The Magnificent 12: The Call might have been the perfect book to read after Stolen. Another Cybils shortlister, it’s a middle grade scifi/fantasy that’s pretty darn funny. The only rough moment in the book was when Mack and Stefan found themselves in the Australian Outback (not the restaurant) – there was a little post-traumatic stress syndrome or something (from reading Stolen the night before.)
I cannot wait for the next book – and I’d really love a book just from The Golem’s point of view. Now that would be funny. I’m a little concerned by just how long it might take to get through this entire series. Are we going to meet one new member of the Magnifica in each book? Two? Or are we going to move a little faster now that we’ve got the basic elements of the story down? If we’ve got to have 12 or 13 or 14 books to defeat The Evil Foe… that’s not going to work, middle schoolers won’t stick with the series through college. It’s good but it’s not that good.
Thanks for the kind words. Definitely will not be 12 books. We’re thinking somewhere in the 4 to 6 range. I think the jokes would get pretty tired after that.