Photo Courtesy of MichaelVey Fandom
Veyniacs (Michael Vey fans) were surprised by author Richard Paul Evans when he released the eighth book in the Michael Vey series, “Michael Vey: The Parasite,” on Sept. 27.
The series was thought to have ended with its climactic seventh book, which concluded the long battle of the Electroclan against the sinister Dr. Hatch with his timely death.
The series followed the Electroclan, a group led by Michael Vey, as they tried to stop Dr. Hatch from using them and others to take over the world and create his own empire.
The special thing about Michael and the 16 other children like him is that they all have some special electric abilities, a by-product of a new machine which affected them in their mothers’ wombs. Together, they used their combined abilities, as well as the help of several close Nonels (regular humans), to beat Dr. Hatch and his company, the Elgen, or so they thought.
The continuance of the series starts three years after the death of Dr. Hatch and the breakdown of the Elgen. The Elgen has turned into Veytric and is now run by Michael’s father, who was thought to be long dead but turns out to be very much alive and well.
It is not until the disappearance of Jack, a Nonel and close friend to all of the Electroclan, and the disappearance of Tara, an electric and Taylor’s twin sister (Taylor is Michael’s girlfriend and also an electric), that it becomes apparent that something left behind by the Elgen is hunting them down.
The Elite Guards of the Elgen were a separate entity from the Elgen and Dr. Hatch, so when Hatch died, they did not. There are three Elite groups, but the only one that seems to have kidnapped Jack and Tara are the Chasqui, a group hidden in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. Another electric member of the Electroclan is also missing, but there are no leads of her whereabouts.
One of the funniest characters, Zeus (whose powers are the ability to shoot lightning bolts from his hands, obviously), brings the most comic relief to the novel with his hilarious jokes that are not always appropriate for the moment. For example, waiting for the arrival of some close friends at a landing strip as they run for their lives from the Chasqui does not seem to be the moment to think about how funny it would be if a drug lord’s plane landed instead.
One of the greatest things about the novel is the character Ostin. He is a junior at Caltech, and he is so smart that he is bored at school. Throughout all of the books, he seems to know everything necessary to escape captors and cells, create attack plans, thwart the plans of their enemies or just give the characters and the reader a random tidbit that both puts a smile on the reader’s face and makes them shake their head at the same time. His character is a Nonel, but he makes up for it with his incredible intellect. There is no “Michael Vey” novel without him.
The best part about the newest novel is how Evans allows all Veyniacs to see the ways in which their favorite characters have grown into themselves as people from the last time they were seen at the end of the seventh novel. It provides a fulfillment for all readers and continues an amazing and must-read series.
The entire “Michael Vey” series is filled with action, adventure, stakes, humor and a little romance in between. It is an incredible fantasy novel series for any fan of the genre.
Read “Michael Vey: The Parasite” now to see how Michael and the Electroclan plan to defeat their new enemies, the Elite
