Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a fun, fast read. I could not put it down because I was so interested in reading about how Michael was going to get out of the situation. So, I finished this in one sitting, in just a few hours.
I heartily recommend this interesting YA novel, especially if you’ve been reading lots of heady, complex science fiction recently (like I have). It was a good change of pace.
Setting: This is set in present-day America – mostly Idaho and California. I’ve been in Boise and Pasadena, so it was kind of fun to read about them here.
Plot: The story is about a boy coping with his hidden powers and dealing with a supposedly benevolent organization intend on using the “Glows” (those with electrical powers like him) to save the world and create a new evolved species. There are also some subplots involving high school bullying and high school crushes on cheerleaders, as well as the psychological conditioning conducted by the organization.
Conflict: The conflict arises when the organization kidnaps his mom and some friends in order to try to get him to cooperate.
The subplots are also full of conflict.
Character: This is where the story truly shone for me. I grew to really like Michael, Taylor, and Ostin. They each had flaws and yet either used them to their advantage or rose above the flaw to combat the evil organization, making some interesting and even unlikely friends along the way. I thought the Tourette’s thing with Michael was also pretty funny and awesome.
Text: I found it interesting that Richard Paul Evans switched from 1st person POV for Michael to 3rd person for Taylor. That made it easy to figure out who the POV character was, but it also made us identify more with Michael (if Evans had used 3rd person for Michael, that identification would not have been as strong, I think).
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