The Curse Breaker
Isle of Ever #2
by Jen Calonita

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book in the series, Isle of Ever.

After discovering that what she thought was the end of the game to win a massive inheritance was just part 1, Everly “Benny” Benedict will have to scramble to solve more clues in time. But it turns out the betrayal by her new friend was just the beginning of the adversaries she’ll be up against now.

I didn’t enjoy the previous book a whole lot—the story wasn’t particularly compelling, fantastical elements were confusing, and I am not a fan of a dead-stop cliffhanger. But I was curious enough to at least read the 2nd book, especially since I wouldn’t have to wait very long to do so. Sadly, this book had a lot of the same issues as the previous, not enough answers given, and another cliffhanger. The characters are also fairly weak. We’ve got the girl with future sight who is wise beyond her years, yet annoyingly cryptic to the point of being coy. We’ve got the mom who is far too happy to let her daughter solve this mystery that could change their lives completely alone, running around in a new town without even checking in, all so the mom can hang out with her newest boyfriend. We’ve got the kid who has basically just jumped 200 years into the future (to our time) and frankly, I think it was the wrong decision to make him a POV character, because I don’t think enough time was really given to him trying to understand this new world.

Some revelations do come out in this book, one of which I guessed way in advance, but I think the clues were intentionally dropped to allow that possibility. I don’t know what, if anything, it really means for the characters, though. And the urgency in the first book with the deadline is just wiped away in this book—extended, actually, but it still feels far too much like obvious plot contrivance for my enjoyment. In the end, I have no desire to continue on to the third book. I don’t care enough about what happens to the island or anyone who is trapped on/by it to keep reading something that I don’t really get any enjoyment out of. However, these books have a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews, so please look into those if the series interests you at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Kids for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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