Title: Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Genre: Teen Superhero
Ratings: Craft—4, Content—3,
Overall—3.7 out of 5 stars
Book Trailer:
Two teens try to hide their powers from the underworld group
seeking to exploit them.
Excerpt
from “Chopsticks and Spiders,” Chapter 1 of Michael
Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25:
“Have you found the last two?” The voice on the phone was angry and coarse, like the sound of car tires over broken glass.
“Not yet,” the
well-dressed man on the other end of the phone replied. “Not yet. But we
believe we’re close—and they still don’t know that we’re hunting them.”
“You believe
you’re close?”
“They’re two
children among a billion—finding them is like finding a lost chopstick in China
“Is that what you want me to tell the board?”
“Remind the
board that I’ve already found fifteen of the seventeen children. I’ve put out a
million-dollar bounty on the last two, we’ve got spiders crawling the Web, and
we have a whole team of investigators scanning global records for their
whereabouts. It’s just a matter of time before we find them—or they step into
one of our traps.”
Craft:
Michael Vey: The Prisoner
of Cell 25 is an interesting twist of a tale on the common and
very popular superhero lore.
So while this novel doesn’t stick out in the crowd as
anything spectacular, it does provide a fun premise in the same vein as X-men.
Added to this is a likeable cast of characters with some interesting dynamics
occurring between those characters.
The story does start out a bit slow for my taste, and the
plot is slightly predictable (no really unexpected twists). But neither does it
bore. Rather, Michael Vey:
The Prisoner of Cell 25 offers an entertaining plot brought to a
climax that I thoroughly enjoyed as all the various elements snapped together
in a satisfying way.
Combined with clean prose and a good narrator voice, this
book offers a fun afternoon read.
Content:
As I often find, the content of Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 mirrors its
crafting. So while this novel offers no grand insights into life and the world,
I also appreciated the themes of loyalty and not compromising one’s
integrity—themes very much needed in our world.
In other areas of common concern, the supernatural powers
are given a scientific explanation, and there is some violence, about the
amount and type you would normally find in a superhero story.
Summary: While Michael
Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 isn’t a story I fell in love with,
it is a solid and entertaining read. Those who like superhero stories may
especially find this an enjoyable read.
Ratings:
Craft—4, Content—3, Overall—3.7 out of 5 stars
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