Return of the Queen

Gr 4–8—Each hero in this manga series has had a mirrored adversary, avatar spirit, piece of jewelry, love interest, or moment of truth, and the rote formulae click into their final notches, with everyone getting a requisite power upgrade and splash page. It's all very pro-forma, and the heroic beats clang hollowly as they ring out from the most ordinary of personal revelations and reconciliations. The illustrations in this final installment have steadied in quality compared to some sparse, rushed earlier volumes and provide a satisfactory spectacle of clashing dragons and elemental forces. Yet they can't distract from the humdrum characterizations. The leads are the least convincing 12-year-olds ever, and the narrative ends with them returning to the normal world to compete in a battle of the bands—a piece of tone-deaf 1980s triumphalism that beggars belief. Ho, and indeed, hum.