Story Thieves: The Stolen Chapters
As usual when I like a book I must read all the others in the series as soon as possible because I don’t want the excitement to wane away. Since I liked reading ‘Story Thieves’ I was eager to read the second book in the series, which is ‘Story Thieves: The Stolen Chapters’. It is a book of just over 350 pages and its genre is also fiction, the same as the last book. It is written by James Riley and published by Aladdin in December 2016.
In The Stolen Chapters, James Riley continues with the tweens jumping in and out of fictional book worlds and getting into all kinds of trouble. In this case, it's the world of mystery novels.
I found the plot very confusing but I am going to relate it to you in a simple way. Owen’s life becomes a series of adventures when he discovers his classmate Bethany could jump into books. But because he hated mysteries, Owen Conners would never jump into a mystery. There are too many hidden clues for his comfort, twists that make no sense, and an ending you never see coming. Mysteries are just not Owen’s thing. One day, he finds himself in a real life mystery in the fictional world with his boy magician Kiel, with both their memories erased. Owen, Kiel, and Bethany confront secrets, stolen memories, and some very familiar faces in the follow-up to The Story Thieves.
They come to know that their friend Bethany is trapped in a room in which water is slowly filling and a boy called Doyle Holmes had trapped them in that world. But who was he? How to escape? What was Bethany hiding from them? Where was she? So many mysteries to solve.
How did Kiel Gnomenfoot, boy magician, lose all of his magic? Where’s Bethany, their half-fictional friend? And who’s the annoying guy wearing the question mark mask and Sherlock Holmes hat, taunting Owen and Kiel that Bethany is in grave danger?
The setting takes place in the fictional world. The characters are Owen, Bethany, Kiel, Doyle Holmes, fictional Owen and Moira Gonzalez. Doyle Holmes (is a great detective as he is a descendent of Sherlock Holmes) is the villain of the book and is seeking revenge on our heroes. Fictional Owen has a double role which I am not going to tell you about, read and find out for yourself. Moira Gonzalez is a book character and helps the trio. And there were 9 blacked-out chapters. AND They were done on PURPOSE to show forgotten memories.
"Fictional" and "real" worlds collide, characters spend a lot of time worrying about being products of someone else's imagination, and the narrator wonders whether the author actually exists. Several kids have lost a parent, and Bethany’s determination to find her father is important to the plot.
I recommend this book for readers of age 9- 12. If you liked reading this book, I recommend reading ‘Story Thieves: Secret origins’, which is the next book in the series.
I give this book 4 out of 5.