As the title says, Mutation: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #2) is the second book after the initial Sensation: A Superhero Novel. Once more we join Jim, with his friends and fellow super hero trainees, but this time they are not saving the world. They are saving themselves.
In Mutation Jim is first recruited with an offer he can’t refuse from a murky government agency nicknamed MIB. Jim does refuse, which causes the agency, led by bad guy Mr. Gray, to target Jim and all the super heroes in training by way of a virus. The virus causes their special gifts to go haywire, either going into overdrive or essentially dying. And the kids are sick.
The threat from the MIB, the mercenaries they recruit and Mr. Gray’s determination to take Jim down are very real. Kevin Hardman does a good job setting up the situation and sketching the bad guys, with enough verisimilitude to make us feel Jim’s dilemma. How can he stop the MIB and their hench people, yet remain true to his ethical standards?
One of the opposition hench people is Estrella, whose super powers are star-like. Literally. Jim can barely keep ahead of her and realizes he needs to tap into her star nature to trigger her stellar evolution into a super nova. Mutation is full of these little gems, small snippets that move quickly yet let us feel the pressure and terror.
Mutation was enjoyable enough that I will look for the next one in the series, Infiltration. There were a few points that make me just a tiny bit concerned about the direction this series is taking.
- Novel moved very quickly through multiple plot arcs and many characters. The speed was essential to make the point that this is how Jim perceives the world, but a galloping plot could leave behind the characters and humor that I loved in the first book.
- Like a lot of second books, this one had a sense of setting up, that Hardman moved the plot and characters and setting around to position for a series. Nothing wrong with a series, but the books need to maintain the fun and character development, not deteriorate into a comic book.
As long as the author Kevin Hardman keeps the quality up the series will be a great deal of fun. I look forward to more books about Jim, the Kid Sensation.
You can read my review of the first novel, Sensation, here: So You Want to Be a Super Hero – Sensation by Kevin Hardman.
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