The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P., #1) in Bad Books, Good Times

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Jul 21, 2013 Turtle rated it liked it

Shelves: disappointing, young-adult, series-i-wish-to-continue

I typically like Eoin Colfer's work. His stories are always so quirky and imaginative. But is it just me, or has he fallen into a rut lately. Every book that I've read of his lately has just left me a little disappointed. I don't know if it's just that I'm well beyond the demographic that his stories are geared for (though that didn't really stop me from loving Artemis Fowl) or if Eoin is losing his touch.

Now I didn't dislike this book. But neither did I really love it. It was just very blah. B

I typically like Eoin Colfer's work. His stories are always so quirky and imaginative. But is it just me, or has he fallen into a rut lately. Every book that I've read of his lately has just left me a little disappointed. I don't know if it's just that I'm well beyond the demographic that his stories are geared for (though that didn't really stop me from loving Artemis Fowl) or if Eoin is losing his touch.

Now I didn't dislike this book. But neither did I really love it. It was just very blah. By the cover I thought the characters would be warping through time on time machine motorcycles not dissolving through holes. I didn't really care for Riley or Chevron. They felt like stereotypes. The villain seemed more fleshed out then they were. And in the first half of the book I was getting really annoyed at how easily the villain kept outwitting them. It felt like I was reliving one of those awful dreams where you are running in place, but the monster chasing you is easily catching up. Yeah, that was what the heroes and Garrick's chase scenes were like. The heroes were running in place and Garrick was doing overpowered godlike somersaults around them.

The violence was rather graphic and explicit for a young adult novel. More than once I was left a little derailed by a grisly murder. It threw off the tone which on occasion was more lighthearted and humorous.

But probably the biggest issue I took with the book was that Chevron was an FBI agent in London. FBI works inside of America. VERY rarely do they do anything overseas. Because overseas we have a very strong presence called the CIA.

Now, the first part of Chevron's back story was plausible; in that sort of kid story plausibility. She was hired to run an investigation on terrorist recruiting at American high schools. That's totally within the FBI's jurisdiction if a bit irresponsible and moronic; especially since some legal adults could pass for high schoolers and still be undercover just as easily. You could have save money on such a crazy program and just sent in fully trained adult FBI agents who have baby faces. We do that all the time with hollywood movies. If you really think Percy Jackson is still a teenager- ha!

I'm twelve! Really!

The part I take issue with is the FBI hidden headquarters in London. Why would they be stationed overseas? Other than that's where the story is supposed to take place. I get that it's like a form of witness protection but... iunno. FBI agents randomly showing in other countries always sort of annoy me. Not really part of their job guys. We have a perfectly good CIA agency you can send people by instead.

Maybe it works if you look at the big picture. But the fact that Chevron never questioned what the FBI headquarters was doing in London specifically- just threw me out of the loop.

So I don't know. Certainly not my favorite by Colfer. I may check out a sequel... but maybe not. I might decide to pick up the next one at the library instead. ...more

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Jan 05, 2019 Taylor marked it as to-read

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Jan 18, 2020 Allison marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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