Monday, May 6, 2013

Escape with Jack Templar


Jack Templar, Monster Hunter
By: Jeff Gunhus





The Goodreads Blurb: Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendent of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him. As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

I thought Jack Templar did a good job of keeping my interest and having a fairly unique premise, but the writing style got bothersome on occasion. I understand that this is probably because it is a middle grade book, but the repetition of this is real and this is not a joke and you need to be careful got both repetitive and a little grating. So it lost a star because I might read it again, but it has little annoyances like this. Still I know it will appeal to middle schoolers (mostly boys, but also for the girl who likes a good adventure).

But beyond my annoyance with Jack's continued warnings, I gave this four stars because I think that middle grade readers will definitely love it and I enjoyed the plot. The premise of monster hunters and Jack's involvement with them is intriguing. Jack's adventures keep your interest and the characters, both main and secondary, are well written. I think the fights were well described and that the book has a good message of believing in yourself.

I plan to get the sequel because it leaves you wanting to know what happens next and the kindle version had a preview for it that caught my attention.

Check out Jack Templar on Goodreads or Amazon.


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2 comments:

  1. Hi, I'm a new follower from Book Blogs! Check out my blog here Bookish Whimsy, and hopefully you would like to follow back. :)

    Glad that Jack Templar was a good adventure! :) Love your blog layout btw!

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    1. Thanks for the visit! I'm following your blog Bookish Whimsy! :)

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