The quest continues as Millie must cross the Shadowlands to retrieve the Golden Vial. Faced with a dangerous fog that seems to change people, a ticking clock, and the voice of Millie's deepest fears calling to her, can she still manage to hear the voice of truth? Can she unite them all through love, or will she get lost in the fog and lose everything?
Ted Dekker is known for novels that combine adrenaline-laced stories with unexpected plot twists, unforgettable characters, and incredible confrontations between good and evil. Ted lives in Austin with his wife LeeAnn and their four children.
The second Millie Maven book opens with Millie yet to discover her gift, but in possession of something much greater: a bronze medallion from the Great Teacher himself. It’s caused some consternation among some of the staff (and unbridled glee in others), because the Great Teacher hasn’t been seen or heard from in a long time. Millie’s struggle is that while she has this token of the Great Teacher’s acceptance, she’s still missing the gifts and powers that the rest of the group is discovering in themselves.
Millie Maven and the Golden Vial establishes two cliques at FIGS: the talented, popular kids and…the rest. Millie, as a part of the latter, of course. The former still see their time at FIGS as a competition. Their next trial is meant to change that. The kids are tasked with the job of going to Shadow Mountain and finding the golden vial inside one of the caves. Only one who is pure of heart can collect the golden vial. Division and distrust will taint the purity you must protect.
The majority of the book deals with this quest, along with some twists and turns best kept silent for now. Soren makes another appearance, intent on pulling Millie away from her group, away from FIGS, and back to her room and her abusive aunt. Rachelle and Ted Dekker hit upon themes of peer-pressure, integrity, and loving one’s enemies. It all comes with imagery that’ll be rather familiar to the Circle and both terrified me and filled me with glee.
At the end of the book, the vial is gained but at a cost. Soren’s divisiveness has cut through just the games and reached the very heart of FIGS itself. Millie Maven and the Golden Vial expands the allegory, giving readers a bit more context for what FIGS is, who these children actually are, and how their story is actually our own. It’s a middle volume that stands in its own right, providing a satisfying conclusion even as it sets up the climax in Millie Maven and the White Sword.
This sequel was minutely better than the first in the series. You can read my review of the first book here. Long story short, I really did not enjoy the first book. I think some of the problems from the first book didn't show up in the second simply because the storyline didn't mention them, but they were still there underneath it all. The biggest problem I have is the writing. NO KIDS TALK LIKE THIS! It actually kept taking me out of the story because it's written in the POV of the main character Millie, but the narration sounds like a philosophical adult. The way she describes things....the way she talks. And it's not just her. It's every child in the story. Boomer is the only one who sounds like a teen/pre-teen and he is a stereotype. Its just not well written. Along with that comes my thoughts on the storyline itself. It is so reminiscent of Ted Dekker's Black, Red, White and Green series and its off shoots that I just feel like I'm reading a kid version of those books. And I guess I sort of am. Which means to me that NONE of this book is ORIGINAL. It's storyline is taken from Dekker's series, Harry Potter, City of Embers, Chronicles of Narnia. And a few more sprinkled in. My kids though want to finish it and see what happens. But they are already talking about what we will read when we finish the third book.
I liked it. It was fine. I liked how it hopped through different points of view. I kinda felt like a chore to get through the middle not gonna lie it was kinda predictable. Would have liked more character development but overall it was fine.
A perfect revival of the broken hearted daughter of the king of the universe. My heart was healed a little bit through this book. An absolute necessary read if you are a daughter of the almighty and if you have daughters of your own.
My kids and I enjoyed the whole series so much!!! They talk about it all the time, and we have a deep discussion on theological topics that were introduced through story. Definitely recommend.
Millie Maven is back and continuing her adventure with more action, drama, and tension that will leave readers glued to the pages.
Millie Maven and The Golden Vial picks up right where the first in the series left off. Readers see Millie still trying to find her place at FIGS while not finding her power and feeling like she doesn’t belong. With friends by her side, she knows that where she is at is must be better than where she has been. In a world where love and truth win above all, you just need believe in yourself and the Great Teacher who loves you most of all.
This second installment in the Millie Maven series picks up right where the first left off and will draw readers even further into the world created and closer to Millie herself. Everything about Millie Maven screams for you to want to see her succeed and come out better than where she started. So much hardship has already occurred in her short life at the hands of her “Mother” and to see her happy for the first time can’t help but bring a smile to your face. The themes of love, forgiveness, friendship, hope and faith resonate throughout the pages and are written at just the right level for young readers. There is a little more danger Millie faces but it never gets dark enough that I would say it isn’t suitable for middle grade readers. Fans of Dekker will notice ties to his other works and enjoy the fast-paced writing and relatable characters.
The continued story of Millie Maven fighting to have faith in who God says she is while trying to learn what it means to love those who are against you.
I bought the series on a whim for Christmas. It has interesting ideas but we really did not enjoy the series. It is not well written and it drags on in many parts.
