James Patterson has exploded into the YA market over the last few years. The thing I noticed, though, is that all of his YA books have secondary authors. This time it is Leopoldo Gout. This pair of writers put together a pretty good story.
The back story is this: Daniel X is a humanoid alien whose race is dedicated to hunting down and killing evil aliens. Daniel’s parents were killed by one when he was younger. One who was at the top of a list of the most dangerous aliens on Earth. Daniel escaped and later returned to find the list. Now he is dedicated to hunting down all the aliens on the list, setting as his ultimate goal, killing the alien who killed his parents.
Daniel has some cool powers. He can shape change. He can create real objects with the power of his mind. This includes people. It is kind of weird.
In this story Daniel is hunting down “Number Six.” To do so, Daniel decides to make contact with and befriend Number Six’s son. Weirdly enough, the son looks human. The father does not. The son is willing to help as he dislikes what his father is doing: setting up alien hunts here on Earth, with not a care for the collateral damage this causes.
The story is action packed, but not to the point of mindlessness. It is not simplistic. There are a good many twists and turns. One thing I really enjoy in a story is for it to surprise me. This one managed to do that several times.
It is billed as a Young Adult series. I think that is more than fair. As an adult there are still some plot holes that I fall through that would not have bothered me as a younger reader.
If you like YA, science fiction that borders at times on fantasy, and graphic novels (especially when all three are wrapped into one package) give this a try. It is a good way to introduce yourself to Daniel X.
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