The Secret War

The Secret War
by Matt Myklusch
Jack Blank Adventures, book two

Jack and his fellow students are now well into their School of Thought training and are “sidekicking” for official, card-carrying superheroes. But even though Jack feels more at home in the Imagine Nation, he’s still hiding secrets from his friends Skerren and Allegra.

Jack is trying to find out how far the RÜstov sleeper virus has spread, working to find a cure, and striving to avoid the dire future that Revile warned him about. Meanwhile, Jonas Smart is working just as hard to discover what Jack is hiding from everyone. When a rogue Secreteer—the protectors of Imagine Nation citizens’ secrets—starts selling info to the highest bidder, Smart is ready and waiting. If Jack is going to help prevent a second RÜstov invasion, keep Smart from discovering his secrets, and find out what a shadowy, half-mad Secreteer knows about his long-lost father, he’ll need to learn to trust his friends and find the true path toward becoming a hero himself.(description from Amazon.com)

Though I have not yet read the first book in this series, I absolutely plan to go back and do so. Matt Myklusch has created a captivating and imaginative new world! I love that superheroes, villains, ninjas, robots, and more all live together in the Imagine Nation. If you check out his website, you can even see the different and awesome sections of Empire City....so cool!

There are really wonderful characters in this series, too. I love the yoda-like Stendeval, the morphing Allegra, and of course our accidental hero, Jack! Listening to this book also added another dimension as Norbert Leo Butz gives each character their own distinct, and often humorous voice. Each character really came to life with their own faults, foibles, and yes, super powers!!

This was a great adventure with a lot of heart. Jack is keeping all kinds of secrets from his friends, the biggest being his knowledge that their greatest enemy may in fact be him! To see him struggle with this knowledge and learn that the best thing he can do is trust his friends really brought emotional depth to the book.

Well done! I can't wait to see what happens next.

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile