Lisi Harrison, the author of the old Clique series, currently has three middle grade series out. I've reviewed the Girl Stuff series here. Definitely a fan of those. The newest series is what I'm going to review in the post after this. The Pack is her first dip back into the supernatural kids world since Monster High.
The first book in the series came out in summer 2021. The second came out a year later, this past summer.
The premise is that some girls are born with animal "lights." They basically have physical features and superpowers based on whichever animal they are. Main girl Sadie is a lion light, which she finds out partway through the book, though it's pretty obvious. She's nocturnal, has a big frizzy mane of hair, likes meat, and is very strong. Tiger light Lindsey is similar yet different. Chameleon light Taylor can use her camouflage to become invisible. Snake light Amy is always cold unless it's very hot in the room, has fangs and a tendency to swallow hard-boiled eggs whole, and uses a ton of moisturizer. Other lights mentioned include giraffe, hyena, eagle, monkey, rat, and dingo.
So the girls are hidden away in Charm School, where they learn to control their lights to blend in with "typicals," lest they be kidnapped by the sinister science organization that wants to study them. I think it was the Institute of Behavioral Science or something like that.
Naturally, there's a boys' school very close by. And Sadie meets a boy and falls in crush, only to eventually learn his grandmother is the Charm School headmistress, his mother is one of the teachers (and a badass eagle light), and his sister...is Lindsey. Only Lindsey doesn't know it. She was so uncontrollable and still wants to just be out in the world showing everyone how special she is that the headmistress developed an elixir from Amy's snake venom that helps suppress Lindsey's memories.
It's basically typical tween drama but with animal powers and a mystery to solve. It's not the best thing ever, but it's fun.
I finished Claw and Order a couple days ago after letting it sit around since summer.
I thought this one was weaker than the first. Sadie and her pack form a spa for their club project but charge the other students for services. The hyenas rat them out and they get in trouble. Amy and Taylor each go do their own thing, Lindsey is more rebellious than ever and doesn't want to do anything, and Sadie is worried her parents will yank her from the school if her grades don't improve, so she's obsessed with starting a new club. She tries running, but then sees the boys next door at football practice and comes up with cheerleading. The other girls are basically useless and they're in some serious trouble when Sadie spills Lindsey's identity secret to Taylor and Amy, who both get super pissed and stop talking to Sadie. Lindsey and her family have to briefly leave school because Lindsey stopped taking her elixir and was remembering too much. Seriously, that kind of secret was too big for one tween girl to be trusted with. Come on.
Upon her return, Lindsey is introduced in her real identity, which is good. It's about time they let her see she has a family. Everyone makes up. The animal lights all go to a football game and the boys are losing, so the entire school of girls does an impromptu cheer session, showcasing their various dance and athletic skills. The coach loves it and wants them all there the rest of the season.
Then Lindsey tells Sadie she wants to break into the Institute and free the captive lights. Beak, Lindsey's brother and Sadie's crush, is in. And so is Sadie.
Will this be popular enough to get a third book and let us see what happens? Who knows? The best part by far of this one was the budding romance between Amy and hyena light Mia. That needs more screentime. They're both cute characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment