Making Friends: Third Time’s a Charm Review

Dany and Madison are back in another magical adventure where reality has been turned upside-down and, for once, it’s not Dany’s fault!

Synopsis:

Something about the state of the world feels off. First, Dany and Madison are sisters attending an elite academy where Dany is a good, if awkward, student. Second, their parents are successful and well-off, having achieved their dreams of being an author and rock star respectively. Third, wars and conflict are all a thing of the past and scientists have been finding cures to terrible diseases left and right. Things seem perfect, but Madison can’t shake the strange feeling that something about all of this is wrong.

Someone’s been abusing magic again, and it’s up to Madison and Dany to figure out who and set things to rights. They’ll have to move fast though, as they’re not the only ones who’ve figure out that someone’s been messing with reality, and whoever’s behind this has become the target of some very powerful and dangerous people.

Review:

Kristen Gudsnuk’s third volume of the Making Friends series rearranges the reality of the world and ups the stakes for our heroes.

The identity of the person who’s been warping reality is pretty obvious from very early on in the book, so the main tension of the story doesn’t revolve around the mystery of who’s responsible for this, but instead on whether the girls will be able to figure out what’s going on before the culprit’s pursuers find out who’s to blame and get to them first.

In this book, Dany and Madison are joined by new and old friends alike, as they discover some strange truths about their world and finally learn where all of these magic items that keep cropping up originally came from. Turns out, Dany’s great aunt was quite the character and had more than her fair share of magic adventures in her day.

As much fun as it was to learn more about Dany’s aunt and the origins of all of her weird magic devices, one of my favourite parts of this book was the focus it put on Dany’s mother. We’d seen a bit of her mom’s insecurities and hang-ups surrounding her weight in the previous volumes in the series, but in Third Time’s a Charm we see just how deep her issues go, not to mention where Dany probably got her recklessness from. I see a lot of Dany’s anxieties and self-esteem issues reflected in her mom and it was interesting to see how alike they were in that regard. Will these revelations help Dany to grow and be more a peace with herself? We’ll have to wait to see what happens in future volumes to find out.

This series continues to be delightful and surprising. I found the world building presented in this volume to be very exciting, and I enjoyed both the new characters who were introduced, as well as seeing some familiar faces from earlier volumes make a reappearance. Making Friends: Third Times a Charm ends on a shocking cliffhanger, so I will be eagerly awaiting news of the fourth volume. If you’ve read this far into the series, make sure you don’t miss this chapter. Things get crazy!

Final Score: 8.5 out of 10

For more information on this graphic novel, visit Scholastic’s website.

What did you think of this comic? Let me know in the comments!


Be sure to check out my reviews of the other books in this series:

If you enjoy reading my reviews, please consider supporting me through Kofi.

Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