Nightmare Academy #2: Monster Madness by Dean Lorey

My name is Violet, and I think Charlie, Theodore and I passed our test to become Addys. We're not sure since we allowed a level four monster to pass through a portal after rescuing a little girl from her nightmares. We've discovered the Guardian is under attack and all levels of monsters will invade earth if the defenses fall. The last of the Named will join the other two and summon the fifth. No one knows exactly what that means except it will be disastrous. It's strange that we're the ones tasked with finding a way to save the Guardian even though we may still be Noobs. All we need to do is find the last female Hydra, survive collecting some of her milk, and return through a monster-infested world to feed the Guardian. No problem.

You should probably read the first book in order to understand what's going on. It's not necessary, but it'll be very helpful. The most interesting part of the book involves the dynamics of the main characters. Theodore can open portals as a Nethermancer, but he wants to be a Banisher to make his father proud. Violet is the team's Banisher and seems to be hiding something from the others. Charlie is a Double Threat, able to open portals and banish monsters, but he's uncomfortable being the leader. The Director of the Nightmare Academy views Double Threats as a problem and has been working against Charlie and two others, and it comes to a head in this book. The plot contains many action scenes and describes an adventure through different worlds of dangerous monsters, arising from humans' nightmares. The series has had a "funnish" twist to fighting monsters, but the end of this book takes a serious turn. There are a couple of unexpected surprises that will hugely affect the book's sequel, Monster War. Overall, the series doesn't present anything dramatically different, but it's still very entertaining. Give it a shot.