Ferrets and Ferreting Out: Book 2

Reason for Reading: Next in the trilogy.Nola was right about the new kids, Damiano and Ines. There is definitely something strange going on with them and now they have started to avoid her and she is determined to find out just what is going on. Otherwise Nola continues to live her ordinary hectic life, being late for school all the time, living with a mother who is never home, a workaholic, and acting like a teenager, while Nola keeps getting herself into all sorts of troubles with her daydreaming. Then Nola gets caught up in the action as strange people are after D. and I. and she finds herself in a dangerous situation and finally learns the truth about the brother and sister. And while you may be wondering, yes, there are ferrets. But I can't tell you about them, that would reveal too much.Again, I just loved this book. The French artwork is fabulous. I love how it uses many manga techniques and yet it is decidedly its own style. The facial expressions, the clothes and the limb contortions are all very dramatic and add to the distinctive style which makes this very unique from Japanese or North American artwork. The plot is unique and fairly strange, one just goes with the flow and watches the story as it unravels for us. I appreciate how the author manages to make just the right mix of weird action plot and everyday life. We watch Nola as she gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, does schoolwork, goes shopping, etc. leading her usual every day and in amongst it all she makes time to stalk the strange kids, gets taken hostage by the men who are after them, has near death accidents and is remarkably saved, etc. Even when she is bored Nola is never dull. And the ferrets are an interesting concept. Very briefly and confusingly inserted in book 1, we get a much bigger explanation and view of them here. Just what is the story here? Damiano and Inez or the ferrets? Are they related? Some questions running through my head as I anticipate reading the final volume.

In this volume we finally find out exactly who Damiano and Ines really are and what the truth is behind Alta Donna. Nola is still the girl we got to know in the first book, a little bit loopy, fun and not as honest with her parents as she should be. Damiano and Ines are ignoring Nola since the incident that ended the previous book, but Nola can't stay away. She needs to know what's going on.

In this one Nola made me a little bit nuts at times and I was very glad that Damiano finally told her the truth b/c she was definitely making me a little crazy. Although there did come a point where I was like "why do you even bother trying to keep secrets."

I was a little bit sad that we didn't get to know Pumpkin and Killian better. I also wondered if Nola's mom being a little bit absentee was a function of Alta Donna since it plaid into the story so well.

I will say in it's favor that I never would have figured out who Ines and Damiano really were. That was a great surprise and I was pretty happy with it. I wouldn't have come up with the explanation of how the town worked either. It's been a while since a book surprised me like that.

Not my favorite volume of the story but not my least favorite either. Illustrations were still pretty awesome.