Richard Paul Evan’s Prisoner of Cell 25 is the first book in the Michael Vey series.
Michael Vey has always been different. Since he was little, he possessed a powerful electro kinetic ability that allowed him to electrocute those around him. As he aged, his powers grew stronger, making it more and more necessary to hide his abilities. One day he meets someone special. This person possesses a similar electro kinetic ability that manifests itself in a different way. Together, they attempt to uncover down the origins of their mysterious abilities. Meanwhile, their origin is hunting them as well and is willing to do anything to collect both super powered teens.
Michael is a very generic protagonist. Like many protagonists, he is bullied because of something that might be linked to his abilities, unpopular in school, and in love with the school’s most beautiful girl. He is also extremely protective of his friends and family and proves himself to be both brave and determined when his loved ones are in danger. This bravery combined with extremely powerful abilities can lead to recklessness and stupidity. All of these traits can be attributed to countless characters, especially Nick from the Chronicles of Nick. Nick marks himself as unique because other traits and struggles that are added on top of his generic character. Michael has no unique traits.
Prisoner of Cell 25 is a very generic read. It follows the same old tale discovering superpowers, falling in love, and running away from the government. Richard Paul Evans does make some tweaks to this genetic plot, but the story still remains bland. It is the plain pizza of the literary world in the sense that it’s good, but there is nothing that marks it as unique or special. It satisfies many but appeals to almost no one. The blandness might be due to the book’s audience. It is targeted at a younger audience and probably shouldn’t be considered a YA novel. Many of the characters remain flat and underdeveloped. While this may be due to the fact that this book is the first in a series, it doesn’t excuse the fact that nothing marks the characters as unique among each other. Adding to my list of criticism is how the book couldn’t decide what genre it was. Richard Paul Evans seemed to be going for a science fiction piece by having the government be the antagonist and attempting to base their abilities off electricity. Sadly, the science behind it felt lacking and beyond improbable making it more like an urban fantasy book that is not bound by science. When trying to explain their abilities, it felt like Richard Paul Evans was grasping at straws. It was a combination of too specific and too general information that just didn’t sit well with me. The plot isn’t much better as it spends too much time on exposition. Thankfully, once it gets past that, the plot is full of a dystopian novel’s eerie sense of wrongness, and an action novel’s suspense and excitement. This book sets an exciting setting for later installments and I hope Richard Paul Evans provides us with a richer second book.
I give this 326 page book 3 stars.
Michael Vey
Michael Vey tells the story of a bunch of teens with electro kinetic powers. They are often referred to as Glows because their skin is said to glow faintly in the dark.