Creatch Battler
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Billy Clikk’s just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill . . . hero? A guy whose hobbies include skateboarding, extreme mountain biking—and a brand of snowboarding he wishes would include a few good old-fashioned body slams. Unfortunately, 12-year-old Billy’s boring home town of Piffling, Indiana, will probably never host the X Games. But that doesn’t stop him from bungee jumping off a bridge and winning the X-Sports Challenge in front of Dave’s Cycle and Fitness.
Then one day, things suddenly get more interesting. Billy discovers his insect-exterminating parents—supposedly the best in Piffling—have been living a double life. In just a few short hours, he’s sucked into a world that his parents have been trying to hide from him. And this world is much bigger, stranger, and scarier than the one he left behind. How could his own dull parents have so many secrets that even their secrets have secrets?
On the bright side, this could be Billy’s chance to fight some real bad guys: the huge kind with teeth and too many hairy tentacles to count. Within a few hours of learning the truth, he’s flying to India and testing out some very cool James Bond–style gadgetry, things no average 12-year-old can even imagine. But before Billy can fight alongside his parents, he’ll have to prove himself. Being a hero doesn’t always mean getting the bad guy—sometimes it means keeping a cool head to figure out what’s really going on. And at the end of the day, Billy just might get to save the world—or go down trying.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Crilley, creator of the Akiko series, introduces a new hero in an action-adventure reminiscent of the Spy Kids movies. Left alone while his parents, who supposedly run a pesticide business (Bugz-B-Gon) in Indiana, are off on another "skeeter gig," 12-year-old Billy stumbles onto the truth: Mom and Dad are agents of AFMEC (Allied Forces for the Management of Extraterrestrial Creatches), a secret organization dedicated to the control of monstrous beings that occasionally stray into human society. Even the dog is not what he appears to be he's actually a "demi-creatch" who can shapeshift and read. Having caught his parents in a whopper, Billy now has some leverage and angles to become an "Affy," too. Despite the risks (e.g., being skinned alive or debrained by the enemy), Billy's potential access to weapons, electronics and flying vehicles trumps his fear. Unfortunately, the story winds up being less than the sum of its often appealing parts. The action starts slowly, and the climatic battle (involving a plot to blow up the Taj Mahal) introduces a villain with only a vaguely outlined motive. Crilley gets off a few good lines ("So Mom's the brains of the operation," Billy figures out) but the author stumbles, too, introducing a man with a "thick South American accent," who is actually from Guatemala. Readers drawn to the gadgetry may overlook these flaws, and the lonely latchkey life of Billy may explain his wild enthusiasm, but others may not want to spend this much time with somebody's parents. Ages 8-12.
Customer Reviews
Great book
I read this when I was about 14 great book!