The Vindico
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Five ordinary teens are given the chance of a lifetime. An offer to have any super-power imaginable with only one condition . . . they must pledge allegiance to a league of notorious supervillains.
“A healthy dose of clever one-liners, snappy dialogue, and plenty of chases and explosions.”—School Library Journal
Kidnapped from their everyday lives, five teens are given the chance to change their fate forever. Imagine being promised the super strength to take down the school bully, the power to read your best friend’s mind, or the ability to make dishes wash themselves. But to earn these gifts, the teens must go against everything they’ve been taught their whole lives and join a league of the world’s most notorious villains: the Vindico.
Held captive in a remote mansion while being forced to train with evil mentors, the teens plot their escape. But when it becomes clear that returning to their normal lives is no longer an option, their only choice is to fight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Five teens are kidnapped and trained to be supervillains in King's high-concept but one-dimensional debut novel. The titular group of villains wants a new generation of teens to help them fight the League of Heroes, so they kidnap five generally good kids (James, Lana, Hayden, Emily, and Sam). As the teens endure a rigorous training regimen, they confront their own insecurities, faults, and fears; a romance blooms between two of the captives, and a rivalry is sparked. The flaws in the Vindico's plan soon become apparent as the captives challenge the villains' authority and their new mission, resulting in a hasty conclusion. King's characters are reasonably well-drawn; the book's most compelling elements revolve around the reasons why each teen was selected to become a supervillain and the psychological tactics that the Vindico use to make them emotionally vulnerable and susceptible to coercion. But narrative tension is lessened by scant world-building, lackluster dialogue, and conventional plot elements, resulting in an entertaining but predictable story. Ages 12 up.
