Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den (Simon Thorn, #1)

by Aimée Carter

[Beth C.]

Simon lives with his uncle in New York while his mother travels a lot. Simon also talk to animals - and they can talk back. He manages to keep this from his uncle, until the day his mother comes home and the rats come for all of them. Now Simon knows he's not just a "freak", but his mother is missing, he's stuck in the middle of a brewing war, and he's not sure exactly who he can trust.

This is an interesting premise for a children's book, simply because I think all kids want to be able to talk to animals at one point or another. Unfortunately, the execution doesn't really manage to follow through on the promise. For starters, the book has a tendency to become confusing. There is a LOT going on, much of it all at once. It was a bit overwhelming at times, trying to keep straight who was on which side. The characters did not help that much, since many of them were missing out on any depth. The bad were totally bad, and several others just felt like filler needed to follow the eventual storyline.

The story itself was at least interesting, and does hold promise in the future with whatever sequels come along. Some kids will find the story too transparent (it feels pretty obvious at times where the story is going), while others may not. It definitely feels like a showdown setup is taking place by the end of the book, but I will say nothing else about it because I don't do spoilers.

Overall, there are some kids who will be willing to overlook the flaws and keep reading, but there will be others that will walk away and just never manage to come back. I would recommend this be a library book vs. a purchase, unless you're very certain of which one it might be.