YES YES YES YES!! *nod nod* Yes I like this one, and I think I'll be keeping Misty if you don't mind.



I read a sample for this books years ago on my kindle, but I never had enough money to order it off of Amazon. So when my tio and tia gave me amazon money I jumped at the chance to get this book (even though it is kinda small in comparsion to some of the other books I read) and I do not regret it one bit!



I haven't read a book like this since... Mmmm I am gonna have to say Percy Jackson. The chara

YES YES YES YES!! *nod nod* Yes I like this one, and I think I'll be keeping Misty if you don't mind.



I read a sample for this books years ago on my kindle, but I never had enough money to order it off of Amazon. So when my tio and tia gave me amazon money I jumped at the chance to get this book (even though it is kinda small in comparsion to some of the other books I read) and I do not regret it one bit!



I haven't read a book like this since... Mmmm I am gonna have to say Percy Jackson. The characters were amazing, and not flat, the world was additcting and the villians... Well that's kinda confusing and all but whatever, let's get into it!



Setting

As a very proud Texan, I can personally say there is no better place for an awesome story like this to take place. And naming the head of the Rangers, Lone Star *bows head* That was great.



But anyone, in this fiction version of Texas (at least I'm assuming it's fiction because of... well the people with powers running around and all) you have the Cloak Society and the Rangers of Justice (which is... just an awesome name for them). Then you have all those boring folk that I don't really care too much about.



Despite having different plots, characters, and settings, the world gave off a Percy Jackson kinda feel to it. Just the way that the author described the land made it seem very interesting and I was glad that he made it like that.



Characters

OMG I LOVE THE CHARACTERS GEESH I DIDN'T WANT TO STRANGLE THEM THE ENTIRE TIME WHICH IS SUCH A HUGE RELIEF!



It has been so long since I read a story with characters I didn't want to hit I forgot how good it felt to agree with the characters!



Alex

We have our lovely main character here, a telekinetic twelve year old. Unlike most of the time with main characters, I got an actual personality off of Alex. He wants to do the right thing, even though he really doen't know that that is. He just wants to protect his friend and Sterling City along with it in the end. It's clear that he wants to impress his parents, and cares a lot about his friends Mal and Gage, and is like a protector to Misty. Which. Is. Adorable.



One thing I found myself asking though, is why he was such a good person. I mean, if the main character was Mal (which I am glad it's not, don't mistake my words) it would make sense for her turning her back in the last second. But Alex has no reason to end up being a good guy, not before he started talking to Kirbie, at least. He wasn't raised to have mercy on these people, and I don't think anyone ever taught him how to be good, so how did that happen?



A person isn't just raised bad and all of a sudden, because of instinct or something, good. Not that I'm complaining! I loved the way that Alex's character slowly transformed. Even as a villian, he was still more relateable than someone, say, like Artemis Fowl *gags in disgust*



And by the end, he has grown really strong, which is awesome since my favorite power has always been tekinsis, even before reading this book. So... Yay!



Kirbie

*FIST PUMPS THE AIR*



Kirbie isn't a main character! YESSS! That sounds odd, but she isn't like a huge side character, like Annabeth is to Percy, she wasn't a main character. She was a important one, but besides when they are battling for the first time, she, or anyone else for that matter, doesn't take the attention off of Alex, which is something I am internally grateful for.



I have said before that most female characters annoy me to death, but this story did a great job of taking care of that. None of the female characters annoyed me, not even Shade and Julie. Kirbie, the one girl I thought was going to annoy me, ended up just being really cool and nice, and not overly nice that I kinda wanted to punch her. She wasn't overly anything, which I guess made her more standable than most female characters I meet in these stories.



Plus her power is stinkin cool.



Misty (aka; The Mist)

Next to Alex, this adorable little ball of Mist is probably my favorite character. Right off the bat she is really likeable, to me at least, with her wanting to be called The Mist and not Misty, and just walking in wherever she pleased without knocking. Again, I thought that I might grow to be annoyed with her, but that never came.



