School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Pandora and her friends continue their quest to recover the evils that were accidentally released from her box. Here, the young protagonists travel to Egypt to track down vanity. Along the way, they encounter sea storms, helpful dolphins, ancient tombs, and a caravan of wonders, all the while being threatened by the plotting goddess Hera. Although set in classical times, this fantasy reads more like a current-day adolescent adventure. The characters use contemporary teenage idioms, making the text accessible to readers, and a glossary of gods, historical figures, and other relevant terms is provided. Classical Greek and Egyptian religion and history tread lightly in the story's background, and certain elements have been modernized (Pandy uses a conch shell much like a cell phone). Action is balanced with dialogue and description, and a tongue-in-cheek tone casts a whimsical light upon the overall events. Less successful are brief scenes depicting sword-wielding Arab men who spout sexist remarks, seemingly reinforcing negative stereotypes. Still, the smoothly written narrative makes this a suitable choice for larger libraries serving fans of fantasy and mythology.-Jeff Meyer, Slater Public Library, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The chick-lit quest tale kicked off in Pandora Gets Jealous (1/08) loses humor and steam in this second episode. Having loosed Evils into the world and been ordered by Zeus to get them back into the famous box, Pandy (Pandora) and her friends Alcie and Iole--joined by a hunky young Gladiator School dropout named Homer--set off for Alexandria to retrieve Vanity. Thanks to plenty of surreptitious help from the gods and Pandy's knack with fire, the teens weather all manner of burns, broken bones and bad wounds on the way to a violent climax. The teen banter and behavior that animated the previous adventure seems labored, though, and a poorly conceived encounter with a circus staffed by multicultural stereotypes serves more to pad the page count than lighten the tone. Once Vanity's under wraps again, the Egyptian god who had been masquerading as the circus's inscrutable Chinese magician steps in to clean up the mess, and the young folk are off to the Atlas Mountains to collar Laziness. One might argue that they've already found it. (glossary) (Fantasy. 11-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
