"Spark introduces nine-year-old Ali, a beggar living in the Dark Lands city of al-Balat. Ali meets a stranger who gives her his tablet, a portal to a tech world that Ali never knew existed. But one day, the tablet begins to communicate back to her—and takes her on a journey that will cross her path with exiled Logan Langly, Chancellor Cylis, and the fierce battle for power that spans reality and the virtual world."

I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about this installment in one of my favorite series because I thought it would have more of my favorite characters in it than it did, or actually any of them at all, but when I let go of that expectation I found that I was able to enjoy it okay. Little Ali is a tough little cookie, but then she's had to be growing up on the streets like she has. The whole "reality vs. virtual reality" aspect was interesting. I did feel like it jumped around a bit too much, making it hard to follow at times.

All in all, although I was able to enjoy it somewhat, I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. It was well written, I just didn't connect with it the way I did the first three books in the series.

3 out of 5 stars.

*** I would like to thank Evan Angler and the publisher, Thomas Nelson Specialty, for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I didn't like this book as well as I liked the previous three, mostly because it neglects the familiar characters that I've really grown attached to and introduces someone new. I get that you have to propel the story forward, and for the most part I still enjoyed this book. I was just missing some of the "spark" of the previous books.