Angel Juan decides to go to New York City to think, to discover more of who he is, and leaves Witch Baby behind, saying they need the time apart. Torn and lost without him, Witch Baby follows and searches for him in the vast wilderness of N.Y.C. While there, she meets the ghost of her "almost grandfather," discovers a whole different kind of magic that brings the past into the present, and faces one of the many dangers a large city like New York poses for young people.
Impression:Missing Angel Juan took another surprising turn in how it was written - it's the first book in the series written in first person. For the first chapter or so, I felt a little off, having become used to Bolt's third person style for the book. Beyond that, I felt kind of ambivalent about the story. While well written in Bolt's unusual style, the magic she's imbued her world with became far more obvious. And I found it more than a little unlikely that any parent would let a child under 18 run off to New York over the holidays alone, and the number of coincidences that occurred to bring Witch Baby and Angel Juan back together were just a little too much. Once coincidence, sure, two maybe. But in a city as large as N.Y., even that is pushing it, and in Missing Angel Juan, Bolt pushed that number right of the edge of believability. The heavy handed use of "magic" also threw me since the magic of the previous four books has been a lot more subtle. However, despite this, the story was relatively enjoyable. It had more of a fairy tale feel than the previous books. If Bolt hadn't stepped so far out of the usual boundaries for the book, I think I would have enjoyed it much more.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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