Review: Sixty-Seven Salamanders by Jeff Joseph

I think I would have found the start of this book action packed if I had even the slightest passion for football. But since I don't it was a little slow to start. Well worth the effort of getting through the first couple of chapters as our main character Adin is a great character. Certainly a teenager would find a lot in common with.

The true strength of this novel is the characters. They are well rounded three dimensional who have interesting conversations. Adin might seem a typical student who is concerned about winning games and getting into college but he has a secret and it is about to complicate his life beyond anything he can imagine. He is supported by several women in his life and another reason why I really liked this book. This book would happily pass a Bechdel test which is brilliantly done even though the main character is male. In fact I would paint Adin as a decent role model. He loves his family, kind to women and respectful to his others but can still kick butt.

Down sides now, it has issues with present and past tense. I'm an English teacher so those stick out especially since I just finished marking students work. But I doubt most people will even notice as the way the story is written has a great flow. But I won't HAARP on (pun intended).

This story is like Harry Potter set in the future instead of with magic and if he was a little older. I will give this story a solid 4. A bit taken off for the cover and the fact that the book had football in it.