I know, it sounds like the kind of thing you would assign to an elementary school student for a book report, but I would encourage you to give it a shot anyway. I could guess that the target age group the author, Mark Walden, had in mind was 10-14, but even my forty-something year old uncle likes it! In fact, my cousin, Sarah, was the one who introduced me to it. At first, I was convinced it was going to be extremely stupid and I was going to hate it, but she bugged me until I agreed to let her read the first chapter out loud to me. I eventually let her have her way, and she did indeed read aloud, but stopped every few sentences to yell at her younger brother, Nick, who was making... interesting... sound effects. I was surprised to find that it was pretty good, enjoyable even. I swallowed my pride and asked if I could borrow it, to which she allowed. Pretty soon, I was completely absorbed, and had discovered my new favorite book series. If you decide to read it, I will give you a heads up: The first book is definitely the silliest and most light hearted in the series. The rest have much more action and adventure. In other words, don't judge the whole series by the first book. | ||
| First book in series |
Book 1: Higher Institute of Villainous Education
Otto Malpense, Wing Fanchu, Shelby Trinity, and Laura Brand all find themselves in a mysterious facility that houses a school for the villains of the future. None of them know each other; they are all very different. Otto is a brilliant mastermind with naturally white hair and no fighting skills whatsoever from England. Wing is a martial arts expert from Japan. Laura is a sweet but awkward computer expert from Scotland, and Shelby is a obnoxious American valley girl on the outside, but is in actuality a world renowned diamond thief known as The Wraith. They all decide to unite for a common good: break out of the school, which is easier said than done....
As I mentioned before, it's a fun series. However, there are some things that parents should be aware of. 1. After the first book, the language gets a bit more mature, some h***s, d***s, appear in the first book, but in the sequel, The Overlord Protocol, it picks up with at least one use of the word a**. Later on, the word is used more frequently with the possible addition of s*** on occasion. It doesn't get any worse than that. Moreover, the harsher words are used pretty infrequently. There is also some stuff that could be compared to something seen in an episode of Fringe, and a good bit of murder/assassination/theft along with a lack of respect for authority. Therefore, more conservative parents, be warned, but my at the time 12 year old cousin, Joe, read them without a problem, at least, no problem I know of. As an interesting side note, it seems like the series makes fun of Americans to a degree (most of the swearing comes out of Shelby, along with the spoiled, obnoxious brat attitude a good bit of the time and the fact that she's a thief.) This could, however, be me conspiracy theorizing :). All in all, it's a well written series that is impossible to put down.
