Note: I am aware I have not posted my review for book four yet. I had it written but I must have accidentally deleted it, because it's nowhere to be found even in my "Trash" folder of Blogger. So for now you'll have to do without my review of book four, I'll eventually go back to re-read and re-review it but that'll be a while away. Apologies for the inconvenience!
Somehow I'm already at book five of the first arc? Past the halfway point? Time flies. Anyways, spoilers ahead.
The kids travel to the Hundred Isles, an island-based region of Erdas where they hope to meet up with Mulop the Octopus in order to retrieve his totem. But the enemy forces are always near, there's a traitor in the main group's midst and worse yet, Gerathon is working hard to free Kovo the Great Ape, which would turn the tide of war in favor of the enemy.
Not quite sure, but I think that this is the Spirit Animals book I was the least enthused by so far. Please keep in mind, in no way is this a bad book. The last few just...haven't been up to the same quality as the first three were if you ask me. I'm feeling slightly more detached from the characters with each installment that seems to pass since book three. I've (as of writing this review) read up to book six, and the issue persists there as well.
I'm not sure what's causing this, but I just am not as into the series as I used to be. Maybe it's the constant change in authors with each books, maybe it's this book's setting being one at sea (I'm not a big fan of oceans), maybe it's Mulop being a rather underwhelming character, maybe it's the books starting to feel a tad repetitive (each one is basically just a quest to get a certain totem from a Great Animal before the Conquerors can obtain it), maybe it's the villains (outside of Gerathon and maybe Kovo) not being the most engaging...
There's a lot of things going on in these books and definitely a lot of it is good (mostly some of the main characters' development and the world-building, minus the cultural appropriation), but the last few books also just don't quite hit the same highs the first two did for me. Again, not calling them bad and I can't pinpoint a single reason, but I feel that the ones I mentioned above definitely play a huge part.
That said, I was very interested in this book's conflict of who the traitor is and it was handled well. The characters already know early on in the book that one of the four chosen ones is a traitor, leading to trust issues in the group. Everyone suspects it's Abeke because unlike the others she doesn't outright detest Shane (one of the main Conquerors) and believes he has some redeemable qualities. But throughout the story the enemy consistently seems to be onto the heroes, and then the final twist is revealed: not only is Meilin the traitor (unbeknownst to even herself as she's being unknowingly controlled against her will by Gerathon sometimes), but it also turns out her connection to Jhi is "fake" and came to be because of Bile, not the Nectar necessary.
So unlike the others, her bond with the panda is a bit flimsy and she has control over Jhi, being able to force her to do things when the other children's animal companions have a more natural bond based on mutual trust. So like, this is an intense reveal, and built up really well. Definitely the best aspect of this book, together with the climax which results in Meilin, Abeke and their animals getting captured. So I'm definitely looking to discussing how this develops in book six!
Overall this was not a bad book, I'm simply not as into this series as I was around books one, two and maybe three. The world-building, characters and twists are still great. It could just do with more less formulaic plots each book if you ask me. And I'm personally still feeling a bit of a disconnect with the characters in these later installments.
Rating: 3.5/5
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