Thank you Allen & Unwin for this book in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:

Tough enough? Smart enough? Max will require all his skills just to stay alive as a Special Forces Cadet…

A top-secret government programme needs a crack team of undercover military operators. They must have awesome levels of determination, endurance and fitness. They must be able to think on their feet. The recruits undergo the most rigorous and testing selection process the modern military can devise. And in order to operate in circumstances where adult forces would be compromised, the recruits must be under sixteen. Only a few are tough enough and smart enough to make it . . . And once out in the field, they will require all their skills just to stay alive. Which is what happens when Max Silver, Abby Asher, Lukas Channing and Sami Hakim are sent into an armed siege in an inner-city school .

Review:

I have read some of Chris Ryan’s adult work and can say that I am a fan. But generally I find that writers can be particularly good at one type of genre but when they attempt something out of their usual scope of work, it tends to be not as brilliant as their usual work. Upon seeing Siege I figured, well hey this could go either way. It could be really good or it can go horribly wrong. Well I’m bloody glad I gave it a go as Siege is a perfect action packed middle grad book that is missing for kids book cases. And I have never read a middle grad book like this is a long time!

From the get go this book was action packed, full of dangerous situations and a plot that would leave any kid on the edge of their seat. Max, a young orphan gets taken to a covert military group where he is trained to sneak into any situation unnoticed and take down the bad guy. After all, kids are completely innocent right?

I love the fact that Ryan includes some history of our characters that build to the story and his characters were oh so brilliant. I want them all to be picked and couldn’t flaw them in the slightest. And the controversy and the competition between the selected group of kids is real and hard hitting and you truly do find yourself invested in the story.

Besides the characters the writing was bloody brilliant. I am beginning to think that there is nothing Chris Ryan can’t do.

Over all, I loved this book, the only thing that let me down was the fact it wasn’t long enough. The characters were great, the story was brilliant and creative and it was just a fantastic book. And the cover, well that is intensely awesome as well. I highly recommend that you pick this book up for your children if they love action.

Rating: 4.5/5

ISBN: 9781471407253

Publisher: Hot Keys