Chris Morphew

Review by Lachlan Huddy

In a YA landscape fraught with tween princesses and underage wizards, young sci-fi fans have been left in the lurch. Where are the conspiracy-cracking, planet-saving youngsters of yore? Our new Animorphs and Johnny Quests? Aussie Chris Morphew has the answer: in a small outback town called Phoenix.

The compelling conceit upon which The Phoenix Files turn—in a hundred days the world will end, sparing only Phoenix—is but the tip of what's set to be a hefty iceberg. show more The first book of six, Arrival plunges teen heroes Luke (narrator and thoughtful leader), Jordan (feisty action girl), and Peter (smartarse), into a web of corporate conspiracy, mortal peril and Adults Who Shouldn't Be Trusted—and that's saying nothing of the maladjusted superpowered hobo.

Intrigued? It's easy to be, especially with Morphew's mastery of dialogue and teenage characterisation. Arrival's not perfect, of course—being the introductory chapter, it simmers rather than boils—but as Phoenix's secrets begin unravelling you'll thrill to what this series is shaping up to be: a rousing adventure in which the kids save the world by themselves, probably on a school night, when mum and dad aren't looking. Just how it's supposed to be. show less

Arrival is an easy to read, well written book about a plot to destroy the world in 100 days from now. It is fast paced and there is obviously some 'super evil' villain or group in the background. The only downside of the book is that it is going to take the whole series to find out what happens! Better written than the Cherub series, so I will be recommending these to my Year 7 boys.

I hadn't realized when I got this book that it was intended for younger adults, especially since I'm an older adult. However, my biggest surprise was that I actually did enjoy it.

The story starts when Luke and his recently-divorced mother relocate to the town of Phoenix, which is located somewhere deep in the Australian outback. They are flown into the town and when Luke tries to call his father, he learns that the phone lines are temporarily out of commission. They are taken to their new show more home, a very comfortable home, and Luke starts school, only to learn that everyone in this school has moved to Phoenix within the past 6 months. Everything strikes Luke as being a bit too-perfect – and no phones or Internet means that he's totally cut off from the outside world.

Luke makes friends with two other kids at his high school, and together, they attempt to solve the mystery of Phoenix. What is it doing there? Why are they cut off from communications? Why are there no automobiles and everyone is issued only a bicycle to get around? Why are there so many security guards? And who is Crazy Bill and how seriously should they take his rantings of doom?

This book is the first one in a series – it is not a stand-alone book. If you want to know what happens, you'll need to buy the series. It was an entertaining read. The characters were believable and I liked the Australian setting. The dialogue is very readable for English speakers from anywhere in the world.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for agreeing to write a fair and honest review. show less

It's bad enough when Luke's parents get divorced; it's worse when his mom accepts a job in the middle of nowhere and drags him off to Phoenix. She's excited about a brand new start, but Luke just wants to stay at his school, with his friends, and most of all near his dad.

Then they arrive at Phoenix. It's a brand-new town in the outback of Australia and everything is shiny new...except there's no cell phone reception, no internet, and no tv. The school seems just like everything other school; show more there's a class clown called Peter who offers to show Luke around and a nice enough girl named Jordan, who seems to have some history with Peter.

But some things seem a little...off. Why is Luke's the last locker? Why are there no cars? Why, in the middle of nowhere, does a brand-new town have a strange homeless man called Crazy Bill? When a mysterious tape, hinting at dangerous conspiracies, is given to the three, they start investigating and turn up what seems to be a conspiracy to end the world and start fresh with the people in the town of Phoenix. They can't trust anyone; not their parents, the other kids who seem to have secrets of their own, or the adults who are in the power of the lethal head of security, Calvin. Even Crazy Bill, who at first seems to be helping them, turns out to be dangerous and his strange powers are frightening.

I thought the description of this sounded interesting; I'm always up for a good adventure story, as are my middle school readers, but it turned out to be, well, rather boring. Most of the story is spent hinting at possible conspiracies and even the few exciting things that do happen (Luke's run-in with Crazy Bill, discovering the giant warehouse) are written in a flat "and then this happened" way that makes them, well, boring. The author also interjects language like "crap" but they don't feel like genuine dialogue, more like "this is how teens talk, time to put in another mild swearword". I figured out the hints right away and so there wasn't much suspense left for the rest of the book. There's also no character development to make up for the lack of actual action. We know that there's something going on with Peter and the other kids, that Jordan is a risk-taker, and that Luke misses his dad, but we don't really get a sense of who they are as teens. It's almost 300 pages of build-up and just when it actually starts to get interesting, it ends.

Verdict: I think the sequels probably are more interesting and if you stick to it until about 2/3 of the way through it heats up a little, but my readers of end-of-the-world conspiracy adventures are not going to stick with it that long. If they had taken the language out and cut it down a bit it would be a perfectly good choice for older middle grade. An additional purchase if you have kids who don't mind the slow build-up - but if you do decide to buy it, you need to buy the sequels simultaneously to get the whole story. There are three books of a planned six-book series out now.

ISBN: 9781610670913; Published June 2012 by Kane Miller Books; Review copy provided by the publisher show less