Avalon High

Customer Reviews

• Courtesy of Teens Read Too  Jul 25, 2008 (2 of 3 found this helpful)

  Meg Cabot and Jinky Coronado are back in a second installment of the AVALON HIGH CORONATION series. HOMECOMING is Volume 2 of the continuation.
  
  Will's brother, Marco, has been released from the psychiatric hospital. Marco corners Ellie at the local park to convince her that the idea of Will being the incarnation of King Arthur is totally foolish. Marco starts to convince Ellie that even he no longer believes that he's involved in the foretold prophecy. But the two are interrupted by the arrival of Morgan, Marco's girlfriend.
  
  Morgan has it out for Ellie and does everything she can to get her to withdraw from the Homecoming Queen race. Ellie is hardly concerned because she's convinced that her friend, Jennifer, is meant to win the title anyway. So putting thoughts of Homecoming out of her mind, Ellie is determined to get her boyfriend, Will, reconnected with his estranged family.
  
  Will's family doesn't have any time for the silly notion of the reincarnation of King Arthur, and unless Will chooses the path his father wishes him to pursue, his father has little to say to him.
  
  The dinner goes horribly wrong, and Ellie is troubled by nightmares. Her World Civ teacher reminds her that everything that has occurred has already been foretold. If she doesn't convince Will that he's the reincarnation by the Hunter's Moon the following night, chaos will ensue. Nothing like having the weight of the world on your shoulders on top of all the other struggles of high school
  
  This follow-up to THE MERLIN PROPHECY is just as stunningly crafted as that first book. The artwork tells the story that Meg Cabot has created in beautiful detail. The story is easy to follow and the ending leaves the reader dangling, waiting for the next part of the story in Volume 3, HUNTER'S MOON.
  
  Reviewed by: Jaglvr

• Lackluster  Jan 2, 2009 

  Homecoming is the second -- and lackluster -- installment in Meg Cabot's manga trilogy. It's not pertinent to read the first in this series, for it's all condensed and info-dumped in chapter one. It seems to pick up pace when Marco -- the half-brother of Ellie's boyfriend, Will, as well as their would-be killer -- shows up. Ellie's fear of him is rational and expected, but then, irkingly, that fear vanishes for a while, to the point where she's even trying to convince Will he's changed. This isn't the only jarring behavior in the manga. Ellie's insistence to have Will and his parents talk again is way too pushy, especially since it's clear that both sides need some breathing time before they can manage such a get-together. Also, Ellie's high school nemesis, Morgan, eventually makes a threat so ridiculous and juvenile it's hard to imagine anyone taking her seriously -- but Ellie does, and frets much over it. When you're not laughing at the behavior, you're pulling yourself out of the story to ponder it, neither a desirable reaction for when you're delving into a manga.
  
  It would've been nice to see the bigger threat -- that the world will end if Will doesn't embrace his identity as the reincarnation of King Arthur -- as a more prominent plot point. But instead of more consistent actions taken to save the world, we're subjected to pages of carboncopy high school drama and predictable family feuds. At this rate, it's doubtful that Ellie can convince Will of his identity by the end of the trilogy, since very little has occured in the first two volumes combined -- but, being a Cabot manga, you know that it somehow will. Because of this, I have almost no desire to read the conclusion, despite the cliffhanger -- a cliffhanger that mirrors the ending of the first volume so much, it leaves very little impact.
  
  Jinky Coronado deserves some praise, though. Her illustrations still delightfully capture the spirit of Cabot's writing style, even if some of the poses this time around are a bit awkward. Her chapter openings are mesmerizing, more fascinating than the actual story itself. Artwork alone can't redeem this manga, however, my reservations as a whole keeping me from recommending this, even if you are a Meg Cabot fan.