Millie Maven is Cinderella meets Narnia meets Harry Potter and Hunger Games. It is a strange series I’m now two books into, still wondering if I’m missing the draw, the depth. As I’ve read one other book by Ted Dekker, I found it interesting to read a YA series that I might wonder if my kids could read. I mean, after all, my 9-year old loves Narnia, so why not offer him another fantasy, allegory-style series.
In short, no thanks.
Strengths
As an adult who enjoys the simplicity of YA novels, I can appreciate that this story had some interesting inner dialogue, no youth romance, some good wordplay and imagery, and even a decent character development on a few (not many) characters.
Weaknesses
Oy.
This is a young adult book. Correction: this book (and series) are marketed for 8-12 year olds. In this book alone, we have domestic abuse, neglect, blackmail, bullying, introductions to drug addictions, and I’m positive I’m missing a few other things I’d rather not find in a child’s book. Sure, there’s no language and sex, but I do find the themes of this story to be quite dark for an 8-year old. The authors are obviously trying to pull an allegorical-style story here, but unfortunately, Dekker is better at describing and writing evil than demonstrating the Truth that triumphs. I found that in both this book and the first in the series, I found myself cocking my head trying to figure out the “lesson” or the “redeeming factor” or the “Spiritual representation” and yet evil was clearly communicated.
As far as the writing is concerned, this story is about a girl who is locked in the attic and treated quite literally as a slave (Cinderella). She has to escape to a new world through “drowning” in a lake (Hello, Magician’s Nephew) where she attends a school to learn her powers (Harry Potter, anyone?) and then is thrown into mazes and challenges where she must “win” and she and the other children/chosen kids/superheroes/Christians? have to work together or fight it out or face temptations and succeed to win their way back to school (Is that you, Katniss Everdeen?). I finished the book, shook my head, and recognize there was a good reason it had been donated to a thrift book sale. This is all secondhand stuff.
This review is on Millie Maven and the Golden Vial by Ted and Rachelle Dekker. In this sequel to Millie Maven and the Bronze Medallion, Millie begins life at FIGS, where she is happy, despite the fact that she still hasn't discovered her gift, the Elite twins (especially Doris) are unkind to her, and she is haunted by visions of the cruel aunt she was raised by. A few weeks into her time there, her class is presented with their toughest challenge yet: to travel into the FIGS dungeons, through a mysterious place called the Shadowlands that will bring out the darkness in each of them, and to the top of a mountain to retrieve a golden vial, all in just three days. As Millie and her comrades travel into the Shadowlands, they turn against each other in ways they never expected, not helped by some strangely addictive worm slime. It will take a trip back to Millie's former prison and a reminder of the Great Teacher's love for Millie to overcome her fears and get the golden vial to complete the challenge, and even then, can she do it before time is up? Yes, you read that right, worm slime. This book was even stranger than the first. I liked it slightly more, because the battles Millie faced were internal ones that she fought along a quest more frequently than physical battles with magical obstacles, although there were a few brief descriptions of kids physically hurting each other that I didn't enjoy. Although it's cheesy, I do like the message that everyone deserves love exactly as they are, but the strong resemblance to Christian beliefs make me slightly uncomfortable, and as a person who doesn't believe in the Christian God, I sometimes find it hard to believe the Great Teacher really exists in this fantasy world because he is so similar to God. I think that's because of my personal experiences with Christianity, though, not because there's a problem with the book mirroring Christian ideas. Anyway, even if this wasn't my favorite story, I'm interested to see how the series ends.
The second book in the Fantastic Millie Maven Trilogy is super good and it shows fear, hope, pleading and more complex emotions that Millie just couldn’t explain. She entered FIGS for the very first time! She sleeps in a dorm with Mac, Lianna, and Polly with Olive. They are told to go on a challenge to get the golden vial by Dean Kyra and if they don’t seek it within 3 days they will fail and immediately be sent back to the their lives before FIGS. They go on the adventure and Boomer finds Worm Sludge and says it’s so good but it affects his brain wildly. Millie and Mac get them all out of the worm sludge torture to their brains and out of the cave and make camp. Early the next day Millie wakes up and finds that she is the only kid at camp that’s not up and early digging for worm sludge. She takes a bite because Doris, her enemy, (aka another girl at FIGS) hypnotizes her basically. Millie takes a bite.
Later in the book, Millie feels like she is called to go up Shadow Mountain, and she does. She’s accompanied by Paxaro, a beautiful blue bird who’s basically sent to her by the Great Teacher (who I think resembles Jesus). She seeks the golden vial at the top of the mountain and revolves another gift from the Great Teacher, a beautiful red cloak with golden trimmed edges.
They eventually (meaning the whole group) get back to FIGS and party because they passed the challenge!
I love this book because it shows so much emotion and Millie is possibly the best book character I’ve read of. Thank you, Ted and Rachelle Dekker! Y’all have done it again!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
In this second book of the Millie Maven trilogy, Millie has progressed to become a full-fledged member of FIGS, an elite school for gifted children. She doesn't get to spend much time at the institute before Doris once again starts bullying her and her friends, so the principal decides to send them to the shadowlands to learn teamwork. What could possibly go wrong?
