VILLAIN.NET: COUNCIL OF EVIL (#1)
by Andy Briggs
Walker Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780802795175
Ages 10-14
256 pages
• About the Book
• Read an Excerpt
• Author Interview –– May 2009
Jake Hunter is recruited for Villain.net through an email offering him the power to rule the world. After clicking on an icon featuring a radiation symbol, he sets fire to the art classroom in a fit of anger. Rescuing the art teacher from the burning building, Jake emerges from the incident a hero, even though he knows it was his superpowers that caused the accident.
Later that evening, Jake meets a mysterious man at the abandoned steel mill who is wearing a hood that hides his features and calls himself Basilisk. He requests Jake’s assistance on a dangerous mission stealing a machine from a scientific institute designed to bore to the center of the earth. Jake complies, though he doesn’t really understand why Basilisk wants the machine.
Using the superpowers Basilisk has given him, Jake swoops into the compound avoiding defense missiles and securing the machine. But when Basilisk tells him to “deal with the witnesses,” Jake draws the line at killing.
When Jake questions Basilisk’s purpose and identity, Basilisk tells Jake that he is a supervillain. “Bad is such a clichéd black-and-white view of the world,” Basilisk says. “We just have different opinions. And when those opinions conflict and the majority’s cherished beliefs, then they label us as ‘the bad guys….’ It is not a battle between good and evil, there is no such thing. It is merely a battle of wills, a battle for power.”
Jake gladly joins the battle. He loves the feeling of mastery he gets from his superpowers and enjoys the secret double life he leads outside his boring existence with his family and friends. While he continues to question Basilisk’s methods and purposes, he justifies each individual act of villainy in terms of what he can gain in skill and power.
It is only toward the end of COUNCIL OF EVIL that Jake realizes how manipulated and compromised he has become. He discovers that Basilisk has lied to him systematically about their mission. His friends from school betray him in their own bid for power. His family’s memory is erased so they no longer remember him or the damage he has caused. His body is irrevocably changed by the superpowers he has had coursing through him. But even as Jake faces the possibility of prison time, his thoughts still turn to control and revenge.
In Villain.net Andy Briggs has created a compelling picture of a young person with charisma and leadership abilities who has become warped by his own relentless fears and need for power. Several surprise twists at the end of the book, along with Jake’s ability to justify almost any action, make for a gripping read.
Villain.net and its companion series, Hero.com, are wonderful additions to the superhero genre. Told with insight and humor, the books share characters and events, but can easily be read as stand-alone titles. The question is whether or not you would want to read just one when given such an intriguing pairing for this promising new series.
--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood
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