Rounded up from a 2.5. As the Shadow of the Winter King tries to take control of both the Archipelago and the Summer Lands using the Spear of Destiny, the Caretakers and Rose must find a way to fulfill the prophecy that prevents this as well as halting the disintegration of the Keep of Time. With a variety of characters from the past, both literary and scientific, and a new character (Don Quixote), they work to save the two worlds from a terrible fate.

This book was very slow. It took way too long to get to the action, and even when things begin to happen, they happened slowly. Also, Owen got away from using fables and mythology, and did not really develop his characters much.
( )

This book is awesome, I love how all the caretakers from the past come together. The time traveling got a bit confusing at the end, no wonder time travel doesn't exact.
It sad that their only seven books in the series. The books are so good I wish the series won't end too soon. There can be so many spin off of these books. ( )

I've enjoyed the oodles of literary references in this series, but this book even added some more modern references: graphic novels, Disney, and even a DreamWorks reference.

Excellent. ( )

An interesting story (as usual) with some good ideas for life after death. (no zombies) I really enjoyed the appearances/disappearances of the Cheshire cat, and whom we're told he really is. This book could probably have been a good ending to the series, but it's just the middle so I'm adventuring on and hunting down the rest to read. ( )

The Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica return to to go to war with a set of defectors who have joined forces with the Shadow of the Winter King. He is armed this time with the Spear of Destiny as well as the renegades and is looking to build an even more terrifying army of Dragons. World War II has begun in our world (the Summer Country) which seems connected to the war in the Archipelago and chaos is breaking loose everywhere.

Some new characters like Don Quixote join the Caretakers as they sail over the edge of the Archipelago to find an ancient sword that can defeat the Shadow energy. Definitely the weakest of the series though. I found the plot hard to follow and I'm frankly bored of them fighting the same energy in different forms again and again. It's like the boss battle at the end of a Japanese RPG game where you defeat it and then it goes ha ha ha and morphs into another form. Only this is the fourth book now and it's like there no original ideas... ( )