The Shadow Lantern

April 1, 2014

Gr 6 Up-Sunni and Blaise, the timeslip adventurers who travel through paintings, discover lantern slides that lead them to artist-magician Fausto Corvo. When an old enemy threatens, the teens must protect Corvo's secrets.

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
In this, their third art adventure, Sunni and Blaise are inexorably pulled back to the painting The Mariner's Return to Arcadia in Blackhope Tower, the setting of their first encounter with the artist/sorcerer Fausto Corvo and villain Soranzo (The Blackhope Enigma, 2011).Sunni and Blaise are sure that Corvo's three magical paintings are safely hidden within Arcadia. They steadfastly kept this secret even when they were kidnapped and held in 18th-century London (The Crimson Shard, 2012). But when a "spirit photographer" shows up at Blackhope Tower with an Oculus-a shadow lantern-along with painted slides created by Corvo, both mystery and chase are reopened. With events unfolding on Halloween, and with the addition of a ghost who has her own agenda, Sunni and Blaise are almost stretched to their limits. As before, descriptions are rich, but readers who have not followed the duo's adventures through the first two books may be hopelessly lost, despite constant references to past adventures. In fact, the fill-ins slow the pace considerably, leaving only die-hard fans curious about the surprising fate of the three paintings or the burgeoning romance between Sunni and Blaise. For most readers, the first two mysteries will have sufficed. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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July 1, 2014
Grades 5-7 As Halloween approaches, Sunni and Blaise are drawn back to Scotland's Blackhope Tower, the site of their first hair-raising adventure in time travel. Now, an antique magic-lantern projector transports them back into the perilous, multilayered world created by Renaissance artist Fausto Corvo. There they contend with old enemies and attempt to rescue a friend. The third and final volume of the Blackhope series begins with some engaging realistic scenes with Sunni and Blaise before the teens step into the chaotic fantasy realm, where their relationship becomes secondary to their quest and their survival. A surprise near the end offers a satisfying twist for Blackhope fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)