Review by Booklist Review
Readers who would be disturbed by a teddy bear being obliterated in a garbage disposal or a crowd of teddies flogging themselves with "Pain Chains" may want to seek lighter fare as Kraus continues, in an even darker vein, his tale of abandoned toys seeking their maker or, better, the supposed oblivion that comes through a child's love. Finding themselves back in the garbage after a brief respite, three survivors of the opener, They Threw Us Away (2020), are swept into a storm drain and then captured by fuzzies with shredded backs who, it turns out, punish themselves because a charismatic bear called the Forgiver has convinced them that they're bad to the stuffing, being made of toxic materials. Ultimately, a climactic escape leads to a (counterintuitively) joyous encounter that sets up the next stage of this undoubtedly metaphorical journey. Cai further dims this fluffy (in the worst possible way) sequel with occasional illustrations that run to tubby silhouettes with ominously glowing eyes.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the second installment of The Teddies Saga, the bears resume their quest, this time to find their manufacturing origins. Picking up months after the first book, Buddy and his teddy friends have been living a stable, if not idyllic, life, mostly hidden under Darling's bed. When the girl's mother discovers them and becomes outraged, the teddies set out on another journey. Still yearning for the love of a child and encouraged by a final Proto story, they decide to find the Suit and his factory and demand that he fix them. Faced yet again with death and other dark challenges, the remaining bears end up among a village of discarded teddies. While younger readers may not grasp the ambitious nods to The Giver and Paradise Lost, it's easy to understand the terror the teddies face in this dystopian camp with strange rules and loss of identity. Lending to the horror are loosely drawn scenes in grayscale. Like many middle novels in a trilogy, the worldbuilding is lengthy and slows the narration, yet it gives Buddy more opportunities to explore his leadership, question the ways of the world, and ponder why Furringtons seem to be so reviled. Another cliffhanger ending evokes mysteries to be solved in the next volume. This series continues to be disturbing and brilliant in equal measure. (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