Am I missing something here? Usually when I see my charges not getting along, I don't send them unsupervised into a desert and expose them to toxic highly addictive substances. Like, there are a lot of wrong ways to be a teacher, but I'm struggling to figure out how this leadership team is the good guy. This book, like the first one, contains graphic child abuse and neglect, horrible bullying, a lovely bit of stereotyping about a hungry fat kid, and an extremely cryptic quest that can't be solved by quitting but must only be completed by the main character deciding to "love" the people who have been abusing her for the past 3 weeks. Wow. Great message. Thanks Christian literature.
This wasn’t working for me, so I checked the reviews to see if it got better or not. Another reviewer summed it up nicely: “As far as the writing is concerned, this story is about a girl who is locked in the attic and treated quite literally as a slave (Cinderella). She has to escape to a new world through "drowning" in a lake (Hello, Magician's Nephew) where she attends a school to learn her powers (Harry Potter, anyone?) and then is thrown into mazes and challenges where she must "win" and she and the other children/chosen kids/superheroes/ Christians? have to work together or fight it out or face temptations and succeed to win their way back to school (Is that you, Katniss Everdeen?). I finished the book, shook my head, and recognize there was a good reason it had been donated to a thrift book sale.”
p. 151: I was speechless for a moment. Doris and I were the same? It seemed impossible, but as Rebecca talked, I saw myself in Doris's story. But my defensiveness came back. "That doesn't make it right, though-the way she's treating me." "You are not called to judge her, Millie," Rebecca said. "You are called to love her. The Great Teacher says you must love your enemy as yourself. Because she's you, Millie."
p. 156: "remember, most people you encounter have forgotten who they really are. Show them love and your heart will be pure..."
p. 194: She dropped her gaze and turned back to her brother. It didn't bother me. Loving her wasn't about her loving me back. It was just about loving her.
Good children's book. I was thinking these would be a little longer, but perhaps they are right where they need to be for children's books. Very easy to read with good morality lessons throughout. I do enjoy the close ties to Christianity. I'm curious how if these were your first books to read from Ted Dekker, would it change your perception on the other books he has written? I don't know. Just a thought I had. This was a quick fun read. I'm curious to how this series will end. I think there is only one more book to go, and I have no clue where it is actually taking me. I think we got a hint of it toward the end of this book, but I'm not sure there is enough time to really dig into it with these shorter books. Looking forward to book 3 to see how where this series plans to take me.
I loved this book just as much as the book before it! This book does deal a lot with depression, anxiety, and addiction, even though the deeper meaning is somewhat masked by a magical world. I understood the deeper meaning, but a younger child reading might not. So once again... Age rating = 12+. I think I cried a little when reading this. Overall, still a great young adult book!
Keep reading! Elise
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Millie Maven continues her journey in learning to live in love instead of fear. For those who have read Ted Dekker extensively, there are familiar elements from other works. I like that this isn’t easy for Millie. I like that she continues to forget the amazing things she learned from the Great Teacher. Because the truth is, I’m getting closer to 50 each year and I still forget. The ten year-old boy is really enjoying this series and I’ve enjoyed reading them to him.
explicitness: 0/5 violence: 1/5 -Kids attack each other while under the influence of evil magic. (They are all healed after) -Main character is smacked by her guardian. language: 0/5 alcohol/drugs/smoking: 0/5 intense scenes: 1/5 -There is some bullying and tension between the characters. -There's a lot of anger and hatred between the main character and her guardian. age rating: 9-10+
It's a good story. It just seemed dark at the same time for some reason. I love that she is taking on her identity in this story, as she tries to battle through fear. It was left at a cliffhanger as far as what might be in the next book. I don't know if I agree about the powers in the story, but I do appreciate the idea of receiving l9ve and giving live to those around us.
Love is far greater then fear and Millie is faced with having to remember that as she goes through the trial of the shadow lands, Millie is faced with needing to help everyone else who has been overcome with fear and dread while in this trial.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It was good. World traveling pools, powers, medallions. The worm sludge they were eating was kind of disgusting. It made them crazy and when they ran out they couldn't find any. They fought each other. I'm going to keep reading the series.
This is one of those children’s series that have a lot of questions that I don’t think will ever be answered. This could either make the series great or greatly annoying. The third and final book should reveal which one this series turns out to be.
Definitely enjoyed. I love the truths woven throughout! I’m excited for my 11yo to read the series. Not perfect - a few times it felt forced, but worth it for the content. Looking forward to the next book!
Kids loved it! Again! They always say 5 stars for this series!
I give it 4 stars though. All of Ted Dekker's books for kids we have tried have had some quite watered down theology and lots of self love. I just wish they presented stronger doctrine and a gospel message.
Overall, it's better than most things out there for this age range and still have some great principles and a good story.
A great sequel that expands more on the allegory of facing fear and darkness by living in the strength and love of who we are in Christ. I think this trilogy is such a great balance of intrigue and truth.