The Law of Finders Keepers by Sheila Turnage, 2018

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Pirates, family, and the truth about Mo's Upstream Mother collide in the conclusion to the Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling Three Times Lucky

When the Colonel and Miss Lana share the clues about Mo's watery origins that they've been saving, it seems the time is finally right for the Desperado Detectives (aka Mo, Dale, and Harm) to tackle the mystery of Mo's Upstream Mother. It's the scariest case Mo's had by far. But before they can get started, Mayor Little's mean mother hires them to hunt in her attic for clues to Blackbeard's treasure, which could be buried right in Tupelo Landing. Turns out, the Desperados aren't the only ones looking. A professional treasure hunter named Gabe has come to town with Harm's estranged mother--and soon the race is on, even though the treasure's rumored to be cursed. As centuries- and decades-old secrets are dragged into the light, there isn't a single person in Tupelo Landing quite prepared for all that they uncover. Especially Mo.

The fourth and last book in the Mo & Dale Mystery series and the long-awaited conclusion to Three Times Lucky, The Law of Finders Keepers is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, honest, and hilarious adventure that you can read right after you finish Three Times Lucky.

(368 pages)

I have been such a huge fan of the Mo and Dale series for years, ever since I saw Sheila Turnage speak on a book panel while promoting Three Times Lucky and I went home and picked up a copy from the library. She was such a cool person in real life, and I still count myself lucky to have seen her before Three Times Lucky became really famous and won its Newberry Honor. And I'm still kicking myself for not buying a copy and getting her to sign it!

Anyway, all that is to say that I was very excited for the release of this final book in the Mo and Dale series.

Did it live up to my hopes? Yes and no.

In some ways, I was a bit disappointed with The Law of Finders Keepers. The "kids hunting for pirate treasure" storyline has never been my favorite, and I'm a bit sick of it. Plus I felt like things were a bit more rote this time, that some of the new characters weren't nearly as interesting as the older ones. Not to mention the storyline about Mo's search for her Upstream Mother. I liked how Turnage portrayed Mo's feelings, as well as the Colonel and Miss Lana's as the search heated up–but I felt like the big clue that fell into Mo's lap was a bit of a plot convenience, I thought the mechanics of the climax were kind of ridiculous, and I'm still not sure the story of Mo's mother is very satisfying for me. Plus the book gets into some darker stuff–a life-threatening experience with quicksand and Harm's troubled relationship with his mother, in particular–which made things feel a little more grounded than they have in the past.

There. I got the negative out of the way. Now I want to point at everything I said above . . . and say it doesn't matter. Because the truth is that even with all those iffy areas, I still adored the book. It's still a really, really fun and compelling read, full of off-the-wall characters and plot twists. In any other writer's hands, The Law of Finders Keepers would have been the cringey end to a series that went on too long; in Turnage's, it's a funny, grabbing romp. Even the areas that weren't as strong as the previous books really weren't that bad, and perhaps their "grounding" effect on an otherwise pretty flighty series was a good way to bring things to a close.

Honestly, I just love this series so much. Three Times Lucky will always be my favorite out of the four by far, but The Law of Finders Keepers is still a great read. I recommend it to anyone who's gotten this far in the series already (but don't you dare read this series out of order!).

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Hostage Prince by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, 2013

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Terrifying monsters, daring escapes and a kingdom on the verge of war…
Unlikely companions Snail and Prince Aspen find themselves thrown together on the adventure of a lifetime. Due to a series of misunderstandings, they end up on the run, having adventure after mishap after scary, thrilling escape. When they reach Aspen's kingdom, they learn to their horror that their actions have divided the country and plunged it into violence. Every minute counts: it is time for Snail and Aspen to figure out a way to stop the building war—together.

(256 pages)

Honestly, just look at that cover. Does this look like a good book to you? Snail's leggings are truly hideous, and Aspen . . . well, he kind of looks like a girl. Which is kind of ironic, thinking after having read the second book.

Yeah, I've already read the second book as well. Because while The Hostage Prince looks very mediocre from the cover, it's actually really, really good. My mother, who also read it, was willing to make a special library run the day the second book (The Last Changeling) came in, even though she'd been running around all day doing errands, just because she wanted to read it so badly. She finished it that same night.

The thing about the Seelie Wars books is that they don't pull any punches - sometimes literally. As middle grade fiction goes, this series is surprisingly dark and full of violence (a lot of it implied, but some deaths actually shown). This makes the tale that much more gripping for the main characters, and makes me love them that much more for not being like the people (er, creatures) around them. Because they live in a world of ruthlessness, where any sign of mercy or sympathy is treated like a deadly crime, their own behavior becomes that much more endearing. I love the way that they begin the book behaving the way most people of their respective classes would to each other (the prince completely in charge, Snail completely submissive), but then the wall between them breaks farther and farther down as the story progresses. There just reaches a point when you're in danger and it's more important to grab someone's hand and drag them away than it is to ask their permission for touching them, you know?

Snail makes for a great main character, because she's not a huge rebel. Honestly, I'm sick of stories about girls raised in servitude who spend all of their time revolting. Snail is the low of the low, and she knows it. She understands her own position of weakness, and while she may get a little bitter from time to time (when the nobility get especially capricious), and she never loses her own self-respect, most of the time she just goes along with however things are going. She begins to gradually lose this mindset of needing to "keep her place" as the story goes on and she develops a friendship with Aspen.

Speaking of the prince, he's not always the brightest bulb. But then again, I think that goes along with his upbringing. He's basically just meant to be a placeholder to keep war from breaking out between two kingdoms; there's really nothing he can be expected to actually do with his life besides that, so he hasn't exactly gotten a lot of stimulating training or anything. I love him a lot, though, especially as the book goes on and he begins to discover things about himself and how the world works that he had never even considered before (for example: just because someone isn't born into royalty, doesn't mean he or she is good for nothing more than cleaning up after you - she might actually make a great friend, too).

So yeah, I'm a huge new fan of the Seelie Wars series (and of Jane Yolen's!), and I can't wait to read the third book. Keep an eye out for my review of book two, The Last Changeling, in the next couple of weeks!