Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Summertime is the travel season for most, and an ideal time to pick up ELISSA'S ODYSSEY, the second book of the PHOENIX RISING trilogy.

After making their escape from the evil ruler, Kahn, Princess Elissa, her constant companion and lifelong confidant, Gertrude the donkey, Ralph the camel, and Elissa's new friend, Maya, are led across the Great Oasis by the Blue People of the southern desert, to the city of Alhamazar as the group continue with their quest to return Elissa and Maya to their respective homelands.

Elissa's journey home has barely begun when she is cruelly separated from her friends and must make her own way to the seaside town of Gravesport. It is only when she meets outgoing but directionally-challenged deck hand Billy Buck, the dispossessed Count Favian of Leonne, Doc and Captain of the dodgy vessel called Swamp Maiden, that the next leg of Elissa's adventure truly begins.

It's the individual personalities and relationships between Erica Verrillo's quirky, charming characters that make the travelogue across a foreign world of magic and fantasy so engaging -- though followers of the series should note, most of this installment is spent getting to know Elissa's new companions rather than those from the first book. Taken as a whole, ELISSA'S ODYSSEY is a delightful adventure for readers young and old. ( )