SPOIL FREE SUMMARY
Years after returning home, May finally makes it way back to the Ever After. There she realizes that they still need her and have hope in her. But she doesn't know if she can defeat Bo Cleevil.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
May is now older and has tried to move on with her life. Basically she has tried to fit in. She no longer talks about what happened to her (after telling everyone the truth and being laughed at).
Pumpkin is the first person May finds in the ever after. He is still upset at her for leaving. But their relationship is easily repaired. Pumpkin still has his childlike behavior but he is useful, informing of her of the whereabouts of her other friends.
Lucius has a role to play as well. He keeps the group from being spotted by vampires in the city and comes up with an idea to sabotage the bad guys. Also he causes Pumpkin to be jealous of him. Thereby causing May to reassure Pumpkin of her affection to him.
Bo Cleevil makes a cameo in the story, as well as appearing near the end. He is interesting and very chatty with May. He appears to no one else.
PACING
The pacing is slower, but for obvious reasons. We get a recap of what happened when May came home and how she lives now, with her new school and her relationship regarding her mother.
We don't get back to Ever After until 33 pages in, at chapter 5. Everyone is reunited until halfway through the book. There are some cliffhanger chapter endings that help push the story forward.
MAY & HER MOM
It's interesting to note that things have only improved between mother and daughter because they don't talk about what May thinks happened to her. May goes to an all goes school and keeps her head down. I suppose it would have been un-moving if they had resolved things as it would have happened all in the past tense (May explaining what had happened, instead of the reader watching it happen in real time).
But May's mom just feels incompetent. Her daughter really believed she went to another world. Doesn't she need help? Like some therapy or something? Not talking about it doesn't solve the problem. If anything, I could have seen that happened to the point where the relationship between May and her mom was brought to a breaking point. Instead it is just similar to their relationship at the beginning of book one. May keeps her head down.
MAY'S LIFE
So May has kind of become a celebrity because of her crazy story. The other girls are nice to her. So I guess that resolves her issue of not having any friends. But they don't feel like friends, not in any real sense. They have no bearing on the story and May certainly doesn't frame them as important.
In reality I would expect they would treat her like she was a freak, who got kidnapped and abused but made up a stupid story that no one believes. But perhaps that would be too dark for a kids' book? Although I don't think so.
CLEEVIL'S NOTE
May finds a note from Bo Cleevil shortly after she returns. I thought it should have helped the pacing, by putting some sense of urgency to the story. But I didn't really feel it. Or that much panic from May. But to be fair her emotions are put into turmoil soon after, when she learns about the death of a friend.
THE TWIST-SPOILERS
May finds out something less than halfway through the book that shocks her. Turns out she has passed away. I would think this would deeply depress her and make her question going on to attempt to fight Bo Cleevil. But she gets over it quite fast. Although later on when she is angry, she mentions the fact that she is dead to shut everyone up. So it's possible she is just keeping her anxiety inside. It would make sense, since that is how she functions back home.
PROBLEM FIXED-SPOILERS
You would think dying would be a permanent situation. After all, throughout all of the books, no one has even spoken of anyone returning back to life after death. Not even a rumor or something to set up the aftermath of the story.
Basically May's new friend, Bertha, says she has some special potion that will make her alive again. I know there would probably be a way for May to go home (staying dead would be too dark for this series). But it felt unreal.
Like, wait, that exists? And no one said anything? Did no one know? Wouldn't the existence of such an item be hard to attain or hard to keep a secret?
Hinting at it's existence may have motivated a distraught May to carry on. But perhaps the author thought keeping it from her but showing her fight would reveal her true growth as a character. Either way, it was rather hard to believe.
SEND FOR HELP-SPOILERS
May hopes that all of her allies will come to her aid. But everyone abandons her, making her angry and hopeless. But this doesn't last long, when Lucius puts in a suggestion of his own on how to fight back.
THE MAN IN THE GARDEN
After May is forced to go to a fancy party, she meets a strange man outside in the garden. They have a philosophical conversation about never feeling you belong, about returning home. He says that May looks lost and she asks him about the Bridge of Souls (a place where no one returns from). She asks if you cross it, you stop being afraid. And he inquires to what she is afraid of. He then tells her that she will never be afraid with him before vanishing.
This kind of conversation had depth that surprised me. It reminded me of their previous meeting. And although I liked it, it did feel out of character in a world where most characters are quite cartoonish, including the tactics of the villain. Obviously Cleevil believes he is doing right, as we all do. But if that were so, wouldn't he have some loyal band of followers? Wouldn't there be more convincing propaganda than Cleevilville signs?
I almost felt like the villain they had been describing thus far was not this man. Not that I expected May's friends to know of him much. But perhaps they should have met someone who didn't completely fear him.
THE LADY-SPOILERS
The Lady says May will fail.
Wait, didn't she say that last time? Perhaps I got the two books mixed up. Most likely.
Either way, May gets more mad but the Lady always seems rather uncaring. She is certainly no mentor. But something comes out of the meeting, as May wishes she had lived more and asks the Lady about the Bridge of Souls. Which indicates the Ever After isn't a permanent afterlife, but more of a limbo. And there is something else beyond. But no one knows what.
BROKEN UP-AGAIN
Somber Kitty and May get separated again. Which is beginning to feel repetitive.
UNLIKELY ALLIES-SPOILERS
In the beginning, May is kidnapped. Her kidnappers actually come back to help her near the latter portion of the story. They fill the gap her older friends left when they sent letters of rejection.
MAY'S ROLE
May takes the role of leadership again. Three years have passed, but she still remembers how to be bold (even if she isn't back home) and she is the one who comes up with the idea on how to rescue her friends. As well as directing Pumpkin to help her.
She still has growing up to do, as she gets angry at everyone and snaps at Pumpkin in one scene. She even runs off alone to see the Lady (she is hoping for help).
She is certainly the hero of the story, even being the one to figure out how to open a hidden door.
CLIMAX
May ends up alone, with all of her friends no longer able to help her. So she stands up to Bo Cleevil on her own but not before another conversation where he tries to persuade her to join him.
This would have been more convincing if she hadn't seem him do so many bad things, but it was still interesting, as he says he feels empty. He calls her unique and says she will never feel small if she sides with him.
In the end though, she gets help from a friend and Cleevil is finally vanquished. And to bring things full circle, she uses balloons, like she did as a child.
BO CLEEVIL'S PLAN-SPOILERS
Turns out Bo Cleevil wants to send people back to earth to take it over. He actually succeeds partly. It would be interesting to see a world where May is proven right. People would certainly look at her differently. But instead we see that no one really cares about her, now that ghosts have been proven to be real. I was kind of disappointed at that.
CONCLUSION
May wrestles with her feelings of anxiety but still takes risks for her friends. In this, she develops but I still feel her relationships were lacking. Fabbio and Bea don't feel important. And her relationship with her mother is something that resolves itself outside of the pages. Or so I assume.
Surprisingly, Bo Cleevil could have had a very interesting relationship with May, had he been given the chance. He was certainly the most interesting character in the series. A shame he is presented so cartoonish through his minions. But the story basically follows the same trajectory of the other two. So if you liked it, you should like the conclusion. I give “May Bird Warrior Princess” three stars.
