School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-The four apprentices of Sensei Wu-Zane, Cole, Jay, and Kai-find that their master is acting more like a thuggish gang lord than as a wise master of the art of Spinjitzu. They set about on some quests to placate him and hopefully discover the truth about his odd behavior. The second volume based on the Ninjago LEGO sets, this pro forma story is built around the thinnest of characters. Each ninja has an individual color and a signature weapon and icon, but little to differentiate him from his fellows in terms of personality or speech patterns. The predominantly Anglo names and the lack of identifiable facial features might aim for a broader readership, but the ahistoric world of Ninjago also lacks what readers want: a coherent cultural conceit or any real sense of world-building. Unlike, say, the LEGO video games, where everything is constructed of bricks, this cartoonishly rendered world is simplistically realistic, but the characters still have holes in their legs like a branded minifig. The artwork isn't able to surpass the limitations of its physical source material, but neither does it embrace it. This level of discordant unreality could be fun, or could be excused by a clever, distracting narrative, but, unfortunately, this book feels too much like it's aiming low. It could have been manga; instead, it's an ad.-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
As comic and toy line tie-ins go, Ninjago may not attain the lofty level of, say, G.I. Joe a comic property that has far outlasted the toy it's based on but that does not diminish its appeal to the scads of martial-arts and LEGO-loving children looking for an occasional break from playing with the toys, spinning through the video game, or watching the animated TV series. It would be hard to say that this volume deepens the experience of the first, though it does expand the mythology and adds a touch of the insidious by employing the tried-and-true doppelganger device. It seems that the four masters of Spinjitzu are quite alarmed to find their much-revered Sensei Wu ordering a full-scale takeover of the land of Ninjago. The solution to this problem lies with an underworld being that puts the boys up against their own evil twins in the LEGO-slicing climax. If anything stands out here, it is surely the immaculate art, polished like a shiny new LEGO set but with a sense of animation and action that lends some life to the whole affair. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The first volume, released last fall, has already sold nearly 200,000 copies, sending the publisher back to press multiple times.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist
