Christie's Reviews > So What's Next!

As with any sequel to a great novel, readers anxiously hope that the sequel is as good as the first book. With the newly released sequel to "So What!", G.J. Griffiths is spot on. He does a phenomenal job in making the sequel stand strongly by itself and as a companion novel to his first book. A reader can easily start with the second book and not get lost in the story.
Griffiths is so descriptive in his writing that you'd think he'd been writing novels for years and years, but this is only his third novel. He does a wonderful job closing the holes of all the characters' and their side stories, so you're not left wondering what happened with certain people and their dilemmas. His character development is fantastic, and you get a real sense of who everyone is in the book; they really come to life.
Griffiths is a UK writer and therefore writes what he knows...life in the UK. For a US reader, such as myself, some of what he wrote, I wasn't familiar with such as the different dialects, different slang, and the way schools are run (as is seen in the first book). Fortunately, all of that can easily be deciphered. The author writes well enough, where it's easy to figure things out if you're not used to it. I really appreciate the author's way of leaving profanity blank except for the first and last letters. I quickly discovered that the profanity used in the UK doesn't always match the profanity of the US. Parents can rest easy with letting their kids read this book.
While the writing style of Griffiths was wonderful and the storyline and characters were solid, the first half of the book is rather slow, but it picks up about halfway through with the conflict going on around the main character. I also missed the humor that accompanied the first novel. This book was more serious than the first. As a whole, the book is a nice leisurely read. Perfect for nature lovers and educators alike. You can really sense the author's passion for bird watching and nature conservation through the main character's similar passions. It is a love and passion the main character, Molly, and the author both share.