Mini Review: The Battle For WondLa (WondLa #3) by Tony DiTerlizzi

Author: Tony DiTerlizzi
Series: WondLa #3
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Pages: 462
Format/Source: Hardback/Purchased
All hope for a peaceful coexistence between humankind and aliens seems lost in the third installment of the WondLa trilogy. Eva Nine has gone into hiding for fear of luring the wicked Loroc to her companions. However, news of the city Solas being captured by the human leader, Cadmus Pryde, forces Eva into action once again. With help from an unlikely ally, Eva tries to thwart Loroc’s ultimate plan for both mankind and the alien life on Orbona. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)
*Warning: This is the third book in a series. While I really don’t like spoilers, you might find some slight Book 1 and Book 2 spoilers in this review.*
I LOVE this series and I want to gush about it all day, but since this is the final book in the series, I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want to spoil anyone. So I’m just going to write a mini review where I share some of my notes. But please beware, there are a few spoilers in this review. I tried to stay as vague as possible, and they have been marked accordingly, but proceed at your own risk.
- Once again, Tony DiTerlizzi gets some of my Bonus Points for the beautiful illustrations by the author himself (50,000 points) and the map in the back (50,000 points).
- I like the epigraph at the beginning.
- Some very creepy illustrations, and I love them!
- The one thing that’s bugging me about the illustrations is that Eva Nine looks so old now. *Spoilers, Sweetie* In the end of A Hero for WondLa, some things happen and her appearance does change, but she doesn’t look older. And this book is set not long after the end of that book. So I just don’t get why in the first two books she looks like her age (12 or 13) and in this book she looks 16 or even older in a lot of the illustrations. Hailey and Gen also look older. but the way the plot is set up, this is not very long after the events of Book 2. Maybe a few weeks later, but not enough time for them all to have aged 4 years or more. *End Spoilers*
- Some parts remind me of The Wizard of Oz, or, more accurately, the movie Return to Oz (which I LOVE).
- Where’s Otto??? I NEED Otto!
- I love the pacing of information about this world in these books. Each book we learn a little more about the past, and it’s great to see the evolution of these revelations.
- *More Spoilers, Sweetie* I wasn’t happy with one character miraculously being alive in this book. I wasn’t happy when that character died BUT I felt like it was a justifiable death and bringing him/her back in this book was weird and just not very realistic. *End Spoilers*
- Otto!! YAY!!
- I love the complexity of this world. All the different creatures have their traditions, their values, and each individual has their own, differing opinions. Such a smart series!
- If my favorite character dies, DiTerlizzi… *shakes fist*
- The ending kinda confused me. Like the end of the battle part. It was pretty vague and anti-climactic.
- I LOVE that there not only is an epilogue showing what happened later, but the epilogue is broken up into 4 parts, with the first part being several years after the end of the story, the second part being 100 years later, the third part being 200 years later, and then the final part being 300 years later. So awesome! And I absolutely LOVE the very end!

My review of The Search for WondLa (WondLa #1) by Tony DiTerlizzi
My review of A Hero for WondLa (WondLa #2) by Tony DiTerlizzi
Brandi Kosiner
December 9, 2014 at 8:27 pmThe complexity of the story and world sounds great