The Joshua Files: Ice Shock by M G Harris

So, to recap. During the first book in this series, Josh had found a whole undiscovered, hi-tech civilisation, buried away secretively in Mexico. They allowed for the series to have a thrust gunning towards the end-of-days Mayan hoo-hah, regarding December 2012, when of course the world will end. He had also lost his ******, presumed ****, which, obviously, is very much on his mind when this book opens. I could tell you a lot more, but then you would have to kill me - at least, if you intended to play catch up with Invisible City first.

I, however, don't. That's not because this book is particularly flawed, it is just that is uses the first one as a very solid launch-pad. We are told what we need to know with a quick, pacy matter-of-factness, and so much here is amplifying what has already happened - or in fact negating what we think we know - that I don't expect to get much out of them by reading them in the wrong order.

Josh starts Ice Shock with no expectation of going back to Ek Naab - the post-Mayan city, but some mysterious postcards with cryptic clues written on them, and a chance conversation about a random encounter, force him to return to Mexico, behind his mother's back - by way of Saffron Walden. And almost instantly Josh is running for his life, again, trying to find the truth behind the lost Mayan scroll he found last time, again, and wondering just who he can trust - again.

Even on this evidence I think I can declare the series a success. There is the familiar young action hero, being forced to ignore his mother's wishes and get down and dirty with the secrets, served up again with cryptic mystery, but there is more. Things happen here - to Josh, and to the series as a whole - that we don't expect. Some of the locations may be over-done (wow, underground!) but we go places and see things that do make this book stand out from the norm.

As a stand-alone read, there is little confusion in setting us up - we might furrow our brows about some of the details we find, but the mystery and action both launch with great pace. I'm not too sure there was much with the magic I expect to deserve a book five stars, however, but the descriptions and drama are done with compelling skill by our authoress, and it could have been worse than it is. Too often I see books such as these with the mystery clue only leading to a red herring - this has enough hardware, enough intrigue, enough emotionally pulling hooks that we don't need those, and instead only speed through the whole series.

And as to what the future of that series holds, I have no idea. I can't tell (or find out online) how many books are yet to come - I would think at least two more. The best thing might be to wait til the end, and plough through the lot - there certainly seems to be none of the over-recapping as done by, for example, the slightly-similar Pendragon series by D J MacHale. The narrative strengths would then shine through, the cycle building and building - and the bright PVC wraps would make a most garishly pretty bookshelf.

Underneath the lemony yellow sleeve of this volume is what looks a blandly white volume, but beyond the packaging gimmicks, the blog style narration and non-right-justified text, there is enough already to make the book distinctive. Add kudos and marks to my Bookbag rating if you remember all the secrets, energetic plotting and craft of the first book and want more. I want more, too - just working forwards, not back.

And I hope the nice Scholastic people make sure we get our Bookbag review copies - for which we are always grateful - well before 2012 when we all die. The adult version of this lark is The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott. More young heroes distracted by shady agents when looking for truths left by their kin are in the superlative Frozen In Time by Ali Sparkes.

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You can read more book reviews or buy The Joshua Files: Ice Shock by M G Harris at Amazon.com.

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