
This story is definitely aimed more at the boys, as is obvious by the darkly alliterative title. We decided to use it as our bedtime book (Paige wanted in, too; she likes to roll with the wild ones now & again) and immediately recognized parallels to our favorite Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. Daniel is orphaned as a toddler by evil forces that kill his mom and dad then discovers he is not
As in his other young adult books, Patterson relies heavily on teen slang and hip pop culture references to establish voice in his characters. My kids thought this was pretty cool, which is fine because they are the target audience, but I found it somewhat desperate ("I really AM a fifteen-year-old boy! Seriously! I know about rappers and stuff!") and it left me wondering about the novel's shelf life - in a few years, Shia LeBeouf will [hopefully] be a more mature grown-up actor, which will make him unknown and/or boring to new tweenage readers.
Another trait I've noticed in Patterson's writing is his desire to sneak in references to environmentalism. Daniel slyly remarks about pollution, global warming, recycling, and the importance of taking care of Nature. Certainly not a downfall, but it makes the main character sound less like a young Batman-on-a-mission and more like a young Green Party candidate.
The overall storyline is definitely interesting despite its sci-fi Harry feel at the opening. Daniel has the fascinating, and sometimes poignant, ability to conjure people from his past; they behave independently of his thoughts and can be of comfort as well as protection to him. We very much felt close to Daniel and wanted him to win the day. The wicked aliens out to defeat him are indeed nasty creatures, though the head baddie has an English accent and a professor's vocabulary; we could never quite figure that one out (maybe another bizarre nod to J. K. Rowling's dynasty - a Dumbledore from the Dark Side?).
In the end, we decided The Dangerous Days was worth our summer nights and hope to see Daniel X around the universe again. Go ahead & give him a spin.
10 comments:
So many teen books with the dead parents theme. Hmm, I cannot imagine why.
interesting take on the book,
i like patterson ok, sometimes the "crank'em out" mentality takes books too far into pop and not enough creative writing...
:)
oh yeah.
!!how about those cowboys!
I think I felt pretty much the same way about the book.
Has you son gotten into the Cirque Du Freak series yet? Those are excellent books.
I wish I could get my kids caught up in something.
Their interest in Twilight is waning.
(I know. I thought I had a winner, but I'm not crazy for it either. Go figure.)
I might have to check this out, my kids are too young to read books like this, they are still in the 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie' set, but I have been reading my share of teen books...Yes I was sucked into the Twilight series at 32...Why not keep the trend going...
very cool! my knucklehead is so into his warhammer model building he doesn't read much anymore...
oh i liked your review. i am now more inclined to give it a go, with your blessing.
Ooo, thanks for the review. I am always looking for new YA books to read. For inspiration... not because I can use the word "young" to describe myself anymore. Or even the word "adult", for that matter...
I am a Patterson fan, but have found his teen books (Maximum Ride) to be not so hot, a sentiment shared by my teen. But this one intrigues me. I'll wait for the paperback, though.
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