The Vampire Returns - Secret Portal II

by Reno Charlton

The New Year at Earls Boarding School starts well for Jack and his friends but danger lurks behinds the seemingly innocent face of Gerry Fellowes.

Gerry, a former school bully, has been infected by a vampire who escaped from the Human Race Studies Academy after Jack and his friends accidentally opened a secret portal between the two worlds. With their memories of the alternate universe having been erased, the boys have no recollection of the vampire and no hint of the horrors ahead.

However, when their other-worldly friends from the fifth dimension are sent to monitor the problem, the boys find themselves on a rollercoaster ride where magical surprises, thrills and shocks seem to be waiting around every corner.

Can Jack and his allies trap and defeat the vampire before he manages to break free of the confines of Gerry’s body, leaving the whole world at risk of being taken over by vampires?

This is the thrilling sequel to The Secret Portal in which Reno Charlton takes her readers on a whole new journey into another dimension

ebook

Published February 24, 2012

About the author

Hi everyone! I'm a full time copywriter, working from home to provide clients around the world with content for websites, magazines and other media. I am also an author, having written and published three children's fantasy novels and two short stories for older readers. The short stories were created under my pen name of Emily Ho. One of these stories, The Journey Home, won a Curtis Brown Short Story Competition.

I love the craft of writing and enjoy helping others who want to learn more about this craft. I always welcome emails from people who want to know more about getting into copywriting or who are keen to get into writing for children. Readers can contact me via my website here.

You can also find all my books and short stories in Kindle and paperback versions at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Reviews

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack, Simon, James, and Dean all attend Earls, where it's had its fair share of abnormality. Last year the four boys had found a portal to a second world. A world filled with angels, gnomes, witches, and vampires. Of course, as the title says, it was a secret portal and only the four buddies, as well as a few other friends from the other world knew about it. The portal looked liked an innocent adventure to a magical land, until a dangerous vampire named Gore, slipped through to the human world and almost managed to escape. The vampire sure did deal quite a few casualties and also left his mark. In this new exciting novel, the vampire is BACK! Without the help of the two worlds Gore may be able to roam the world freely and create havoc wherever he walks!


Reno's second novel of the series was wonderful! She did a great job intertwining both worlds. I did enjoy that it contained much more plot twists then the first one. It was somewhat predictable, but not too the point where it becomes a bore. At one point I was actually quite pleased with myself because I predicted a plot twist, then I found out that another one was added and I was sourly wrong about my first prediction! The story is simple but effective. It can be read without having read the first book of the series, yet you won't get confused nor get bored if you haven't. Reno did an amazing job leaving some information out, and some might find that disgraceful, but for me it just makes me love it more! The ending was extraordinary! It summed up everything quite well and left the reader on a clfft-hanger. It's a very good method also used in the Harry Potter novels and many more!


The fact that this novel could be read without having read the first one is a good thing. Although it seemed like the author assumed we had read her other book in the series and thus the characters aren't that complex and somewhat dull. If you do write a second novel and you make it a semi-stand alone novel, you must make sure to add in the characters qualities and flaws.

Sadly, this book lacked the "fantasy" aspect. Yes I know, what more fantastic can you be given then witches, vampires, and magical spells? My answer to that is: The fantastic world that goes with it. We couldn't and didn't see much of the environment and the surroundings. You cannot have a fantasy novel without the landscape to go with it! For a second and last novel of a series, this book was very well done. I really liked it and I encourage any young readers to at least read the first few chapters.

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