Into the Labyrinth

The Sylvie Cycle #2

by Roderick Townley, Omar Rayyan (Illustrator)

Princess Sylvie and the other characters in the book entitled The Great Good Thing confront the perils of being uploaded onto the World Wide Web, forcing them to act out their story both in print and in cyberspace. Reprint.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

254 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Roderick Townley is an American author of juvenile, young adult, and adult books, including books of poetry, nonfiction, and literary criticism. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and was for many years a poet and fiction writer, and for a time lived in New York City and wrote for TV Guide, The Village Voice and other publications. In 2001, he began the Sylvie Cycle, a metafictional series about the spunky, fictional Princess Sylvie who lives her life in a book.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel to The Great Good Thing. Once again Sylvie, her parents and their kingdom have to fight for their survival, even though they are only story book characters and after all, things always work out in the end. Well they do, don't they?

This time the book goes from print to on-line. A bit dated, but still cute.

[Scott Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book has an excellent book cover art and story plot. I give this book 5 stars.

[Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, it's okay. I remember loving The Great Good Thing and ironically I can no longer find it to read because it's out of print, no e-books, and my library doesn't have it. I found this in a used book store and put it off for ages cause I wanted to read the first one again beforehand. Without the context of the first book, and maybe having grown up, this was a little too cutesy for me. Also the jokes about the Internet of 2006 (from the perspective of someone born in the 1940s) haven't aged very well.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still very sweet, but not quite as charming as the first book. A good "palette cleanser" after an emotional roller coaster read just before it.

Borrowed from MM during isolation.

[Lissa Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another beautifully written, sweet and clever book from Roderick Townley. "The Great Good Thing" was my favorite book as a child, it was with absolute delight that I discovered there were two sequels. This one did not disappoint! It was so special to be able to revisit the world of The Great Good Thing as an adult and see the characters evolve and encounter new adventures. This is a book trilogy I will cherish for a long time to come.

[Hello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Townley always surprises with brilliant ideas that make his story concepts tangible and believable. Anchoring you to the tale in a way that no weaker author could. The Great Good Thing was like a breath of fresh air, it was so novel an idea - yet somehow he did it again! and made it look easy. Two thumbs up!!

[Arwen~Undomiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very sweet and innocent book. The plot is original, and the characters are memorable. The writing is decent, and the descriptions delightful. Definitely reccomend for parents looking for books to read out loud, or kids who want a sweet easy book to read.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed. On the other hand, it was readable. Characters in a book find their world in turmoil when the book gets uploaded to the internet. Not even very well thought out.

[Ren]

dnf

The first one is a childhood fave, but this one didn't really keep my attention and was kinda weird and confusing.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book when I was in the 6th grade and fell in love. I was so excited to learn that the story continued. Overall, this was a very enjoyable and easy read. I look forward to reading the next one!

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Princess Sylvie wanted her book to be read again. Thanks to a resurgence of interest in it, millions of people are now reading it every day. She and the other fictional characters are barely getting a moment’s rest…which just goes to show that you should be careful what you wish for, doesn’t it?

This installation in the series doesn’t have Sylvie interacting with readers, only with her author and even that is kept to a minimum. What keeps Sylvie thoroughly busy are the constant conversations she has with her parents, the villains of the book and other assorted whimsical characters.

It takes a while to dawn on Sylvie that life can’t be constantly rearranged just because she finds dissatisfaction in it. But we don’t mind her foolish desire to keep altering the book. She means well and her behavior is mainly for the benefit of others around her who complain about lack of sleep, exhaustion and loss of weight due to stress (a word that has to be explained to a lot of them).

The novel also brings the fictional story squarely into the modern age, complete with uploading to the worldwide web. Poor Sylvie has her work cut out for her. If the idea of stress was baffling, explaining computers to characters firmly stuck in a medieval setting proves to be something of a nightmare.

The book captures the unpredictable thrill of the first book while adding its own complications in the form of a shape-shifting computer virus. Sylvie once again rushes to the rescue, this time with a band of intrepid friends. It’s an exciting book all around and the addition of wordplay makes it almost akin to Terry Pratchett’s style. Excellent fodder for fans of hard copy and electronic pages.

[Literacy Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

When an old book is republished, the characters who live inside it uncover that they have a lot of readers. Princess Sylvie rushes to get to her place in the book whenever a new reader opens the book. Princess Sylvie's mother, the queen, is distraught when the popular book is uploaded on the internet.
Princess Sylvie persuades the author of the book to add a new character to give yoga lessons to the book's cast to ease stress. And when strange things start to happen, such as words changing and scenes disappearing, Princess Sylvie and her friends must battle the twenty-first century cyberspace that is threatening to destroy their storybook world.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to The Great Good Thing. Their story is now read by thousands of readers on the internet plus in book form. It's so exhausting running back and forth from book to internet and back again. The kingom that Sylvie and her family live in is falling apart. Someone is hacking into the web and changing sentences and then black holes start to appear which are dangerous for the characters. Sylvie must take action to save her story.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Follow-up to Townley's The Great Good Thing. It starts out fun, but gets confusing after a while with added characters that don't seem to fit into the actual story and a confusing explanation of how the protagonist tries to save her story in the computer. The main characters were the same, but the story itself seemed more disjointed and not as put together as the first. Story lines and details could have been developed better.

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite possibly the most inventive children's series I've come across in a while. The characters are literally characters in a book that must act out the story. The protagonist, Princess Sylvie, finds her world being attacked once her book goes online. A very intelligent book - I definitely chuckled at the "cookies" she found in the World Wide Web.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clever sequel to the first where the characters are now not just living in a book, they are living in online books which makes their lives unstable as fictional characters.
A bit of an abrupt ending where i would have liked tiny issues tied off as it was the final book but definitely worth reading and a good follow on from the original.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was slightly disappointed by this sequel to The Great Good Thing. It was fun to read about the challenges faced by the characters now that their book was on the Internet, and things got exciting when they were attacked by a virus. But the new age solutions involving yoga, energy and geometric shapes was confusing and strange. Still, I really love Princess Sophie and the blue eyed-girl!

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those sequels that doesn't disgrace the original but also doesn't seem to live up to it. I enjoyed it, but the plot seemed random and it was altogether less memorable than /The Great Good Thing/. Thankfully it didn't ruin TGGT for me, but I will probably not be looking for the third book.

[Diane Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. Continues the story of The Great Good Thing

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one had a great story line- characters literally ON the pages, and scared once they get into the computer. Great story, wonderfully written, the makings of an excellent book for young people!

[!cheerchickadee!]

I havent actually read this book but i have been searching for it for ever! I read book one and just fell in loe with the characters and even the author!

[Megan Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as The Great Good Thing, but still very good. :)

[Time to start reading again · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't as good as the first one. The concepts were cool, however the plot was not very cohesive.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first, but I still really enjoyed it.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

was totally awesome. was a bit confusing, but awesome!

[Glittergal44]

I WANT THIS SO BAD! i love Roderick Townley

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute sequel. Not as good as the first one.