Michael Vey: The Parasite by Richard Paul Evans

 

Last week, I read Michael Vey: The Parasite by Richard Paul Evans. This science fiction novel is the eighth installment in the thrilling Michael Vey series. Taking place some years after the events of The Final Spark, Michael Vey's life has gone back to normal and he is a college student at Boise State University. A couple of days after his birthday, he plans on holding a reunion of his Electroclan friends, but then they start disappearing one by one. First, Jack isn't able to make it when he and his team go missing in Peru. Then, Michael's girlfriend, Taylor Ridley, learns that Abi disappeared before she left Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Michael and his friends know something is definitely up when Taylor's twin, Tara, doesn't return after having to go back home to pick up the reunion T-shirts. She never even made it out of the parking lot. Once again, they are being hunted. After forming a plan with Michael's dad, the CEO of Veytric Corporation, half of the Electroclan head to Texas to find out what happened to Abi and the other half go to Peru to rescue Jack and Tara. On their rescue mission, Michael and his friends learn that they have enemies who were just waiting for the fall of the Elgen to carry out their plans.

I definitely enjoyed returning to the world of Michael and his friends. Although this book doesn't have as much action as some of the others in the series, I was drawn in by the mystery of what was happening to Michael's friends and I could sense that they were in real danger. While I thought the original seven books tied up things nicely, it was revealed in this book that the Elgen was just the tip of the iceberg and there were three other Elgen Elite Guard units—the Chasqui, the Domguard, and the Lung Li. Out of these units, the Chasqui play the main antagonistic role in The Parasite. Without saying too much, the Chasqui's plan for the world terrified me. It's absolutely unimaginable if the Electroclan don't find a way to stop them, especially because of how the Chasqui's leader, Sovereign Amash, wants to use Taylor for her ability to see the future, a power that she's only beginning to understand. The cliffhanger at the end of the book threw me for a loop and I'm anxious for what it means for the next book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves action, adventure, and superheroes.

Winter Break Reading

 

The first book I read over winter break was All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat. This nonfiction book is about twelve members of Wild Boars soccer team and their coach who got trapped by rising floodwaters in the Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand when they went exploring after practice on June 23, 2018 and it started raining. They had no food to eat and could only drink the water that dripped down from the walls. When news of the missing team spread, thousands of rescuers came from all around the world to locate the team and come up with a plan to bring all thirteen out of the cave before the heavy rains of the monsoon season.

This book was thrilling from start to finish. Even though I knew that the rescue mission was a success, I wasn't aware of all the details, making the account quite suspenseful. There were several times that the mission could have failed, but somehow everyone involved was able to work together against the odds to rescue the twelve players and their coach. It was amazing reading about how they made the impossible possible, and I especially found it fascinating how they were able to divert the water to slow down the flow of water in the cave. Anyone who loves action and adventure should read this true story.

After I finished All Thirteen, I read Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yu. This graphic novel is about Katie, a girl who is trying to earn enough money to spend a week at summer camp with her best friend, Bethany. During the last week of school before the summer, Katie first tries carrying an elderly man's groceries to his apartment. When that doesn't work out, she gets a job watering a neighbor's plants while she is away for a few days with her young children. Unfortunately, that also doesn't go well. After school ends for the summer, she then goes around her apartment building looking for cleaning jobs, but it turns out that job isn't right for her either. Just when Katie is sure going to camp is a lost cause, her neighbor, Madeline, asks her to catsit her 217 cats. At first, Katie thinks this job will be easy, but it turns out the cats aren't exactly normal. She sticks with the job, though, because it's good money and the cats always makes sure that the apartment is spotless just before Madeline returns. As the summer goes on, Madeline always seems to be out when the Mousetress commits crimes, leading Katie to wonder if Madeline is really the city's most famous super villain.

As a cat person, Katie the Catsitter was one of the Rebecca Caudill-nominated books I was looking most forward to reading this year and it truly was a joy to read. At the beginning, I felt bad that Katie couldn't go to camp with Bethany, but then she started catsitting for Madeline and those scenes were the highlight of the book for me. I thought it was so cool that the cats had special skills and couldn't help but laugh when the cats would start misbehaving as soon as Madeline left. Even though the job was challenging for Katie at first, she began building relationships with Madeline's cats by learning their names, playing with them, and buying them new toys. What I thought was most interesting about the story is that when Katie starts to suspect Madeline is the Mousetress, she also questions if the super villain is really evil because her crimes are against those who harm animals. Finally, the end of the book was so suspenseful when Madeline didn't return home at exactly midnight and Katie and the cats had to come up with a plan to save her. I would recommend this book to all cat lovers and anyone who enjoys comics about superheroes.

Additionally, I read Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson for the second time and my review of that book can be found here.