LitPick Review
The Card People 2: Identity Swap is full of action, suspense, and surprises!
The first book covers the disappearance of Paul and Sam’s dad. Thanks to their dad’s mind-blowing creation, nanodust, the brothers quickly pair up with a deck of cards, who are transformed into living, breathing creatures thanks to the nanodust. The newly animated card people are more than willing to assist Sam and Paul. However, new and more frightening animated objects begin to chase them. Upon learning that their dad’s old associate, David Westfield, is the brain behind the bad animated objects, Paul devises a new plan to stop Westfield from accomplishing his evil intentions.
Part 2 of this three-part story picks up with Sam and Paul trying to figure out how to find more of their dad’s nanodust to carry out Paul’s ingenious plan. But while Paul sneaks out to his dad’s lab and discovers where his father may have hidden the remaining nanodust, Sam is kidnapped by none other than David Westfield! Frantic to save his brother, Paul enacts his plan.
What is his amazing idea? To swap identities! Using the nanodust, Paul and a card person are able to trade bodies, giving Paul the ability to squeeze into tight spaces without being easily spotted. Using this method, Paul and Jack (one of the card people) set out to rescue Sam; they discover some frightening information along the way. David Westfield is discovering and creating new ways to misuse nanodust every day.
Can Paul and his friends stay ahead of David Westfield’s evil plan? Or will they get caught in the tangled web of the nanodust’s unknown properties threatening to trap them all?
Opinion:
I admittedly expected this book to be geared more toward young children who were still fairly new to reading on their own. I am happy to say that I was sorely mistaken! Despite the perhaps elementary concept of cards coming to life, this story was entertaining and well-written!
I read this book without reading the first one in the series and, while there were gaps in some places, I was able to follow the story surprisingly well. There was a rather helpful summary at the beginning of the book that adequately recapped the first book and its events. While it seemed a bit on the long side, the recap was remarkably informative and allowed me to jump right into the story without worrying about being too confused.
The characters were fun and easygoing and seemed to be developed well. They came across as mostly realistic and didn’t fit into the stereotypical teenager category that is portrayed in most books (whining, being snooty, not liking people, being mean, etc). I appreciated that. I say “mostly realistic,” however, because I would have liked to have seen more depth to the characters. They felt shallow, and their emotions only ever stayed surface-level. Perhaps this was because I was missing something from not reading the first book, perhaps not.
Overall, I felt like the story was constructed nicely and appealed easily to tween readers. The creativity of “nanodust” and its qualities was genius! It made for a wonderful story that effortlessly kept my attention. Clean reads are becoming more and more difficult to find, so I appreciated reading an enjoyable and clean book.
