The Silver Blade, by Sally Gardner

The Silver Blade, by Sally Gardner
Young Adult, 2009

With Sido safely in London, Yann returns to France to help rescue those doomed to the guillotine. But his gypsy background may be a barrier between them, and Count Kalliovski is alive - or at least has sold his soul to the devil in order to exact his revenge.
This sequel to The Red Necklace continues right where it left off, with Count Kalliovski being scarier than ever. Yann is the hero of the hour, of course, but I felt a bit swamped by his love-thoughts of Sido. Also, I would have like to hear a lot more about the escapes and how Yann gets everyone out of France. Instead we dealt more with Kalliovski and his plots. The writing was at least as convoluted as the first book, which also makes it difficult to enjoy sometimes. While I didn't like it nearly as much as the Red Necklace, it's still welcome on my shelf. Graded a B.