It's hard for me to express how much I hated this book, how thoroughly sick of it I am, but my kids loved it. My 5-year-old spotted it on the audio books shelf at our local library several months ago. I insisted that we listen to the first book first, and that was okay, but this was the one with the cool cover that had caught his eye.

What with one thing and another, we wound up not having a lot of time when both kids were in the car over the next two months, so we renewed the book at the library until we were over the legal limit. We finally finished it yesterday, and I dread the day they discover book 3.

Spoilers below.

Phineas Vex is the bad guy. Signs of him appear right at the beginning of the book, so why, why, why didn't the characters find their summer camp invitations suspicious??? It was soooo obvious that Vex was behind it that I felt like screaming at the young characters. I also found myself wanting to line edit as we listened. I could not get out of my editorial mindset.

Now I know that this is a series, so they have to let their arch enemy live at the end. The author wants to keep Vex going for another book. By any other logic they should have offed him when they had the chance.

But the kids loved it. There was cool stuff. There were explosions. Kids with superpowers. Flying cars. I appear to be unmoved by all of that.

This is a spectacular followup to Joshua Dread, where a boy with incoming superpowers has to learn to navigate the world. His best friend is normal. His parents are super villains. And he just wants to enjoy his summer vacation. Enter mysterious notes, mutant librarians, objects crashing down from the sky, and an invitation to a Gyfted and Talented camp.

At this camp, it is disclosed that a group is being formed to be the next big team, full of young children who are full of potential...and they'll take along the normal boy for the ride, since Joshua will quit if he doesn't have Milton by his side. So, with the five pre/teens and a smattering of mentors, their adventures start.

A big bad returns, Joshua Dread becomes the next big thing, double agents are discovered, and much more. But within all of these happenings, it is still very apparent that Joshua is a boy who is still growing up, still learning what it means to be himself, and still wishing he could just return to the times before... just like every other kid who is going through a change.

This is my 7 year old's favorite of the three. He's currently reading it for the third time. He beat me to reading it.

Attainable for a wide range of children, though still fun to read for adults. Couldn't ask for much more. ( )