The Candy Shop War:  Arcade Catastrophe picks up where the first book left off.  There is no exposition on characters and hardly any reference to the first book; however, Arcade Catastrophe is a self-contained story so it can be experienced as a stand alone.  (That said, the first book is highly recommended because it has an unbridled sense of imagination and creativity so it would be a shame to miss out!–And it had a brilliant and surprising ending.)  

Most of the main characters are back, but there isn’t as much performance-enhancing candy.  Instead, there is a new mix of magic in an environment just as alluring to kids–an arcade.  This book has the perfect of amount of peril for middle grade readers and it is refreshing to have some truly nice kids who are team players.  The story is not quite as fresh and creative as the first book and the children characters are generic, but young readers will still find much they like in this fast-moving and action-packed story.  It also has high boy-appeal.  The ending hints at a set-up for another book so readers can probably look forward to more of Brandon Mull’s Candy Shop War adventures.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Shadow Mountain

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Property is destroyed; characters are threatened; arrows are shot at characters and one characters is hit by an arrow; report of a disappearance; tranquilizer guns are shot at characters; a character is pepper sprayed; a scene in which shots are fired (no one hit) and there is struggling, a character is put in a headlock, injuries are sustained and a stun gun is used; a fist fight with punching; an extended scene in which there is punching/kicking/animals biting/tranquilizer darts and bashing into walls; extended fight scene against some magical items and injuries are sustained; perilous situation involving booby traps results in minor injuries.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Ethical situations.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

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