Book #72 of 2025: Traitor by John Peel (2099 #3) Another quick but propulsive adventure, bringing us to the halfway point of this middle-grade sci-fi series from 1999-2000. Our main hero Tristan begins this installment in police custody (thanks to innocently sharing identical DNA to his terrorist clone twin), and after dodging an attack from …
Tag Archives: middle-grade
Book Review: Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros
Book #47 of 2025: Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros (Ring of Solomon #1) [Disclaimer: I am Twitter mutuals with this author.] Overall a solid entry in the Percy Jackson genre of middle-grade fiction, where tweens battle fantastical monsters drawn from some culture’s traditional mythology (increasingly #ownvoices for the writer’s particular background, as here). In …
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Book Review: Betrayal by John Peel
Book #36 of 2025: Betrayal by John Peel (2099 #2) A propulsive sequel that picks up right where the first installment of this middle-grade sci-fi series left off, with a doomsday computer virus ravaging all of New York City. It’s actually impressive how well author John Peel, writing in the 1990s and imagining a century …
Book Review: Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B. B. Alston
Book #29 of 2025: Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B. B. Alston (Supernatural Investigations #3) A significant step down for a previously-charming middle-grade fantasy series. I gave the first two novels four stars apiece for their freshness and overall fun, but this one feels like a generic and less entertaining Percy Jackson ripoff. You …
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Book Review: Doomsday by John Peel
Book #18 of 2025: Doomsday by John Peel (2099 #1) A neat teen sci-fi thriller that I can just vaguely remember reading in my youth. Since the series was written in 1999 and set a century later, I thought it would be entertaining to revisit now that we’re a quarter of the way there, to …
Book Review: Meltdown by Chris Archer
Book #172 of 2024: Meltdown by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #10) A weird end to a chaotic series, and probably the first one that really earns the “Mindwarp” title. These books have always been like a middle-grade sci-fi sampler project, and so it’s only fitting that the final volume introduces its younger readers to another few …
Book Review: Out of Time by Chris Archer
Book #161 of 2024: Out of Time by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #9) A fun penultimate adventure for this middle-grade sci-fi series, and by this point, I’m positive that I never read this far into these books back in the 90s, so I’m excited to see how everything resolves. The six teenage heroes start this volume …
Book Review: Face the Fear by Chris Archer
Book #150 of 2024: Face the Fear by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #8) This installment of the 90s middle-grade Mindwarp series moves the larger story forward, but as the second volume in a row to take place entirely in the dystopian future, it doesn’t feel especially distinctive. There’s less worldbuilding on display too, with the majority …
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Book Review: Flash Forward by Chris Archer
Book #139 of 2024: Flash Forward by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #7) Another propulsive installment of this 90s middle-grade science-fiction series, finally now firmly past its original formula of kid after kid turning thirteen, unlocking special powers, and facing off against a shapeshifting alien assassin. At this point, the core team of Ethan, Ashley, Jack, and …
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Book Review: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
Book #129 of 2024: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams (The Babysitters Coven #1) Given the title, I was expecting this 2019 series debut to be a smart and loving homage to The Babysitters Club, with some nice new witchy twist thrown in on top. Instead, it’s unfortunately more of a half-baked Buffy-meets-Labyrinth affair, with …
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