The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

I'm not sure whether this was written for a YA audience or a middle grade one. Either way, it's a bad book. If it was written for a YA audience, it's quite possibly the worst traditionally published YA novel in existence.

I'm pretty sure I picked this up at a “going out of business” sale at a used bookstore. One thing you can count on, when a book has “James Patterson” stamped on the cover, is a fast-paced, quick read. The only positive thing I can say about The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is that it didn't take a lot of time to get through.

This book is terrible. Really, really awful. In usual James Patterson style (in this case, probably written almost entirely by Michael Ledwidge), each chapter is only a couple pages long, and show more it's all action all the time. After all, who needs pesky things like descriptions and characterization? Exclamation points, italics, and all caps were used in a lame attempt to up the story's excitement.

Daniel's parents were killed within the first few pages of the book, and their deaths packed absolutely no emotional punch. There was not one character in this book that I truly cared about. The only one I felt even a twinge for was Phoebe, a girl from Daniel's school, and that was only because Daniel's interest in her sent shivers of revulsion through me.

You see, Daniel was filled to the brim with superpowers. He was super-strong, super-fast, and super-intelligent. He could telepathically rewrite people's personalities and memories. He could shapeshift into something as large as an elephant or as small as a gnat. He could create living, breathing, real people out of thin air and then make them disappear again at will. His favorite people to create were his family members and a group of friends. One of those friends, Dana, was sort of his girlfriend. Yes, he was attracted to a girl he created with his mind, and, of course, she was attracted to him. Daniel could also read minds, a power he used in order to best figure out how to respond to Phoebe so that she would like him. This made Dana a little upset with him. As you can imagine, Daniel's girl troubles garnered no sympathy from me.

Despite all these many, many superpowers, Daniel almost died when an alien tried to kill him via a phone call. Depending on what the story called for, Daniel's powers either weren't up to snuff or were so powerful that it was a wonder he'd ever had any trouble at all.

It was painfully obvious that Ledwidge (and/or Patterson, if he even bothered to look over the manuscript) was trying to appeal to a younger audience. Pop culture name dropping was everywhere. There were mentions of the Lord of the Rings movies, Shia LaBeouf, The Grudge, and more. When the book wasn't trying really, really hard to appeal to “young'uns,” it was preaching at them. At one point, Daniel hitchhikes...and takes the time to warn readers that they shouldn't try it themselves. At another point, there's an anti-drug message, as Daniel sees an alien kid selling what he immediately assumes is drugs, grabs them, and stomps on them.

The heavy-handed messages for readers aren't just limited to PSAs. No, there are book recommendations as well. Daniel referred to Water for Elephants as “A honey of a story!” (54). What kind of teen thinks or talks like that? Later, he briefly interrupted the action to tell readers that he got his latest idea from The Iliad. That wouldn't have been so bad, except here's the full paragraph:

After all my thinking and searching through annals of every strategy and warfare book ever written, I'd actually gotten the ploy from The Iliad, by Homer. Achilles gets Hector outside Troy's walled gates to fight him one-on-one while both their armies watch. Check it out in The Iliad. Great story! (216)

Those last couple sentences were completely unnecessary and once again made Daniel seem less like a 15-year-old boy and more like a desperate adult begging kids to read books he thinks will be good for them.

This felt like a parody of action-filled science fiction. Its attempts at humor fell flat – including lame jokes every few sentences does not automatically make a book funny, and neither does including telepathic elephants and cheerleader cows.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Classic textbook case of God-Mode Sues running rampant over the plot. Or, if you want to be specific, classic textbook case of James Patterson. Oh, wait, plot? Sorry, it's impossible to get anxious over any conflict when the protagonist is FREAKING INVINCIBLE.

I am extraordinarily grateful that I did not pay money for this swill. I am saddened that the public library did, so that I and the rest of its unsuspecting patrons could be exposed to the garbage that this book is. What was the author thinking? That books "for kids" are excused from any semblance of quality? Kids WRITE better than this stuff every day. Even My Immortal is better than this, for all that it claims to have been written by a 13-year-old girl. At least it's funny. show more There is fanfiction that is worse than this book, but let me assure you: there's not very much of it.

For all mine and other reviewers' rhapsodizing, there is little that can be said to explain this book, and nothing to justify it. TV Tropes will not grant a page to this book. It is THAT bad. show less

After reading the Maximum Ride series, I thought maybe another one of Patterson's young adult novels might be good. Turns out that's not really the case; Daniel X was decidedly "meh."

The concept could have spawned almost as fun a story as Maximum Ride; a teenage alien hunter, parents killed by intergalactic criminals, takes up his birthright to catch the nastiest aliens in the galaxy. Unfortunately, there are so many catches in the story that it more or less falls flat on itself.

First, it's pretty obvious that Daniel's narrative voice is being ripped off of Max's; he may as well be a male version of her with less character development and likeability. He uses cliched teenage slang and references, like Patterson is trying too hard to show more make him a "cool guy."

