Hamelin Stoop has quickly become one of our favorite new series. The author crafts these incredible worlds where the reader feels as if he’s in an Indiana Jones movie. My kids loved reading this book and we’re anxiously awaiting the next installment!

I cracked open Hamelin Stoop: The Lost Princess and the Jewel of Periluna with a ton of enthusiasm and hopefulness. I enjoyed book one and was ready to dive into book two and find out how the story continues.

What I liked:

This is my favorite Hamelin Stoop book so far!

I liked meeting new characters and seeing the story develop deeper than I initially expected. Hamelin meets new friends and goes on exciting adventures to help them. I liked the use of magical items and how the friends work together and their overall chemistry.

Just as in the first book, I liked any and all parts where Hamelin's parents were. I think I liked those parts because that's where the story allowed for a little darkness that made the story more intriguing.

The beginning and the end of this book are both page-turners. I jumped into book two after book one and was gripped from the start and the end also made me eager to start book three.

What could have been better:

Something that bothers me about the story is that everyone goes out of their way to help Hamelin. Hamelin is perfect and everyone automatically believes everything he says and in everything he does. HE'S JUST A KID, not Jesus Christ. Moreover, the book becomes oddly religious and that's just not my cup of tea. It seems like it's trying really hard to be The Chronicles of Narnia.

As much as I liked them in the first book and their initial introduction into the story, the characters left me a little disappointed in book two. There isn't a single character that isn't either plain vanilla or innately evil (the evil characters don't get enough page time if you ask me). The characters just aren't as complex as I would like. Every orphan chosen-one character needs their own personal version of Snape, in my opinion, to keep the story interesting just as every character needs personal flaws and shortcomings to overcome to keep them interesting. Even the evil characters are just evil. Why are they evil? Because they are evil. But like what made them- They're just evil. They just are. That just doesn't go over well with me.

Can someone tell me what happened to Hamelin's best friends and what's going on with them? Sure, they reappear at the tail-end of book two, but there was so much emphasis on Hamelin's orphanage days and his friends that it seems counterintuitive that they would play such a minor role for the vast majority of book two.

One of my biggest problems with book one is unfortunately still prevalent in book two. The beginning was intriguing, but the middle of the book slows down and then really picks up at the end. The pacing of the book just feels off. I would prefer the story to be equally strong throughout the entire book.

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Hamelin's quest isn't over yet. He's crossed the footbridge but he has more important priorities than finding his parents. Hamelin has to help Lars the son of Periluna’s King Elwood to find a stolen jewel and Eraina Charissa’s sister, to find the kidnapped princess. Can they find the jewel and return it before the Kingdom is destroyed.

I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first one!! I finished it one night! I was so tired the next day but hey a book like that is well worth the read don't ya think? I know that fans of Harry Potter will love this series. I know I am so far. The characters are realistic and the plot is pretty far fetched but hey, that is what fantasy is all about right?
I think that author of this book had fun creating the other world almost as much as the Texas setting in the first book!! Well done Robert! I will be looking for other books from you in the future.
I also think that I will buy my teenage son a copy to see if he likes it after all, he loves Harry Potter! I know I loved it so much!! Where was this series when I was little!!
Overall, another great read by Robert Sloan with a wonderful plot too! I guarantee that you won't want to put this book down until you finished it. I give this book 5 stars
My thanks to Netgalley and all opinions are my own

this one was my favorite of the series, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it a lot more than the first as I felt the author found what worked for them. Overall I really enjoyed reading this.