More Minds

Teya Rosenberg is an assistant professor of English specializing in
children’s literature at Southwest Texas State University.

This sequel to Of Two Minds opens weeks after Lenora and Coren, heroes
of the previous story, have returned to Lenora’s home, Gepeth.
Unbeknownst to them, their actions in that previous adventure have
started a chain of events that will pull their world into chaos. Lenora
has long argued against rules that forbid Gepthians from using their
minds to change reality. As she experiences stranger and more upsetting
events, she begins to understand that one reality has advantages over
many realities existing simultaneously. Before she reaches that
understanding, however, she encounters a giant elf, snow, motorcycle
gangs, and a trip back in time.

There is much to enjoy in this story. The authors play with the premise
that reality is a subjective construction, pushing it to absurd
extremes. The descent into chaos that Lenora and her family and friends
experience is certainly felt by the reader as more and more characters
show up and the pace of the story accelerates. However, the story is
also disappointing because so much attention is given to ideas and funny
effects and so little to development of character. The fact that the
authors or the editors confuse Lenora’s father, King Rayden, and
Coren’s father, King Arno, is symptomatic of the lack of character
development: at least twice in the story, Coren’s father is called
King Rayden. There are other frustrating incongruities in the story that
prevent it from being entirely convincing. Recommended with
reservations.