The story is also full of skips, plot holes, and sloppy development. The chapters are short like Maximum Ride, but they are incredibly jumpy, not seeming to connect much at all. Daniel X also has way too many powers; sure, make the kid strong, but Daniel literally can use his mental abilities to do anything, including summon solid people out of thin air, change shape at will, read minds, teleport, etc. You get the picture. It means that none of the dangers he faces seem remotely interesting; with that arsenal, how could he fail?

Last, there's just plain not enough in this book. When you finish, it leaves you thinking, "That's it?" Everything seems to have been accomplished so fast, and yet not much actually happened. More seems to be focused on Daniel talking about himself and his feelings. Nothing is expanded on; information is simply thrown at you and you're expected to get it and go with it.

Mildly interesting story, a couple amusing parts, but all in all it pales before the witty gem of the Maximum Ride series. show less

I admit it. I’ve never read a James Patterson book before. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X was my initiation. I had no idea what to expect from this book going into it. All I knew was that I needed to review it for my school’s student book club. Before I could do that, however, I had to steal back my copy of the book from my 10 year-old son.



Something you need to know about my son is that he’s a border-line nonreader. How, I have no idea. You would think it was genetically impossible, but I guess he inherited some mutated gene along the way. He loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and graphic novels. But to get him to read anything with more than 100 pages—forget about it. Obviously I nearly stroked out when he hijacked The show more Dangerous Days of Daniel X before I could read it. The appeal of alien hunters was too great for him to resist. I watched him read the book in 2 days! I saw him sneak a flashlight into his room at night, forfeit his video game time to his younger brother so he could read in the afternoon, and even read while he was eating his breakfast. My heart smiled each time.



I had to ask, “What’s so great about that book?” After looking at me like I was one of the aliens in the book, he simply replied, “It’s just awesome.” I pried for a bit more information since he is 10, and he informed me that the writing style is what one him over. He said everything is so detailed that he can “visualize everything in my head.” Reading teachers rejoice! He was using a reading strategy! When I read the book, I had to agree. James Patterson is very descriptive and holds nothing back. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading about a decaying cemetery or exploding alien heads—the quality of the details is the same.



I also enjoyed the “voice” that Daniel held throughout the book. He was a riot. Witty, sarcastic, and a bit irrational at times—he was a typical teenage boy. James Patterson did a great job of giving us insight into his thoughts and emotions. As I read, I felt like I knew Daniel. It was as if he was one of the kids walking around in my neighborhood.



I think I can safely say this book has massive appeal for boys of all types. It doesn’t matter if they are a reader or not, they will probably enjoy this series. It is overflowing with nonstop action, which will surely keep them flipping the pages long into the night show less

The book reminded me a lot of Men in Black and was just a really fun book to read. I love reading sci-fi, thrillers, and mysteries and this book fell in all of three categories. I loved the characters, even the evil aliens. Patterson does a great job with his description of the aliens and other planets. I could picture them all clearly in my minds.

Yes it was readable, but the plot, and the main characters complete Marty Stu-ness....

A Marty Stu is the male equivalent of a Mary Sue, a character that is perfect, has the exact powers needed, is loved by all right-thinking people etc. Daniel has this in spades. He is an alien hunting aliens who finds himself having serious issues with his latest target. He hunts those offworld aliens who have come to Earth with intentions to kill/enslave/destroy.

It is fast paced and does carry you along but afterwards I wondered to myself why I bothered. The Graphic Novel was better and I can't help thinking that this would have been better in graphic format.

I won't be looking for the rest of this series.

Daniel would like to tell you about his life. He’s fifteen and an orphan. When he was three, he heard his parents being murdered while he hid in the basement. The murderer, The Prayer, came looking for Daniel too, but it’s kind of hard to find a kid who can change matter, including his own matter.

Yes, Daniel’s a superhero and alien hunter. He might even be an alien himself. He’s managed to survive since his parent’s death and has taken up the family mission of hunting alien outlaws bent on destroying Earth.

The Dangerous Days Of Daniel X has some positive characteristics especially suited for reluctant readers. The first person narration is engaging; it feels as if Daniel is letting the reader in on a secret. Daniel is likable show more and sincere, someone I’d like to know in real life. It is easy to identify with him and trust his voice. The short chapters are excellent for reluctant readers. I don’t know if this is Patterson/Ledwidge's typical style or a conscious effort for the target audience, but it’s a good choice. Fast pace adventure lends itself well to readers with little patience.

However, there are quite a few problems in the telling of the tale. The story lacks something tangible in it’s plotting. There are hinted clues that never quite come to fruition (not just a result of this being an obvious series book). Additionally, the plethora of pop culture references will date this book quickly. While funny in 2008, it probably won’t be in 2012. The authors have also committed teen-reader suicide by sermonizing. I once read that a reader should never hear the writer. I knew Patterson/Ledwidge was there and I wanted them to let Daniel tell me the tale.

All in all, I think readers will enjoy the tale of Daniel X, alien hunter. Hopefully the authors will end the sermons on drugs and which books to read in Daniel X volume 2. Reader recommendations: ages 11- adult, adventure loving Sc-Fi readers, comic book readers looking for a novel and a special recommendation for reluctant readers.

Review first published on Reading Rumpus show less