The Dark Flight Down by Marcus Sedgwick - Review by Carlyn

 

The Dark Flight Down is the sequel to The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick. The first book was about a young boy named Boy who worked for a magician named Valerian. Years ago, Valerian made a pact with evil for a wish in exchange for his soul. Valerian and boy go on an adventure to find a magical book which has the answer to any problems so that Valerian can cheat death. The Dark Flight Down continues days after the on ending of The book of Dead Days.

Boy has survived his adventures in The Book of Dead Days and along the way makes a new friend with a girl named Willow. He also lives with Valerian’s friend Kepler who seems to want to split Willow and Boy apart. Boy spends a lot of time brooding over his identity as Boy isn’t his real name, being a street urchin, he never got a name or so he thinks. Boy’s new mission is to discover who his parents are and to learn if he’s really alone in the world.

The Dark Flight Down is not a standalone book. There’s not much explanation of what happened in the previous book. I hadn’t read The Book of Dead Days for years so I couldn’t remember all the details of the plot but I knew the gist of it. I read the first book to my brother when he was still a little boy (he’s 21 now) and the book ended with unanswered questions so I wanted to read The Dark Flight Down to find out what happened to Boy. I don’t think my youngest brother remembers the story, I’ll have to ask him if he does and he can borrow the book if he wants or I can tell him what happens.

I thought The Dark Flight Down wasn’t as good as the first book. What I liked about the first book was that Boy has to go on an adventure in order to solve a mystery whereas in The Dark Flight Down, it all takes place in one setting. I don’t think the book has enough substance to be a sequel and when the mystery was solved, I found it to be lacklustre. Maybe I would feel differently about the book had I refreshed my memory of the plot by re-reading the first book and the second one in succession. I’ll probably read the books again someday and have new feelings for it.

Have you ever been disappointed with a sequel?