The Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles Complete Serial review

Last year, I reviewed The Spiderwick Chronicles about the time the movie adaptation came out. I greatly enjoyed the serial, and I was happy to find Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, a three-part serial which is connected to the Spiderwick world and which is Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black's last foray into the world of the fae.

The Nixie's Song (1 of 3): The Spiderwick Chronicles leave the old-fashioned charm of New England far behind and head south for some fiendish faerie fun in the hot Florida sun. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas only thinks his life has been turned upside down after his developer father remarries and moves his new wife and daughter into the soon-to-be completed Mangrove Hollow. But an "expedition" to a nearby lake turns up a little nixie with a giant problem - the huge, lumbering, fire-breathing variety - and it's up to Nick; his stepsister, Laurie; and his big brother, Julian (plus a familiar face from the original Spiderwick Chronicles) to figure out the best way to stop a host of rampaging giants before all of Florida goes up in smoke.

A Giant Problem (2 of 3): In the words of Nick Vargas: "Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire! I was pretty sure that my freaky stepsister and that freaky field guide of hers would ruin my life. But now it looks like they're going to ruin all of Florida, too! Okay, maybe that's not fair. Maybe all these stupid giants would be waking up anyway, but if it wasn't for her and that book, I'd be home playing video games and this would be someone else's giant problem! "

The Wyrm King (3 of 3): In the final installment of Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Nick and Laurie had thought they solved their giant problems when they drove all the giants into the sea. But now, the Grace kids have come back to tell them they may have more trouble coming their way!
It turns out the giants control the population of Hydra, a dragon like creature that is creating sinkholes all over Florida. But with the mermaids refusing to return the giants to the shore, the nixie's still missing and the threat of a destroyed Florida drawing closer, the kids have to take matters in their own hands. Will Nick and Laurie be able to stop the destruction they unwittingly caused? Can a new giant hunter help save the day? Can Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide help them out of this or are they on their own?

There's a lot of fun to be had in reading this serial. Like the original, it's fast-paced, imaginative, and always intriguing. The pencil sketches once again really bring out the images that are already put in your head by the writing. This one isn't quite as good as the first, and sometimes it feels even more rushed than the original, but it's still reccomended reading.

My rating: 9.5/10

Coming Soon: Leven Thumps and the Ruins of Alder, and those new reviews...