A Bad Boy, A Villain Academy, A Fun Read

Take a bad boy who likes to start fires. Add a school for Super Villains. Mix in a family secret. Stir, and you have a delightful story that will have you laughing and crying and falling in love with the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Award winning author Kai Strand has written another winner. KING OF BAD, fantasy for YA, is the story of Jeff Mean, a typical sixteen-year-old boy who attracts trouble, constantly thinks of girls, and doesn’t understand his parents at all. Oh, we mustn’t forget, Jeff can also shoot fire from his fingers, which makes him a bit different than a “normal” boy, if there is such a thing. Jeff’s talent (or ability, or whatever you call it) changes his life forever, and he soon finds himself attending a most unusual school called Super Villain Academy that teaches the students how to be really good at being bad. What follows is an adventure for Jeff and for the reader as well. We meet an interesting cast of characters, each with his, or her, own abilities. Jeff is attracted to two girls, Oceanus and Mystic, in quite different ways. Along the way to being bad, he discovers some amazing truths about himself.

I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll just say that when you think you have the story figured out, Kai Strand throws in a twist or two that you don’t see coming, at least I didn’t. KING OF BAD should appeal to teen boys (and girls) that sometimes feel as if they don’t belong in their family, or anywhere, for that matter. The teen years are tough, and Jeff is a hero that kids can relate to. I recommend this story for reluctant readers and everyone who likes a character that’s far from perfect as he struggles to discover who he really is.
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