Robert Muchamore

And it's finally over. I was sad to part ways with these characters. It's been a good number of hours of fun reading together. I liked how at the end the writer included a summary of what happened to the different characters after the war.

All in all, it's been a very fun series to read. I was worried that it wouldn't live up to the original CHERUB series, but it's at the same level. One thing I liked about the original series is that there was a sense of real danger and violence, and that is obviously present here too, perhaps to a too large extent. This is set in WWII and, well, it's a war. Expect the good guys to kill a lot.… (more)

And this is it. James' CHERUB career is over. It was a bit sad, reading the last epilogue. A generation of agents we have been following retire and start new lives as university students or whatever, younger kids like Lauren become the senior agents and little brats like Jake and Kevin are no longer so little.

The book starts with a short mission related to the Brigands mission in book 11. Probably should have been in that book, because it completes that story.

Then we get a wedding and an enjoyable Kyle Blueman story from a few years ago, that will have an effect on James' last mission. In fact, because of what Kyle tells him, James refuses his last CHERUB mission and decides to act independently, helping Kyle who is already retired. This last part is not as spectacular as some fans would have wished, but I found it appropriate to close James' character arc. He has finally grown up and matured, becoming his own man, and the story reflects that.

This series has been extremely enjoyable. Nice job, Mr. Muchamore! The… (more)

This book left me with a somewhat bittersweet taste. It's very entertaining, as expected from any book in this series, but for the first time James seems to realize that his time in CHERUB is nearing its end. As readers, we sense that we are near the end of a wonderful fictional ride.

Also, I was disappointed in his decisions during the last part of the book. Let's face it, James is a likable but also flawed hero. We have seen him at his worse before: we saw him hit a younger boy in anger, steal from shops, cheat on his girlfriends... he can be quite shallow sometimes. Bit of an idiot, as Lauren might describe him. But always I had the feeling that I liked him. That when it mattered he was a good kid and his flaws only made him more human. When this book finished, I felt that I did not particularly like the young man he is becoming. I thought he was maturing better. It's a fine line, mind you. His flaws make him more real and likable, a lovable rogue, you might say, but at a certain point it might be too much. I appreciate the fact that Muchamore doesn't patronize his readers, though. He doesn't explicitly tell them "this is wrong". He just tells the story and lets us judge.

The book is divided in three parts. The first is one of James' missions, infiltrating an anarchist group. I found it quite interesting because the role he was playing (bodyguard to the group leader) was more that of a young man than of a kid.

However, the mission is cut short, and then the main part of the book deals with a massive training exercise organized by the American army in collaboration with the British SAS and a group of CHERUB agents. Very enjoyable and a nice change of pace for the series, but perhaps we lose some of the realism that we have come to identify with the series.

Anyway, the last part of the book deals with James' activities in Las Vegas after leaving the training exercise.

I enjoyed it. This series is just fast action, fun and interesting characters. Mental candy, but this one was a bit bittersweet, as I said. Something has been lost. James is no longer a kid. Let's see how he grows in the last two books of the series.

Some comments between spoiler tags:

James acted a bit out of character when he was captured by the American intelligence officers during the training exercise. Sure, he has always been mouthy, but riling them up when you are in such a vulnerable position is just plain stupid.

Also, would such a tactical genius as Kazakov work training spy children?

Their decision to have James watch the video feed in a public place when they are cheating on the casino is just plain stupid, so much that it is out of character, in order to make the plot work. They should just have found another casino where the signal reached the car outside. … (more)