May 1, 2018
Gr 8 Up-Robert Hutchinson is sarcastic and charming, and readers will love to follow him in his journey from juvie-bound teen to secret agent trainee and all-star boy band member. Hutch is on the run from the cops, and this time his penchant for bursting into song can't save him. He lands in juvie and is met by an agent who tells him he can either leave with her, no questions asked, or die tomorrow. Hutch leaves with her and is knocked unconscious. He wakes up in a high security facility and is told to obey the rules at all costs if he wants to a) survive and b) pass the test to gain his freedom. If he passes, he will become a Shadow-a protector of a Future Important Person. After making it through the grueling tests, Hutch finds out his FIP is Ryo Enomoto, a world-famous boy band member. And now, so is Hutch. And worse off, he's got to sing, which is what got him in trouble in the first place. This is not what Hutch signed up for, but it's a job he's got to do-or else he dies. This fast-paced, fun, and all-around snarky novel can and should be read concurrently with Shine's debut novel I Become Shadow. VERDICT A great addition to any YA collection.-Caitlin Wilson, Meadowdale Library, North Chesterfield, VA
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2018
A highly trained human weapon, à la Jason Bourne, receives his mission: Join a boy band or die.During yet another stint in juvie, Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson (code name "Bobby Sky") is kidnapped and enlisted in a covert training program. Who is behind the program, and why, after Hutch has done everything right, are they trying to kill him? Action-packed and snarkily humorous, Bobby Sky smartly strikes all of the markers of the covert agent story--bad boy with a heart of gold, training montage, tons of cool gadgets, and intrigue galore--and should find its readers. Regrettably, it also replicates the genre's most predictable and odious tropes. Female characters serve primarily as love interests (albeit badass ones), and the novel fails the Bechdel test. Hutch and the majority of speaking characters are white by default, with the exception of one-note fellow boy band members Karim (Moroccan), Amit (Indian), and Ryo (Japanese). Shine (I Become Shadow, 2014) mashes up the best hits of Asian women stereotypes (inscrutable, technophile, temptress) in Akiko, Bobby Sky's Bond babe, replete with chopsticks in her hair. The biggest disappointment may be the story's lack of resolution. Recounted almost entirely from the confinement of a cell, the brief bit of contemporary action acts to reframe the entire novel as a trailer for another installment--this piece doesn't really stand alone.An entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying addition to the crowded genre. (Thriller. 12-18)
COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
June 4, 2018
In Shine’s thrilling follow-up to 2014’s I Become Shadow, 14-year-old Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson is kidnapped by FATE (Future Affairs Training and Education), a super-secret government program aimed at making him a top-secret guardian called a Shadow. After two years of grueling training, he’s assigned to his Future Important Person, Ryo Enomoto, a Japanese national tasked with heading up a boy band. First, though, Hutch, now called Bobby Sky, must learn how to sing and dance like a professional. This was not the assignment he was hoping for, but after being chemically “linked” to Ryo, he doesn’t have a choice. The future of this mega-famous band, International—made up of Bobby (American), Ryo (Japanese), Kareem (Moroccan), and Seamus (Irish)—is hilariously planned to the hilt, complete with fake breakups and fights, and it’s all fun and mega stardom until Bobby is attacked by his own team, and someone takes down the band’s plane. Can Bobby save the day? Snarky narrator Bobby is genuinely funny, offering the perfect balance of self-deprecating and cocky. With plenty of derring-do, complete with a surprise cameo appearance, this adventure will please fans of the first book and win plenty of new ones. Ages 14–up. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group.
January 1, 2019
Petty criminal Hutch receives an ultimatum: die in juvie or secretly train at FATE (introduced in I Become Shadow) to become the perfect bodyguard for a "future important person." Two years later, sixteen-year-old Hutch is surprisingly tasked with joining a manufactured boy band to guard its lead singer. This sequel, with its snarky yet kindhearted narrator, entertainingly mixes celeb lifestyle with adventure and intrigue.
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
May 1, 2018
A highly trained human weapon, � la Jason Bourne, receives his mission: Join a boy band or die.During yet another stint in juvie, Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson (code name "Bobby Sky") is kidnapped and enlisted in a covert training program. Who is behind the program, and why, after Hutch has done everything right, are they trying to kill him? Action-packed and snarkily humorous, Bobby Sky smartly strikes all of the markers of the covert agent story--bad boy with a heart of gold, training montage, tons of cool gadgets, and intrigue galore--and should find its readers. Regrettably, it also replicates the genre's most predictable and odious tropes. Female characters serve primarily as love interests (albeit badass ones), and the novel fails the Bechdel test. Hutch and the majority of speaking characters are white by default, with the exception of one-note fellow boy band members Karim (Moroccan), Amit (Indian), and Ryo (Japanese). Shine (I Become Shadow, 2014) mashes up the best hits of Asian women stereotypes (inscrutable, technophile, temptress) in Akiko, Bobby Sky's Bond babe, replete with chopsticks in her hair. The biggest disappointment may be the story's lack of resolution. Recounted almost entirely from the confinement of a cell, the brief bit of contemporary action acts to reframe the entire novel as a trailer for another installment--this piece doesn't really stand alone.An entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying addition to the crowded genre. (Thriller. 12-18)
COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.