The Cobra King of Kathmandu (Children of the Lamp Series #3) Book

Djinn twins John and Philippa Gaunt are on the trail of another magical mystery. As they travel from New York to London to Nepal to India on a whirlwind adventure, the twins try to help their friend Dybbuk find out who murdered his best friend using the venomous snakebite of the king cobra. All too soon John and Philippa find themselves caught up in the lethal world of the Cult of the Nine Cobras - only to discover that they themselves are a target of the creepy cobra cult. Now, the twins must find the invaluable Cobra King talisman and stop the cult leader's deadly plan!

VOYA

Djinn twins John and Philippa Gaunt return in the third installment of Kerr's Children of the Lamp series. When their sometime-friend Dybbuk e-mails them asking for help, the twins feel that they must go-despite the fact that mysterious individuals seem to be pursuing them. Traveling across several continents in an effort to find their Uncle Nimrod, the youngsters discover that he, too, is being pursued by the mysterious Cult of the Nine Cobras. Unaided, the three young djinns will have to marshal all their wits-and their wish-granting powers-to escape with their lives. Kerr gets some things just right. His djinn world continues to develop in fascinating and creative ways. Some puns are amusing, such as "djinnternal mail," wherein one djinn swallows an object and sends it to another who coughs it up. Intermittent gross-out humor will amuse many. Also the complex welter of plot threads is satisfyingly gathered and tied together at the end. But the story suffers from excess: too many scenes whose only purpose is a punch line, too many perilous situations detracting from the climax, and too many secrets revealed but not resolved. This overkill blunts the impact of the work as a whole. Passionate fans of the series will probably overlook the lack of forward momentum and may excuse the predictability of some of the twists, but other readers are unlikely to find a story that vies with all the other great fantasy series available.