James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Little, Brown and Company
Release date: July 21, 2008
List price: $19.99 (272p)
ISBN: 978-0316002929
|
 |
Review - "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X"
Reviewer: Cori Vella
Rating:
Another James Patterson! Two in a row! And again, this one is slightly different than Patterson's usual crime offerings. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is a sci-fi novel directed at children and early teenagers. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only instead of vampires, Daniel slays aliens.
Daniel is no ordinary kid — he can manipulate and create matter with his mind. This skill comes in handy after his parents, the Alien Hunters, are murdered by a giant praying mantis when he is three years old. He escapes the mantis, takes The List of all the alien outlaws currently residing on earth, and picks up where his parents left off.
He is going for higher and higher outlaws, building up so he can finally find the praying mantis that killed his parents (whom he refers to as The Prayer). He decides to go after one of the top-10 alien outlaws, number six, the terrifying Ergent Seth. He heads to Malibu to do the job — but he finds out way too late that he's in over his head.
The storyline is predictable in an almost stupid way, but this book is intended for much younger readers who will most likely not be accustomed to the normal traditions of science fiction. In the tradition of Animorphs and Goosebumps, it uses familiarity to its advantage, drawing kids in and giving them their first few tastes of genre fiction.
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X probably isn't going to win any prizes, but it might win over a few kids to the greatest genre in the world (in my own humble opinion). The more sci-fi fans, the better!
|
Advertising 
