Michael Vey

Author:  Richard Paul Evans

Rating:  4

Summary:  Michael Vey has a secret.  He can create electricity.  In the beginning of book one, Michael's mom is kidnapped, and he has to go to California with some of his friends to save her.  Unfortunately, it turns out in a way bigger ordeal than what it seemed to start out as.  He discovers that there is an electric company building an empire to take over the world- and this company is the reason Michael, and sixteen other teenagers, have electrical powers.  Throughout the rest of the series, Michael and his team- they call themselves the Electroclan- travel all over the world to take down the empire called, the Elgen.

           Violence and gore:  Michael's power is being able to shock people, and throughout the series his power grows to the point that with hardly a flinch he can kill people.  He doesn't do this often, but there is once or twice where he comes close to it, and that doesn't mean he doesn't hurt people.  They use bombs in the books, someone is thrown into the ocean, the Elgen inflict physical and emotional pain to people, and a kid is shot and killed in the third book.  None of this is explained graphically at all, though.

           Sexual content:  Michael has a girlfriend, and they do kiss, and you do find out that they have slept together before.

           Religion:  Richard Paul Evans is a mormon, and, surprisingly, it is actually brought up a couple times in the series.  Dr. Hatch- the villain- refers to himself as the anti-christ, and constantly refers to the end times, and what will come.

           Morals:  This book asks the reader what they would do to save the world, and what they would do to save their loved ones?  And what would you do if you had to save one or the other?

Boys, 9-12 years old, science fiction