I Become Shadow by Joe Shine - OPTIONAL

Shine, Joe I Become Shadow, 304 p. SOHO Teen, 2014.  $18.  Language: PG-13 (65 swears, 1 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.  

When she was 14, Ren was kidnapped by vicious people who did what they had to in order to mold her into a killing machine - a protector of someone who would become important to the world in the future.  She survived her four years of training, though not all of her year mates did, and now she’s assigned to a geeky college freshman.  Besides going to classes she doesn’t want to attend, everything seems pretty easy - until the day someone tries to kill her charge.  Now many lives are in danger and Ren needs to call upon her best friend for help.  

This one is a little harder to buy - the government has a device that can help them see into the future and find important people?  Sure.  But kidnapping hundreds of fourteen year olds and no one noticing and caring?  I don’t think so.  Beyond that, there is not much substance to the plot and not enough really cool action to love it as a fast-moving, hard-hitting action novel.  Maybe if it had a little more room to percolate, but at 304 pages, it already had a lot of room.  

HS - OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher