Karliquai

Cranie-Higgs’s overwrought sequel to Whiteland picks up one year after the events of book one. Sisters Kira and Romy barely survived their time in the nightmarish otherworld of Whiteland before suddenly reappearing in England. Kira remembers everything from their time there, while Romy remembers nothing—and Kira hopes to keep it that way to protect Romy from knowing the terrible things she did. Kira is shocked and delighted to be reunited with Callum, the man she thought she lost to Whiteland forever—but tragedy follows on the heels of his reappearance. Romy discovers her friends’ gruesomely mangled corpses at the exact same moment as, several miles away, a monster disguised as Romy murders Kira’s roommates in front of her. The deaths are a message from something that has escaped Whiteland, urging the sisters to come back. Romy and Kira are framed for the murders and must work together with Callum to find answers and avoid returning to the eerie wilderness that almost killed them. The tale is slow to build momentum, weighed down by drawn-out descriptions that distract from and obscure the plot. Some of the spine-tingling moments that made the first installment work appear, but readers will have to wade through excessive exposition to find them. (Sept.)