by Richard Paul Evans
Rated PG-13
Richard Paul Evans is one of my favorite authors, and he recently turned his hand to the YA market with his Michael Vey series.
In Book 2, Michael Vey and his friends (aka the Electroclan), most of whom possess the supernatural ability to use excess electricity in their bodies in unusual ways, are on a quest to rescue Michael's mom from the evil Dr. Hatch and his minions, the Elgen.
Against impossible odds, this handful of teens, with the help of a mysterious, anonymous voice, launches an ambush against the Elgen's most superior stronghold, where they come face to face with Dr. Hatch and his murderous "punishments" once again.
Book 2, Rise of the Elgen, has me so conflicted! As I anticipated, the storyline is very compelling, and the characters are a group of teens who are courageous and good and value their families, all of which I love. Also, the language is clean (yay! so rare!) and there is no inappropriate intimacy. However, scenes starring the power-hungry villain, Dr. Hatch, are a little too vivid in their depiction of human to human cruelty (the worst of it is a live prisoner who's fed to a pack of rats in front of an audience). Umm, yeah, that's disturbing. For that reason, I'm not going to let my 11-year-old daughter read this book, and I don't recommend it for tweens at all.
But I admit, I myself really want to read the next installment! See what I mean about conflicted? You'll have to make your own call, as always ;)
Rated PG-13 for violence, including the rat scene mentioned above, and allusions to and some depiction of torture, both physical and psychological.
clean books, books that are clean, clean books for teens, clean reads
