Spark and the Grand Sleuth

League of Ursus #2

by Robert Repino

An army of toys. A menacing threat. A thrilling adventure.

Spark may be a cute and cuddly teddy bear, but she’s also a fierce protector. After rescuing her human owner - a budding young filmmaker named Loretta - from a hideous monster, everything seems to be returning to normal in their quiet household.

But then Spark is summoned before the mysterious Grand Sleuth, the high council of teddy bears, who task her with a dangerous locating the portal to the monster’s domain. During her daring search, Spark discovers a terrible secret. To keep Loretta and their whole town safe, she must enlist the help of her loyal toy friends and team up with an unexpected ally.

As the menace grows, Spark realizes that Loretta has a hidden power that may be the key to saving them all....

Genres: Middle Grade

Audible Audio

Published March 24, 2021

About the author

Robert Repino grew up in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Peace Corps (Grenada 2000–2002), he earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Emerson College. His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize among other awards, and has appeared in The Literary Review, Night Train, Hobart, Juked, Word Riot, The Furnace Review, The Coachella Review, JMWW, and the anthology Brevity and Echo (Rose Metal Press). Repino is the pitcher for the Oxford University Press softball team and quarterback for the flag football team, but his business card says that he’s an Editor. His debut novel Mort(e), a science fiction story about a war between animals and humans, was published by Soho Press in 2015. His novella Leap High Yahoo was published as an Amazon Kindle Single later that year.

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Spark and the Grand Sleuth is the second book in a new, fantasy adventure series by Robert Repino.
Although I haven't read the first book, this book gave enough snippets of information that I could get the gist of what had happened in book one.
Spark is a Teddy, and no ordinary Teddy but a protector of his owner. Spark receives an urgent message from the Grand Sleuth requesting her to join them to resolve a mystery. Spark goes in search of uncovering the mystery with the help of other stuffed toys and teddies.
Spark learns valuable lessons in this story about not only staying true to your team and friends but in staying true to yourself too.
Can Spark and her team defend and save the town and her owner and protect them from monsters? Read to find out in this thrilling and un-put-downable book.

[Louize · Rating 4 out of 5]

...
Action-packed and suspenseful!
Read the full review from The Page Walker.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Quirk Books through NetGalley.
This sequel adds to the adventure from the first book. Spark gets a visit from the Grand Sleuth's messenger to begin the story. She has been summoned to join them. This begins the new adventures for this group of teddy bears and other stuffed animals. While moving forward with new situations, Repino keeps the plot true to the happenings in the first book. Readers will accompany Spark as she attempts to solve a mystery for the Grand Sleuth and then solve other mysteries to remain true to herself and her team. In the end, they save the town, save Spark's dusa, Loretta, and send the monsters through a portal to another place. And, manage to make it to the film festival to celebrate with each other and the children in their lives.
The chapters are shorter with easy to follow text for middle grade readers. Some of the twists are obvious but allow readers to draw their own conclusions. Readers will be delighted by the battle at the end and recognize some valuable lessons woven through the story.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

This book was around 3.5 stars for me. I didn't realize this was the second book in a series so I was unfamiliar with the characters going in so that shaped my experience.

There's a lot of context in the book about characters introduced in the previous book and the monsters they faced so if like me you missed the first book you still have an idea of what's going on. That being said for a middle-grade book it felt like there were so many characters! Some are toys and some are kids and some are monsters and I did some flipping back and fourth to try to remember who was who. The vocabulary is also a little higher than what I would expect for standard middle-grade stuff and is a step up from other chapter books, which may be hard for some kids.

That being said the story was intriguing. Things move quickly and the book dives into a fascinating question about what happens when you can't trust your heroes and you have to save yourself and your loved ones. It's an action-packed read about bears, sock monkeys, monsters, and kids making movies.

Overall an interesting find.