Engaging and packed with action, “Michael Vey and the Rise of the Elgen” is supposed to be a Young Adult (YA) novel and is the second in the “Michael Vey” series. While the plot is compelling, the story is quite violent and graphic.
The protagonist, Michael Vey, is surrounded by his teenage friends. Much of the book deals with developing the characters and their relationships to one another. Being a mixed group of boys and girls, the story deals with some benign romance (mostly hand holding and flirting). The interaction between a few of the boys is full of empty threats, immature joking, and flaring tempers. In short, the characterization is typical of teen literature.
What I found to be most troubling, however, was the amount of violence contained in the book. There are explosions resulting in human mortality, man-eating rats, a flippant attitude to violent acts, and more. Many of these occurrences were left without consequence, even among the “bad guys.” Several times during the reading I asked myself, “Was that really necessary to developing the plot?” More often than not, the answer was “no.” Considering the violence, we cannot recommend this book to an audience concerned with family values.
