Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis is a great sequel to the first book. Not only introduces it a new mystery for Amanda and her friend to focus on, it also continues a few plot lines from the first book, introduces the reader to a new character and has more of the same awesomness of the first book. The mystery aspect is very well done and I like how you can really follow the thinking steps of the characters and see how they come to certain conclusions. I did predict what the missing item was already before the characters figured it out though, but I didn’t mind that as I only figured it out shortly before they did.

The mystery is one of my favourite aspects of this series, there are multiple things going on and it’s unclear whether they are related or not and what’s going on and then as the story progresses we find out more and things start falling on it’s place. Beside the mystery there are also enough other sub plots going on, like relationships between characters, Amanda her e-mails with her film idol Darius Plover, Amanda her parents etc. I like how there is so much going on, but it’s still easy to keep track of everything. It makes for an interesting story and there isn’t a dull moment.

In this book a lot focusses on the orange crystals, the concept of the orange crystal was kinda fun and original, but I didn’t like the science behind it. There is a reasoning about how they came into being and it just didn’t make any sense and contradicts with what we currently know in science. I prefer it when things make sense and while I know it’s fiction I still prefer things to make sense and this didn’t. That explanation bothered me and got me out of the story for a bit. And knowing what they are, there is still scene towards the end involving the crystals, which made a feel a bit queasy. The big end scene also felt a bit anti-climactic for some reason, but I can’t really point out why.

The characters all seem to act a bit off in this book, there are things going, secrets and other things they don’t tell the others, but slowly we figure out what’s going on with the characters. It did feel a bit strange at times how some characters would act a bit out of character, but eventually it will make sense once you find out the reasoning behind it. I liked learning a bit more about all the familiar characters and the new characters in this book. Ivy continues to be one of my favourite side characters, but I also came to like Simon a lot more in this book. Simon is really smart and he and Amanda work together a bit more in this book and they become good friends. Holmes added some interesting tension to the situation and while I liked him, he also seemed a bit too perfect at times, although that changes later in the book.

Amanda has a lot to deal with in this book and she’s struggling a bit with all that’s going on. Her father isn’t the same after what happened in the first book, Darius Plover is e-mailing her and needs her help, the mysteries going on and then the new kid is the descendant of Holmes and that brings all her issues with Holmes into the spotlight again. She still struggles with some of her flaws and while she thought she solved some of them, these stressful situations bring them to the surface again. I thought it made her feel like a real character and I like that, she isn’t perfect and has her flaws, but overall she is a nice person who does her best. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the complete change in opinion she made about someone towards the end of the book. Her change seemed a bit too quick.

To summarize: this was a great sequel with both new plot lines and in a sense a continuation of the plot lines from the first book. I really liked the mysteries in this book and figuring out what’s going on and if and how things tie together. I did figure one thing out shortly before the characters did, but I didn’t mind that. It’s fun to feel like I am alongside the characters figuring things out. The focus in this book is n the orange crystal and while I kinda liked the concept, I didn’t like the scientific explanation behind it as it made no sense. And a scene towards the end felt a bit off to me due to what the orange crystal are and how they got used. I liked meeting some of the new characters in this book and getting to know the familiar ones more. Amanda is a great main character and she struggles with a lot of things in this book. There is a change in her attitude towards someone at the end that bothered me a bit as it felt too quickly. All in all this is a great series with enough interesting plot lines, mysteries and more personal things that are going on. I am looking forward to read the next book.

5 Star Rating
"Amanda Lester & the Orange Crystal Crisis" is the second book of the "Amanda Lester Detective Series" . The first book of the series is "Amanda Lester & the Pink Sugar Conspiracy" . I recommended to read the series of its regular order.

Oh, my gosh.....!!! SURPRISES! SURPRISES! SURPRISES!
This story contained loads of surprises to me.
*Relationship between Amanda Lester & Scapulus Holmes.
*Escape of the Blixus & Mavis Moriarty.
*Nick's reappearance.
*Mysterious murder of the Wink Wiffle, father of the David Wiffle.
*Editta's odd behavior.
*Kid's who turned to Moriarty's side.

Absolutely brilliant & stunning story! This one able to shocked me with the surprises. I'm not a verily fan of detective genre stories, though after reading this stunning narrative, I became a huge fan of the detective genre stories. Yeah, I'm addicted to detective genre stories, indeed. Thanks to the author Paula Berinstein.
I'm not like the way that Amanda ended up the relationship between she & Holmes with the sudden reappearance of Nick. Though I hope it'll be change in the third book of the stories. I think the Lestrade & Holmes will be a nice pair. Couldn't wait to ascertain what happen to the Detective's Bible, the murderer of the Wink Wiffle, How was the Nick survive from the explosion, Who will be the great hacker of the Legatum Computer..... Will Amanda & the others able to survive the school from the catastrophe???? Hope "Amanda Lester & the Purple Rainbow Puzzle" will give me the answers for those questions.

This book is well written and a perfect book for upper elementary students. They are not difficult in the reading and are very entertaining. My granddaughter has really enjoyed them all.