Today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Board book review is from Michael Hayball. If you are a publicist and would like to send our Youth Advisory Board books to review, please email me. To give our board feedback on reviews, leave a comment or write to them directly via email: youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com.

YAB Review: 'Daniel X: Alien Hunter' By James Patterson

To be honest, I had never picked up anything by James Patterson before. The only exposure I had to his work was watching my mom read his murder mysteries by nightlight in her room. I love graphic novels however, and seeing that it has the "Mom Pedigree" behind it, I figured I'd give James Patterson's Daniel X: Alien Hunter a shot.

The plot charmed me and disinterested me at the same time. On one hand, certain elements struck me as new and interesting, but on the whole the plot felt like it was lacking…"Je ne sais quoi," that certain something. It's alright though, since it was really the first installment of a bigger series.

That being said, Daniel as a character really hooked me. He struck me as an incredibly sympathetic character, who had noticeable humanizing flaws. For one, he's only a kid! He’s young, inexperienced, and vulnerable. He's also very lonely, since his entire family is gone. He doesn’t even have friends, so he has to create his own friends to keep himself company.

The element that impressed me the most was the artwork. Each panel looks hand-painted and beautiful. It reminded me of the comic book pages from the TV show "Heroes," and the camera (pencil?) angles are marvelous. You can really tell Leopoldo Gout, the illustrator, really went for a cinematic look for this comic.

Daniel X: Alien Hunter is a well-put together graphic novel, and for 10 bucks, you really can’t go wrong. I will say that it is a bit on the short side, but it is perfect for short reads. I would recommend it to anyone, fan or Patterson's books or not.

About Michael Hayball
Michael lives a simple life in Allen Park, Mi. When he is not attending Henry Ford Community College for his Associates, he can be seen chatting and socializing around campus and the local coffeeshop. He enjoys a good iced caramel cappuccino, or a regular coca-cola. Michael loves what he calls "The Blog Music," and he was and still is raised on a steady diet of electronic music and old-school hip hop. Michael hopes to work for Spin magazine one day, and screams like a little girl every time a new issue comes to the local coffee shop.

Today's Ypulse Books feature is from Ypulse Youth Advisory Board member Akanksha Aurora. Given all of the buzz surrounding the first "Twilight" movie, her post feels very timely and reaffirms that the "Twilight" series is indeed an international phenomenon…Remember, you can communicate directly with the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com.

'Twilight' Through The Eyes Of An Indian Teen

Indian mythology was created as a means of entertaining the masses long before television and computers. Therefore, every mythical hero or heroine had characteristics who set an example for the Indian people. Since most of these mythological characters in India were crafted for the purpose of encouraging positive transformation within its citizens, vampires could not even be conceptualized. Even though Stephanie Meyer shines a different light on vampires in her "Twilight" series, the preconceived notion of blood-sucking creatures enveloped in darkness doesn’t quite fit.

For me, fiction like Meyer's is unorthodox and refreshing and is a hit in India due to the Indian teen’s internal quest for change and undying curiosity. Books like Twilight introduce new concepts of mythical characters to our youth, incorporating topics like relationships, love and sensuality, making us look at things in a whole new light.

The Indian teen is nothing if not transformational. The new generation of Indian teens yearns to break free from the conventional ideals set up by Indian mythology. Seeing vampires through the eyes of Meyer's Isabella Swan has changed our perspective as the family of vampires depicted in this series is kind, warm and caring.

Indian authors such as Chitra Banerjee have also incorporated mythical concepts similar to Meyer's within their works but have targeted an audience consisting mainly of adults.

The possibility of drastic change, of starting afresh is exquisitely captured in this stunning and beautiful collection of books, marvelously combining myth and romance; easily finding its way into our hearts. Voraciously read by Indian teens, the "Twilight" series has truly broadened our horizons.

About Akanksha

By the time she got to the much-dreaded, self-esteem destroying wasteland also known as high-school, Akanksha began to develop an interest in writing. Suddenly, all the words she ever knew began to creep into her dreams, and discover all her darkest thoughts and feelings, before silently but permanently immersing themselves within her soul and transforming themselves into fiction. In addition to that, the French language is her drug and acne is her worst enemy. She laughs a little too much and is a romantic in the extreme sense.

Note from Anastasia: When I asked the new Ypulse Youth Advisory Board what kinds of features they wanted to write for Ypulse, "book reviews" kept coming up. Given all the discussion about the decline of teen reading [long form books], this was encouraging to hear. Yes, the YAB is made up of young people who mostly self identify as being writers, but not all teen writers are avid readers. I know there are lots of book review sites out there as well as teen book review sites (our friends at Teen Scene magazine just sent a link to their reviews), but that's ok, the more youth voices and opinions about books written for them the better I say.

If you are a publicist and would like to send our Youth Advisory Board books to review, please email me. To give our board feedback on reviews, leave a comment or write to them directly via email: youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com.

Our first review is from YAB member Michael Hayball.

'Cycler': A Book For All Ages…And Genders

In young adult fiction, there are tons of books about boy or girl-meets-boy or girl stories, so it's notable when a boy/girl-meets-boy/girl story shows up. That's exactly the premise of the book Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin.

There's our hero/ine, Jill McTeague. She's an average girl who happens to leave school for four days out of the month for "blood transfusions." Unbeknownst to her friends, she goes home to have her period, which turns her into Jack, a skinny teenage boy. For four days she turns into a raging male, and she can't stop it. McLaughlin nails the voice of a teenage boy locked in Jill's bedroom, with only naughty magazines and girls to fantasize about. You see, Jack is smitten with Jill's best friend, and his emotions some times leak over into Jill's subconscious. This, combined with her/his parents increasing intolerance of Jack's stay in their daughter's body, and that Jill's boyfriend is bisexual makes for pretty enticing drama.

Cycler is an excellent book for all ages, genders and any combination thereof. It is equal parts sci-fi, teen drama and love story. The only complaint I have is that McLaughlin gives too much page time to Jill, when Jack is just as interesting a character. There is a good cliffhanger ending, and I suspect that his character will be fleshed out in the next book. This aside, it is a great debut book by an up-and-coming author.

About Michael Hayball
Michael lives a simple life in Allen Park, Mi. When he is not attending Henry Ford Community College for his Associates, he can be seen chatting and socializing around campus and the local coffeeshop. He enjoys a good iced caramel cappuccino, or a regular coca-cola. Michael loves what he calls "The Blog Music," and he was and still is raised on a steady diet of electronic music and old-school hip hop. Michael hopes to work for Spin magazine one day, and screams like a little girl every time a new issue comes to the local coffee shop.