The Paladin Prophecy

Gr 7 Up–Will West has tried to obscure his special abilities all his life, at his parents’ request. He makes a point of getting average grades, and he is careful to hold back when running cross country. However, when he gets a phenomenally high score on a standardized test, he finds himself running from strangers in black sedans who have abducted his parents and are targeting him for some reason. His only hope is to make his way to the Center for Integrated Learning, which has contacted him after finding out about his test score. Once there, Will can unleash his hidden physical and psychic abilities, but he and his new friends must also contend with school bullies who are part of a group connected to otherworldly beings from the Never Was. There is nothing terribly original here. The story is long on action and high-tech gadgetry, but short on plausibility, even for a sci-fi/fantasy novel; for example, the taxi driver who has just met Will smuggles him past a police roadblock, gives him an untraceable cell phone, and subsequently carries out complex espionage missions for him. Much of the plot, including the mysterious Paladin Prophecy, is unclear, though this may be cleared up in the next volume. While this title might appeal to readers of Pittacus Lore’s I Am Number Four (HarperCollins, 2010), its length may prove discouraging to reluctant readers. A film version is due out in 2014.–Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