Mother Talk Review: Dangerous Days of Daniel X

James Patterson has written another young adult novel in the hopes of hooking young boys into reading. The main character has superpowers -- the ability to create things out of nothing and shapeshift.

My 7yo is an avid reader, and is currently devouring "The Hardy Boys" and "Redwall." He's also waiting patiently for another "Captain Underpants" book. He loves to read, and a day doesn't go by when he hasn't spent a good chunk of time with his nose in a book. When he saw that I had a book to review, and I mentioned that it was written for young boys -- he was interested. Until he read the back cover, which stated that the main character's parents were dead. He put the book down and refused to even bother looking at it further.

My husband picked it up and read it through. He found it a quick read, with an okay story. Daniel is an alien-hunter, and the book is about his adventures. He said that if C could get past the first chapters, he might like it.

The chapters are short, which is similar to Patterson's Maximum Ride series. For a reluctant reader, I can see the appeal of short chapters. The writing isn't very sophisticated, and seems dumbed down over all. I don't necessarily believe that stories have to be dumbed down to appeal to a broader audience, but perhaps I'm in the minority.

I wish I could have given the opinion of my son, since he is the target market, but he wouldn't read it. If you have a child, who loves science fiction, but doesn't like to read much, this book might be a great fit! For our family, it was a little too dark.

Check out more information at the book's website.

Thanks to Mother Talk for sending the book for me to review!