The Secret of the Reaping is the entertaining continuation of The Vanquishers series. The adventures of Boog and her companions continue as they discover more about the history of Vanquishers, their own family legacies, and who they are as individuals. This novel is full of mystery, horror, and peril, but those are offset by the selflessness of the characters and the strength that they find in strong friendships. The genre of children’s horror is a difficult one to write, since tilting it too far towards the horrific or too far towards the lighthearted can ruin an otherwise good story. Kalynn Baryon strikes this balance perfectly, and as a result this book stands out from the pack of other similar works. The protagonists in this book share struggles that are universal to older elementary and junior high students, things like homework, teachers, family dynamics, and judgment from their peers. If you take away the monsters, they aren’t so different from ordinary kids, which makes the story very relatable and engaging. Young readers can confidently choose this book knowing that they’re in for a thrill.
Review of an Advance Reading Copy from the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 1 religious exclamation; 2 scatological words.
Violence/Gore: Report of animals being killed; few reports of fights with injury and death of monsters and people; a few reports of murders; report of a racially-motivated murder (it is implied that the method of death was hanging); a verbal threat; characters spar with each other; tense scene in which children hide from a monster; a few fights in which monsters and characters are badly injured and killed; a fight with minor injury with blood described; a character (a kid vampire, who is a good guy) drinks blood from a thermos a few times; an animal is killed (no description); minor property damage; report of corpse dissection for scientific purposes.
Sex/Nudity: Adult men hold hands; adult men kiss; teens hug a few times; teens hold hands.
Mature Subject Matter:
Two adult men are married; a teen identifies as nonbinary gender; slavery (reported); racism (reported); murder (reported); theft.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
None
