For those who were wondering...

The new Daniel X book is out! The next edition of my guilty pleasure is here! Its entitled Daniel X: Demons and Druids and it apparently came out some time in July. I know it doesn't have quite the hype of a midnight Harry Potter release, but I know at least one other PHBC member who can't wait to read it (T.C.). I personally will be waiting for the library to carry it which may be awhile, but I know it will be worth the wait!

Mr. Cellophane

I hate to admit, but I needed to take a bit of a breather from Frankenstein. I'll get back to it soon but my brain just needed a rest. For my mental relaxation I turned to one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Daniel X. The book is roughly 200 pages of adolescent superhero alien blood and guts.

The author of the Daniel X series is 62 year old James Patterson. Even more so than the first Daniel X book (The Dangerous Days of Daniel X), Watch the Skies is a painfully transparent attempt by a man in his 60's trying to write a relevant book for young teens. There are numerous references to 70's classic rock songs and an even greater amount of current pop culture references that are forced into the dialogue which are unnecessary and out of place.

I think that Patterson (who has co-authored both Daniel X books) was probably asked to write a series of books chronicling the life of a teen boy with super-natural powers and two dead parents (who also had special powers) to fill the hole left in the book market from the ending of the Harry Potter collection. I'm sure if I was a bigger Harry Potter fan I could a lot more similarities.

Given all of this however, I'm still going to be reading the next Daniel X book, Daemons and Druids, when it comes out late next year. Maybe I should check into rehab.

New Daniel X

Several several several months back our book club read "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. The book met with mixed reviews from our group. Some of us felt it was juvenile, poorly written, and moronic while some of us felt it was a fun little adventure book with some flaws here and there. I was a member of the ladder (though I can totally see the view point of the former). I did happen to enjoy the book, it wasn't Shakespeare (or Harry Potter) but it was fun.

I bring this up today because I was at Borders earlier and saw that a new Daniel X book is coming out entitled, "Daniel X: Watch the Skies." And then when I came home to look up some info on it I found that there is yet another Daniel X book out. This other one is a graphic novel entitled, "Daniel X: Alien Hunter." Now, while I'm not going to go rush out to buy them, they have definitely been added to my reading "to-do" list and I thought I would pass on this information for those of you who, like me, enjoyed the first book and might want more.