This first book was an instant HIT with my 15-year-old son. As he put it, "action all the time, Mom." This is unusually high praise from him. He devoured it over the Christmas break and got a goodly start on the second book, as well, before school started and reading for fun came to a screeching halt, replaced by the Honors English assigned-novel for the quarter (snooze).
Fort's on a trip to The Mall in Washington, D.C. with his Dad when horrific creatures break out of the ground next to the Washington Monument . They grab his Dad and pull him under the Earth. A strange voice tells Fort to "Run!" but he -- and only he -- resists it, while all the other visitors and tourists walk single-file away from the disaster, unharmed.
He blames himself for not getting to his father in time to save him. He blames whoever it was who took over his mind and told him to run. He blames whoever set those things loose in D.C. to begin with.
All this blame adds up to a LOT of anger and a determination to DO something about it. Rescue his Dad. Find out who took over his mind. Get the person who let those creatures loose.
So when he's whisked away to the Oppenheimer School to learn magic, he's not interested in anything but Combat Magic -- none of this Healing gunk he's apparently got an affinity for. He wants to hurt someone and save his father.
He never loses this resolve, not even as he learns the voice in his head was a fellow student, trying to save everyone. Or that another deceived and misguided student let them loose in the first place. Or that the creatures are just agents, mind-controlled by the all-powerful Old Ones, who are scheming to take over the Earth.
Fort still thinks he can Do something to save his Dad and mete out little payback in the process. And that is the main difference between Fort and everyone around him. He never gives up.
I won't spoil the ending, or the plot twists. This is a true magical romp, a fasten-your-seatbelt and keep-your-hands-and-arms-inside roller coaster of a read! (I'm buying this one.)
Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! Enjoy!
Six months after his last adventure, Fort still hasn't freed his father from the Old Ones. He's still trying to learn more magic, having learned that Healing Magic is the way to beat the Old Ones. Still, he's having a very hard time of it -- he still really only knows two spells, one a simple Healing spell, and creating a Teleportation circle to places he's already seen.
He gets a new roommate at the Oppenheimer School, where teens with a certain birthdate are busy learning magic from the mysterious Books of Magic. They're trying to prepare to fight the Old Ones, who want to take back the Earth.
But Gabriel is an odd duck. He's a hulking bully, yet oddly at times disinterested in heaping pain on Fort, and even sometimes helpful to Fort, for seemingly random reasons.
Until Fort learns Gabriel is General Charles' son. Not that anyone would know it, the way the General treats him. And General Charles is as obsessed as he is about fighting the Old Ones so he can get his other son, Michael, back from them.
Which is what Gabriel is bound and determined to do. The boys discover they have a common goal: learn magic and rescue someone they love.
At first, it seems like their objectives meet up, and they're allies of sorts. Until their objectives veer in different directions and soon Fort is fighting Gabriel to bring his father home.
Jia, Rachel, Sierra and Cyrus are all in this fight as well, as is Damian -- I won't ruin the plot twists!
Just know, by the end, Gabriel is even more determined than ever to defeat Fort, who's quickly making more enemies the longer he stays at the Oppenheimer School.
And the end is the perfect set-up for a Book 3.
Fort's got his father back, but he's in an unresponsive coma. Now, all he wants, is to keep his father safe.
So, when students of Time Magic from England's Carmarthen Academy wipe the floor with Oppenheimer School folks and tell Fort he's got one of two options to prevent World War III -- pull his father out of time, permanently, or find and use the Book of Spirit Magic on everybody -- his instincts kick in.
The race to find the Spirit book is on.
Damian's a real pain, thinking he deserves this book, and he follows Rachel and Jia and Fort to Stone Henge, causing a lot of havoc along the way.
I won't reveal who's the "Future King," that would spoil the surprise of who's able to pull Excalibur from a stone. Yeah, this puts a slightly new twist on that old story trope.
This story is full of time twists, with Carmarthen students getting revenge, freezing everybody out of time and the action with a giant dome over London they keep powered by taking turns maintaining it, and presenting Fort and the rest of the crew with multiple visions of future disasters -- but can they trust any of it? More importantly, can Fort? And if he trusts the wrong future, will he set up his father's ultimate demise?
Merlin makes an appearance in this one, wink - wink.
Enjoy the read, knowing there's a fourth on the way!
