Firebreak
Craig Schaefer
Elmer and Shaddock vs the Castaways
Firebreak is the second novel in Craig Schaefer's Castaways series. In his Afterword, Schaefer tells us that he plans five books. Three of them are published, the last, Rats, in 2026. So, keep that in mind if you dislike being left hanging in a series -- it'll likely be a couple years before you can read the whole. This is made more frustrating by Schaefer's love of finishing a book with essentially every important question left hanging.
The background: The action takes place at a magic school called Saunders Academy. This is a shoestring school: it seems to have five professors and one cook. Students are expected to pitch in to take care of janitorial duties, maintenance, etc. Not to mention security, which is a big deal. We started book 1, Castaways with a group of misfit kids being transported to Saunders. They come from different universes, but one of them, Amy Nettle, is from our version of Earth. She is the main point-of-view character. This group of kids call themselves the Castaways.
Saunders more or less represents the forces of commerce and civilization -- but they would say that, wouldn't they? There is a Shadowy Evil Organization called the Network that wants to destroy everything.
Castaways ended with two Network operatives, Elmer and Shaddock, infiltrating the island on which Sanders is located. They got away and are now squirreled away in the wilderness of the island, presumably plotting evil. In particular, they have plans to reveal the secret location of the Academy to the Network. This would obviously be bad. The story mainly concerns efforts by the Castaways and the professors to thwart Elmer and Shaddock. In addition, we have the typical sort of drama of a school book. There's teenage relationship drama, as well as the recruitment of various Castaways to the elite student cliques called the septs.
It's all competently done, action-packed, and fun. I will continue reading the series.