The Caravan at the Edge of Doom: Foul Prophecy: A funny, magical, action-packed adventure, new for 2022 for kids 9-12!

A brilliant sequel. I’ve just finished reading it with my Year 5 class who loved it even more than the first book in the series. We are now eagerly awaiting the next instalment!

My 9 year old has been waiting eagerly for this book ever since we finished the first in the series. I pre-ordered and she devoured it in 2 sittings! We read the first book together and I was really struck by the humour (we both giggled our way through it), the wonderful characters and the life lessons Harley learns along the way. Really defies stereotypes and is just so funny - Jazz cats, a monster fish that winks and a transcendental pipe wrench of destiny! The pictures are stunning too. My daughter is already begging me for book 3!

This is a fantastic 2nd book of the Caravan at the edge of Doom series. My 9 year old son didn’t want to put the book down. Jim Beckett is a fabulous author and knows how to capture a child’s imagination. We are waiting with great anticipation for the next one…

I love this book series. It manages to be brilliantly funny whilst holding a positive message for young readers. My son can't wait for the next one.

Second volume in the 'Caravan on the edge of doom' series of fantasy books for younger readers. Or urban fantasy as we older ones would say. Since it's real world based with the fantastical intruding on that.Recommended for nine to twelve year olds. It does deal with death, but not in any manner that is emotional or morbid, so nobody should get upset by it. Although you will probably be better off reading the first book 'The caravan on the edge of doom', to get the most out of this one. It might work as a jumping on point as it's not hard to pick things up. I think you'd be better off with book one though.Lead character is twelve year old Harley, who narrates in the first person. The book runs 331 pages. Has four parts. And thirty one chapters. There are also occasional illustrations. Which are a little more artistic than comedic, and that might be why I quite liked them.Harley has to now balance her normal life with her duties of getting people to the afterlife. And being a legendary hero in the land of the dead. But when her best friend gets stuck there, she has to go back. There are new issues to deal with...Readable once again. The print is a good size to allow for that being easy, and the writing does flow very nicely. Although it is billed as comic it's one of those with a good situation where occasional character comedy does come out of that. Rather than cheap jokes dominating things. Which is as this kind of writing should be.This does rather underuse supporting characters from the first one. The focus of the plot is more firmly on Harley here. It is a little difficult at times to see where it's going in the first half. There being something she's aiming for, but things keep happening instead. These encounters do end up being pretty good though. And the ultimate character arc and life lessons do work out nicely. The latter never being overstated either. Which is nice.One new character is really good, and helps with the life lessons bit I mentioned. Come the final third the plot does rather kick into strong gear and you can see it knew where it was going all along. Making for a satisfying and quite clever resolution. Which is even smarter than I initially thought.This is relatively self contained, but a final page scene does set up more potential story. I would be up for it should that come to pass. Because this is a nice little series, very original, and a good read each time so far.