She was really chirpy, kinda senstive, but she was also ten. And I think the author portrayed Misty perfectly. She was fun and happy, also kinda sad when Alex was in trouble, nervous about her powers, but brave when she needed to be.



She was like the not annoying little sister that tagged along for the ride as the story played through, and then in the end saved them all. That's exactly what she was now that I think about it, and that was BRILLIANT!



Mallory

I don't think I spelled that right... So I'm just gonna call her Mal for here on out.



Mal was a pretty interesting character too. Next to Misty, she had a really different backstory from everyone else. And her power to control temperture was cool. She pulled through in the very end, and Alex looks at her as a close friend, and she goes to him when she starts to have her doubts about the plan, which is really sweet and I like that.



I wasn't annoyed by her at all... Well maybe a bit towards the end, but that changed quickly.



Gage

I have to admit, I find it hard to believe that a twelve year old can be this smart. Where did he even learn the stuff he knew? I mean, sure his dad was smart, but it didn't mention anything about genetic smartness did it? Other than how unbelievable that was, Gage was pretty cool.



He was the tec guy, one for which I am glad was there. And I'm glad that he is Alex's friend, because then we got to see more of him. He was loyal to his friendship with Alex to a fault, and even driving out of the place that he called home.



I found it a bit odd that he stayed with the Cloak even after his father was killed. Wouldn't his father being killed because of the Cloak be all the more reason for him to leave? No? Yes? Alright moving on.



Lone Star

We don't get to see too much of Lone Star. All we really know is that he has the power of the sun, is the leader of the Rangers of Justice, and was the only one that the Cloak actually feared.



But I just wanted to take this chance to bring up how awesome this guy's name was. Lone Star is... *flat tight smile*

Texas- for one, is the Lone Star state (and I assure you it was that before this book came out) and the SUN is a STAR. It's representaion and a pun at the same time.



Shade

I guess the real bad guy in a book about bad guys in Shade. She is the one that leaves everyone for dead in the end, but I don't actually see her as a bad guy. Even towards the end when she leaves her own son to die with a bunch of other children, she isn't the bad guy. I mean, in the beginning of the book Alex was on her side, fighting with her.



In fact, from her point of view, Alex is the bag guy and she is just doing what she has been planning on doing this entire time, and was hoping to have her son fight by her side.



From the very beginning of the book we see that she is certainly fond of her son, hoping that he will become the strongest of the Betas. And even through everything, up until the end she still holds a place for him, to welcome him back. Obviously, for most of the story she doesn't want to hurt him, but wants to mold him into the strongest member of the Cloak so he can later become what she wants him to become.



That makes her a very intersting bad guy. She didn't get worse, she just stayed the path that Alex was going to follow. Sure, at the end though, she did stop trying to recruit him, but she was proud of him, even if it was for trying to defeat her. SO... She's kinda confusing really.



Volt

Volt was just there. I didn't think he ever wanted to even hurt Alex in the first place. From what I could read, Volt was more fond and caring towards Alex, but just went along with his wife's plans like "yes honey, whatever you say honey."





Julie and Titan

Again, Titan is a fraiggin awesome name. I'm starting to think that Jeramey just wanted a book filled with awesome super hero and super villian names.



Titan is, ovbiously from the very start, the bully bad guy. He's made of metal, annoying, is teasing and braggy, judgemental, and hot headed. He turns out to be a bigger part of the threat near the end, but Mal took care of that.



Julie... Well she wasn't really important at all. Frankly, I don't even know what her power was. Was she transforming into a dragon the entire book? I just got that she was snoody... that's it.





Overall

GAH I LOVED IT! The not-magic-magic was perfect, the setting was amazing, the characters were likeable and the plot got me hooked. The underground bunker, Sterling City, Victory Park, it was all so... GAHHHH AMAZING! I got lost in this book in a way I hadn't in so long I forgot what it felt like to live in the world of books.



Seriously, if you haven't read it, read it. It is worth the, what? six dollars? Maybe more? It won't disappoint!