Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Invincible
Fiction Series
For ages 14 and up
St. Martin's Griffin, 2012 ISBN: 978-0312603274
Fourteen-year-old Nick Gautier has never found it easy to stay out of trouble. At least not in school. Being the son of an exotic dancer has made it impossible for Nick to fit in with his classmates. Nick does not mind it when he is picked on for being poor or for being a scholarship kid, but he totally loses it when someone says something rude about his mother.
Of course, since the little incident with the zombies, no one has been thinking too much about Nick. They have been too busy trying not to get eaten. Nick himself was in the middle of the bizarre business, and now that it is over, he is hoping to lead a quiet life for a while, going to school, working for Kyrian, and daydreaming about Kody, a beautiful new girl at school.
Alas for Nick, this is not at all what happens. First someone or something starts killing fourteen-year-old boys, and then the new coach at school forces Nick to steal from his classmates. Nick does not understand why the coach wants him to steal these things, but he does understand that the man is capable of ruining Nick’s life, permanently.
During the whole zombies incident, Nick came to understand that some of the people he knows are not human beings at all. Instead, they are shape shifters and demons, ancient beings who have terrifying powers and abilities. Now, as he tries to understand the killings and the coach’s actions, Nick learns that he also has powers. In fact, he has powers that could ultimately bring the world to an end. Though a prophecy says that Nick will be a force of evil, Nick has enough goodness in him that there are some who hope, with their help, that he will be able to rewrite his own story so that there is a good outcome instead of a catastrophic one.
In this second Chronicles of Nick title, Nick fully comes to appreciate that he is not an ordinary poor boy from New Orleans. He is not ordinary at all, and the world he lives in is full of secrets, terrifying beings, and even more terrifying dangers. Written mostly from Nick’s point of view in his own distinct, often caustically sarcastic, teenage voice, this is a book that will keep readers guessing all the way through, and the story isn’t over yet. Oh no, that it most certainly isn’t.
