. I liked the well-deserved pokes at the commercial profit-making holiday machine. I also liked that Frost put some of the magic back in the holiday in the end, and found his family after all.This is a complex story, one that's really more about people and family than technology. It's interesting and fun reading.