Divide and Conquer
by Carrie Ryan
Series: Infinity Ring #2
Published: November 6, 2012
Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade
Format: Hardcover (192 pages)
Source: Purchased
Dak, Sera, and Riq might be in over their heads when they attempt to stop a Viking invasion!
Hundreds of ships carrying thousands of warriors are laying siege to medieval Paris. The Parisians are holding their own, but the stalemate can only last so long...
Spoiler free even if you haven’t read the first book in this series.
Divide and Conquer, book 2 in the Inifinity Ring series, starts off talking about Paris which was actually where the last game ended and not where book 1 ended. It was a cool way to tie the online games in with the books. You don’t have to play the games to understand the books, but I think they are fun and the maps that go with the games inside the books make it feel like you are a part of the quest.
This particular period in Viking history was a perfect one to appeal to kids. There’s a king named Charles the Fat (seriously – that’s his REAL name!) and an epic battle rivaling Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings with the Vikings outnumbering the Parisians 30,000 to 200. It’s funny how real history can be more extreme than fiction (Helm’s Deep was 10,000 to 2,000).
While I was reading, I looked up all this Viking history that I didn’t know before. I learned something new! The main characters “fix” history pretty fast so we get to read about what really happened instead of a fake past like the last book.
The writing was pretty good and I thought it was a lot of fun. I did find it confusing that as the story goes on, they try to fix two breaks instead of just one. The events are related and it was cool to see where history went from that event, but I did feel lost for a little bit.
Game Review
The game that comes after this is not terribly hard or challenging. There were two mini-games that involved pushing arrows on your computer at the right time. I hate those kind of games. The rest of the game went very fast, but it was pretty fun. There is a forum now so you can complete all the side quests and get all the points if you so desire.
Overall, it was fun historical fiction about Vikings and epic battles that will teach you something you probably didn’t know about history in a way that will really appeal to kids, too.
Content Rating: Everyone. Clean read.
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About Carrie Ryan
Carrie Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead-Tossed Waves, The Dark and Hollow Places, and the original ebook Hare Moon. She is also the editor of Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction and the author of Divide and Conquer, the second book in Scholastic's multi-author/multi-platform Infinity Ring series.
She has contributed to multiple story collectons, including, most recently, Zombies vs. Unicorns, Kiss Me Deadly, and Enthralled. Her work has been translated into over eighteen languages and her first novel is in production as a major motion picture. Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Carrie is a graduate of Williams College and Duke University School of Law. A former litigator, she now writes full time and lives in Charlotte, NC.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
I’ve read her zombie series so this MG book sounds very different. This sounds like a fun series my boys will enjoy in a few years or less.
I bet your boys would love these!
Wait so there’s a game that goes along with the book? Oh, now that’s just cool. A little gimmicky, but I’d be all over it. And it would be fun to learn more about the Vikings!
Yeah, the game carries the plot on between books. So there’s something to do while you wait for the next book haha. And each book has a map to help with the game :)