Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon (Josh Anvil #2)

Josh Anvil #2 is a fun and fast-paced action adventure set just after the first book - Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door - ends. Themes which came through clearly in the first book are present and developed: the importance of friends and family being paramount amongst these, and the depth of Josh's friendship with Troy is clearly demonstrated and tested as events sweep them away in this book.

Josh is rapidly immersed in a series of challenging and life-threatening events as he goes in search of Anton's family, and finds out about the alien plans for humanity, which are less than conducive to his or anyone else's health or continued existence. One rescue mission quickly leads to another; the portal to Earth is in danger of being closed, tensions rise. The author develops Josh's character throughout as he responds to the mantle of power that has been thrust upon him.

All that is good. However, as I read the first and second books of this series close together, it was disappointing to me that some of the elements which made the first story so enjoyable were not as apparent in this second book. The quirkiness is abandoned (apart from some fun with t-shirts and alien diapers) in favour of an action-driven storyline. Crisis situations began to come and go every other chapter. While it was a wild ride at first, after a while as a reader I began to feel a little punch-drunk. I found myself wishing that swift dose of this or that power would not resolve things for Josh. The plot felt rushed and unnecessarily compressed. The different worlds became indistinguishable in my imagination.

So for fun and action I'd give this story 4.5 stars, but I felt the nature of the plot held the story back from reaching its true potential. 4 stars overall, recommended. I look forward to whatever is next for Josh Anvil in this exciting series!

Review:
Warning: May contain spoilers for Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door

As a fledgeling reviewer, it's always hard for me to review the sequel of a book I liked, mostly because I don't know how to review it.
Do I compare it to the first book or do I review it as a book indepent from its predecessor? Do I rate the story based on how well it ties in with the first book or how good of a standalone tale it tells?

Fortunately, in reviewing Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon, I didn't have that kind of problem. The second book of the Cypress Door series, instead of hanging onto the plot and lore of the first, uses it as a leaping point to launch into a whole new story.
This is a mixed bag of sorts, Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon brings a lot of new things to the series but it also left behind a lot of aspects that so enchanted me in the first book.

Fortunately for me, the lovable characters aren’t one of the things that the book chooses to leave behind. The book started where the first one left off, with Josh and Troy finding themselves in an alien world in search of Anton’s family.
Okay, the one thing that I really loved about the main characters is how the author portrayed their friendship. In the first book, it was made obvious that Josh and Troy are best friends, but it is only in the second book that we see just how deep their friendship goes.

Josh and Troy have that easygoing sort of friendship that is portrayed so rarely in books nowadays. Usually when I read a book featuring two friends, it’s usually about Outcast Girl with her Bitchy Fair-weather Friend (found in most YA books I’ve read) or Super-Speshul MC and his Sidekick-Whatsisname, but in Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon, the author treats the characters as if they’re more than hanger-ons to the hero.

While the book makes it clear that Josh is the main character, the other main characters didn’t feel as if they’ve been shoved to the side in favor of Josh.

I liked how Josh developed as a character throughout the story. Because of the powers that he received in the first book, Josh becomes more than a little arrogant and brash, believing himself to be all-powerful—a belief that brings about catastrophic results. It was interesting to see how Josh progressed from a kid who couldn’t care less about saving the alien world he landed in, to someone willing to fight for his friends and their homeworld.

That said, while I loved the two main characters, there are people in the story that I take issues with.

Namely, Anton and his family.

While helping their friend find his lost son is a central plot point at the beginning of the book, the plot began to feel forced and contrived after Josh and friends finally found Marty, Anton’s long lost son.
It soon became a game of “Find X for me and I’ll do Y for you” as evidenced by the whole Find Anton’s son -> Find Anton’s Wife -> Find Anton’s Child chain of events that comprised half of the plot in Pivotal Weapon.
After they found Marty, they’re supposed to go on a quest to find the missus, then go a quest to find the missing child…you get the idea.

It all felt very forced.

Once the plot got over that bump on the road, however, it was pretty smooth sailing. The pacing is actually quite decent and it’s got enough action to keep it flowing easily. It became quite fun to read, especially in the last few chapters.
I particularly liked how the author tied in elements from first book into this one: the cypress trees, Josh and Troy’s powers and as well as the introduction of several new characters

However, by the end of the book, I realized that there was a lack of permanent consequences throughout the story. Every time Josh makes a mistake, it is immediately remedied or of no serious consequence.
It made it feel as if Josh’s errors had no real bearing or weight at all. I’m not asking for a character death or anything, but seeing a character having to pay for a flaw or a fault or a wrong judgment call makes it feel more real, at least for me. If we’re to put the faith of entire worlds on a teenager’s shoulders, I’d have expected that that kind of burden and responsibility to have made a lot more impact on both boy and worlds.

Speaking of those worlds, another thing that I’d like to bring up is the world-building. Pivotal Weapon is set in an alien world, but for me, it didn’t feel very alien.
Even the aliens felt a little too human; they had the same family structure as us, looked the same except for the fact that they were smaller than the average human, etc, etc. Unlike in Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door, I didn’t feel like I was stepping into a new world. It felt more like I was walking around in the same world but everyone was walking around in brightly colored-costumes.

To summarize, I liked this book; it’s got characters I could root for and a fairly decent plot (excluding that parts I mentioned earlier, of course), the world-building could use more work but it’s an overall good read. I liked it, but not as much as I liked the first one. It still had that sense of magic-and-mystery-and-good-fun that Cypress Door had, but not in as much amounts. It did a lot of new things some I liked, others I did not.

Final rating: 3.5 stars
Recommended.

This review can also be found at A Life Between the Pages