Subject Seven by James A. Moore

What You Need to Know: Despite some compelling action sequences, this overlong, confusing Jekyll and Hyde retread will frustrate the reluctant readers it seems designed for. 


Summary:  Years ago, a top secret project aimed to create the ultimate solider.  Genetic experiments resulted in a group of "failures" who nonetheless have unbelievable strength, speed and a taste for violence.   These failures, blind to their unusual abilities, live their lives as normal teenagers.  One of these experiments escaped and is now looking for the other teens who are like him.  Subject Seven has the ability to awaken the killers inside these five normal teens, but his agenda is not clear.  


What Worked:  Moore knows how to put together a fight scene.  When this book moves, it really moves, and the descriptions of carnage are vivid and brutal.   The physicality of the transformations of the teen sleeper agents is arresting, calling to mind Gothic horror stories.    


What Didn't:  Moore takes forever, or at least half of the 336 pages, to get to the point.  Each of the 5 characters has a protracted, and ultimately meaningless, introduction.   Moore changes the viewpoint character frequently,  not just among the teens and their alter-egos, but to the scientist in charge of the experiment.  Instead of building suspense, these shifts merely drag the narrative down, confuse reader and slow the pace to a crawl.  The characters themselves are little more than clichés , with the "Jersey Mafia daughter" being the worst of the lot.  


Who would I give this book to: Honestly, I can't see recommending this book anybody.  The readers who would gravitate to this book's violent action would not wade through the lengthy and confusing first half of the book.  Teens who would be willing to stick with the protracted introduction would be put off by the stock characters.   

Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill

What You Need To Know:  This is a highly-derivative, but fun, fast-paced sci-fi book.

Summary:  Durango is out of luck.  A highly trained Regulator, he should have committed suicide for the disgrace his father brought upon him.  He didn't, and now he has to live on the fringes of Martian society.  His only companions are Vienne, his deadly but beautiful lieutenant and Mimi, the AI planted in his head.  When miners seek his help to protect their settlement from the cannibalistic Draeu, he has no choice.  So he rounds up what crew he can and sets off to the mines.  But the miners are hiding something; something that terrifies Durango.

What Worked:  This is a fun book to read, with lots of explosions, bullets and cannibal attacks. Things move fast, and the snappy banter, mostly between Durango and Mimi, keeps everything light.

What Didn't:  To put it bluntly, there's not much of anything that's original here.  I counted tropes from  Firefly, The Magnificent Seven, Total Recall, Red Mars, Bioshock,  and Star Wars. You could argue that there's nothing new under the sun, but that is a lot of borrowing.  Even the title (which doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the story) is lifted from a popular song.

However: I'm a middle aged geek.  I cut my teeth on some of this stuff.  So to me, this is just an old tale retold.  Your average 14 year old kid?  Not going to notice or care that Durango is basically a younger version of Capt. Mal Reynolds and that the plot is lifted from a 60 year old Western.*

Who Would I Give this Book To:  This is a great guy book, lots of action and a hot chick.  Fans of "space opera" would like it too.

* Yes, I know The Magnificent Seven is based on The Seven Samurai.  I've never seen the Kurasowa film, but I've seen Yul Brenner in that Mexican town more times than I can count.  Dad was a big western fan.