Today we have a review of Chad Morris's The Avatar Battle, which is the second book in his Cragbridge Hall series. This review comes to you from my lovely wife, who read both books in the series. Thank you, Jennifer!

 It is a new semester at Cragbridge Hall for twins Abby and Derick, but problems continue to arise. Abby is struggling with her grades and is on academic probation, while Derick is trying to prove himself as an efficient operator of the Avatars, all while being threatened by the evil Muns, warning them to not interfere with his plans to change historic events of the past.

Derick and Abby are also given a new responsibility of being members of the Council of the Keys, a group of Oscar Cragbridge’s most trusted associates who together have access to the Bridge, the secret machine that can travel through space and time. In The Avatar Battle, the second book in the Cragbridge Hall series by Chad Morris, Abby and Derick will have to face their toughest challenge yet, finding out who is attacking their trusted teachers, and stopping Muns from altering events in history. They will be tested to the limits on their new abilities, and will find out whether they really belong as students at Cragbridge Hall.

I enjoyed this book better than the first one in the series. Some of the concepts of the inventions in the school that were somewhat confusing in the first book, such as the Bridge and the Avatar controls, seemed to  make more sense as the characters used these machines more and more throughout the course of the story. I especially enjoyed reading the parts of the story that involved Derick and Rafa’s use of the Avatars, and felt that the author did well in describing how it would feel and what I would be thinking if I were virtually controlling a giraffe or an alligator, such as is mentioned in this book. 

I really enjoy Abby’s friend Carol, and feels that she provides a nice comic relief from all of the negative things happening in the story. I did find it distracting at times when Abby and Derick were using the Bridge to access different events in time as part of their class work, and felt that the story would have been fine without these sections, such as Abby’s castle building and Derick’s Civil War experience. Although their Grandfather was trying to teach them a life lesson through these sequences, it seemed that diversions took away from the plot of the story, rather than enhancing it. 

Overall, I enjoyed this sequel and expect more novels in this series, which I will definitely read.

Deseret Book has also provided me with a link to a video by the author to help you get to know him better. Watch it here: