Jesse, Jake & The Return of Antheia (Jesse and Jake: Book 2) by Ken John

4 Stars

Publisher:

Date of publication: August 11th, 2019

Genre: Middle Grade

Series: Jesse Winkler

Jesse & The Thinkers—Book 1 (review here)

Jesse, Jake, & The Return of Antheia—Book 2

Where you can find Jesse, Jake & The Return of Antheia: Amazon | BookBub

Book Synopsis:

In this second instalment of the book series, Jake has earned his way onto the title, and rightly so. Jesse and Jake continue on their journey to save Thinkland from Zar’s invasion.

Some may wonder why they have taken it upon themselves to go up against Zar? But if they sit back and watch him invade Thinkland, Earthland will be next.

Will bravery be enough to take on the mighty Zar? Or will they fall deeper into his web?

The plot thickens as we follow Jesse and Jake on their extraordinary journey into the unknown.

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First Line:

“My god, Mysterious, what have they done to you?”

Jesse, Jake, & The Return of Antheia by Ken John

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My Review:

I was looking forward to reading Jesse, Jake, & The Return of Antheia. I wanted to read more about the adventures of Jake, Jesse, and the friends that they meet along the way. I was not disappointed in this book.

The plotline for Jesse, Jake, & The Return of Antheia was medium paced. There were some sections that I felt could have been trimmed (Zenden’s time with Ajahn is one). But overall, it was well written.

The characters in Jesse, Jake, & The Return of Antheia were well written. I loved seeing Jake get more attention in this book. I felt that Jake got pushed to the background in the first book. So, it was nice to see Jake made a focal point in this book. I got a better feel for his character and the decisions that he made. What I didn’t understand, and hopefully it will be explained in the next book is why Zar was so focused on him.

Speaking of Zar, I was torn about how I felt about him. I went into this book, thinking one thing. But, I came out on the other side, wondering how bad he was. He did make several good points about Thinkland and its issues (the highlanders and the lowlanders). And the way he treated Jake raised all sorts of questions. His interactions with Abyzou was interesting also. Again, it raised more questions than answers and hopefully will be answered in the next book.

There were some adult themes that the author did try to bring to a middle-grade level. Abyzou’s daughter’s death was a huge one. The author did a great job of explaining of how she died. My heart broke for Abyzou. Her world was shattered when her daughter was killed. There is a surprising connection between Abyzou, her daughter, and a friend of Jesse and Jake. I didn’t get it until Jesse relived Huli jing’s worst memory. Then it all made sense to me.

The plotline involving Antheia was woven into the plotline of Jesse and Jake searching for Zar. The author did take me by surprise at who Antheia was. I had a “Wait a minute” moment and had to reread that paragraph.

The end of Jesse, Jake, and the Return of Antheia was exciting. While Antheia’s plotline was ended, the main plotline was not. Instead, more questions were raised. I hope that they will be answered in Book 3!!

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I would give Jesse, Jake, & the Return of Antheia a Tween rating. There is no sex. There is no language. There is mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 10 read this book.

I would reread Jesse, Jake, & the Return of Antheia. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**