Katie Watson and the Serpent Stone by Mez Blume (Katie Watson Mysteries in Time; 2)

The Synopsis:

This second book in the Katie Watson Mysteries in Time series whisks readers, along with Katie and her cousin Imogen, back in time to the wild American frontier of 1828. In a world teeming with dangers, from renegade Indian warriors to horse thieves and wild animals, Katie and Imogen team up with Wattie, a half-Cherokee Indian boy, to survive.
But Wattie’s village is under attack, and at the heart of the Cherokees’ troubles is a stolen stone: the legendary Serpent Stone. Embarking on a dangerous river voyage to solve the mystery of the stone could save Wattie’s home. But Katie has a hunch that the quest might also lead her to discover who is behind her time-travel escapades.

I received this book from the author for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

Read our review of book one here: Katie Watson and the Painter’s Plot.

I truly fell in love with Katie and her adventures during the first book, so I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to visit her again–this time in the untamed Cherokee lands during the early 1800s.

While The Painter’s Plot may have drew inspiration heavily from Sherlock Holmes, I recognized several aspects of The Serpent Stone to have similarities with Narnia’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Particularly with the disdain for an unruly cousin and a peculiar painting suddenly becoming real…

I did like the turn the book took towards the end a LOT more than the first book though. Instead of her adventure ending and Katie returning home to her normal life without a lot more to think on, this book hints at a possibly greater plot coming into play that has something to do with her. I hope that I’m right in that we will find her in another place and time to solve another mystery very soon!

Honestly, there is so much about this series that I love. The mystery is genuine and there is so much to learn as we watch Katie unscramble the puzzles. The friends she and Imogen make in this book are each unique and very memorable and their adventures were exhilarating.

Overall, I easily give Katie Watson and the Serpent Stone 5 out of 5 stars! It is a clean book with no cursing or sexual content, though there is some mild mentions of blood in the action scenes. Also, the derogatory terms for Indian used during this time period (Ingun/Savage) are used once or twice by the antagonist. There are also tales of the magical folklore the Cherokee people believed in.