Review: Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel

Title: Hocus Pocus and The All-New Sequel
Author: A.W. Jantha
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Freeform
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 10, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest death-defying scheme.

Review:

In October 1993, Max Dennison’s family moved from California to Salem Massachusetts. That Halloween, Max, his sister Dani, and his crush Allison, released the Sanderson Sisters, a trio of witches. They have to figure out how to banish the sisters from Salem. In part 2, twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s daughter Poppy also releases the witches. Poppy and her friends defy her parents’ warnings and have to figure out how to save their town from the Sanderson witches again.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Hocus Pocus movie when I was a kid, so I was going into this book without much knowledge of the story. What I really liked about this movie-to-book adaptation is that it read like a real novel. The thoughts of the characters were included, which wouldn’t have been in the movie. It felt like a complete novel.

The ending of both parts left room for the story to continue. When I finished Part 1, which was based on the movie, I found that it had an open ending, asking for a sequel. The ending of part 2 was such a cliffhanger. I really hope this story will be continued in another novel.

Hocus Pocus and the All New Sequel is a great Halloween read!

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Have you read Hocus Pocus and The All New Sequel? What did you think of it?