Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty.

Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. The idea of the downfall of the world feels all too relevant, and the book imparts a subtle warning to readers that while the inevitable may be delayed, it can never truly be reversed. Unlike with most stories of this type, readers will at times be utterly convinced that Mott will fail, which only makes her determination to do right by her vows more rewarding to witness. Still, the text strikes a remarkable balance between the hollowness of inevitable destruction and the hope hiding within the darkest voids. Only toward the very end, however, does this cause some believability to be lost as deeper emotions and motivations and some themes remain loosely explored. The exhilarating pace comes somewhat at the expense of characterization. In this Rick Riordan–esque epic, modern and ancient worlds collide in a vividly sketched adventure that begs to be adapted for the screen. The very universe seems destined for destruction, brought about by Fenris, but Mott made a promise to keep Fenris safe, and she knows only too well the pain of broken oaths. And she certainly doesn’t expect that wolf to be Fenris of Norse mythology: god-foe, moon-eater, ender of worlds. She doesn’t expect to be able to keep him. There’s a lot Mott, a young girl of Indonesian and Dutch descent, doesn’t expect about the abandoned puppy she finds.

Things destroyed could not be undestroyed.

Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekhout