(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Jack Blank is living the dream as a celebrity superhero-in-training in the Imagine Nation.  Unfortunately, Jack’s dream has a nightmare lurking under the surface—a shocking connection to the enemy super-soldier Revile, and a deadly Rüstov plot he can’t tell anyone about…not even his closest friends.

When the heroes of the Imagine Nation discover that an attack by Rüstov sleeper agents is imminent, Jack is forced to trust his friends in a race against the clock to fight back mass hysteria, find the enemy spies, and thwart the Rüstov plans in time to prevent a devastating invasion.

Full disclosure: After reading my review of The Accidental Hero and seeing that I loved the first book, Matt Myklusch sent me The Secret War, the second book, to review as I saw fit.

With that cleared up, let me say that The Secret War was fascinating.  Jack has grown more as a character over the year after the events of The Accidental Hero and it’s not all for the better.  He finds it hard to trust people, even his friends, with his horrible secret about the Rüstov and Revile.  This, in many authors’ hands, would make him completely unlikeable, but Matt Myklusch managed to pull things off by showing the reader just how much pressure Jack is under.

One of the best things about The Secret War is that we learn so much more about the Imagine Nation.  Matt Myklusch takes readers on a journey outside the city itself, which was the only place we saw in the first book.  This journey outside of Jack’s comfort zone was definitely interesting because it shows just how much effort was put into world-building.

With an unpredictable plot, incredible world-building and sympathetic, three dimensional characters, there’s really nothing more you can ask for in a YA novel.  Well, there is one thing: it’s aimed at boys.  Yes, the oft-neglected male demographic in YA can finally have a great new series to read!  And the best part?  Girls can enjoy this book too.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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