The Suburb Beyond the Stars

#488
Title: The Suburb Beyond the Stars
Author: M. T. Anderson
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2010
227 pages

Received as an ARC via Goodreads.

I think it's reasonable to give the spoiler that while this second volume in the series that began with The Game of Sunken Places stands alone in terms of resolving the immediate plot points that it introduces, it ends on a cliffhanger betokening a third novel. Brian and Gregory, having won the game of sunken places, are now in charge of designing the next game--that is, Brian won, and Gregory is somewhat testy about this. However, it seems that someone isn't playing fair, and the boys find themselves in a Vermont suburb, built with surprising rapidity on the ground where the previous game was played. While this volume has some of the horror elements present in the first book, it is better read as a parody of the genre, with many of Anderson's typically clever comments and asides leavening the mood. While Gregory's surliness is somewhat inexplicable, it does not detract from the action, which is, though somewhat more superficial than the first book, far more hilarious.