“Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague,” the third installment in Brandon Mull’s excellent kid-lit fantasy series, is as delightful as the first two, full of the subtle wit and great storytelling that have made these books my favorite post-Harry-Potter magical series. Our heroes, 14-year-old Kendra and her little brother Seth, spend summers at their grandparents’ estate, which turns out to be a preserve for magical creatures. In “Grip of the Shadow Plague,” there is concern that the head of their good organization might be a traitor to the bad side; meanwhile, a mysterious darkness is overcoming Fablehaven. Mull’s style is to write fantasy for non-fantasy audiences, with kids who act like real modern-day kids. He continues to introduce new facets to the mythology (Kendra’s fairy powers, some Native American-inspired supernaturalism), and he sets up elements that will surely come into play in later books. (Two words: zombies. ZOMBIES!) The book comes out next week, but you can pre-order it now. If you haven’t picked up the series yet, do it! My brief reviews of the first two books are here and here.

Did you hear they’re having the Olympics this year? And that they’re in China? Well, then you have the background necessary to understand this week’s “Snide Remarks,” entitled “The China Monologues.”

And did you hear I’m conducting some surveys? Well I am! Many of you have responded already and have given some excellent feedback. There have been about a dozen times so far where I’ve read a comment and thought, “Wow, that’s a really good suggestion. Why didn’t I think of that before?” So thank you for your input.

If you haven’t done the surveys yet, won’t you? Please? This one is for all visitors to EricDSnider.com (that means you!); this one is for “In the Dark” subscribers; and this one is for “In the Dark” podcast listeners, whether they subscribe via iTunes or just listen to it here on the site every Friday. If all three surveys apply to you, feel free to take ‘em all. And hey, thanks!

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