Noble Warrior

April 15, 2015
A teenage mixed martial arts genius works covert ops for the U.S. government. It's been 10 months since the witness protection program whisked McCutcheon "M.D." Daniels and his little sister away from their miserable lives in Detroit. In that time, M.D. has been working with the military, training in the arts of black ops, and occasionally going into the field and using his unique set of skills to catch predators. Meanwhile, back home, the Priests have targeted M.D.'s abandoned flame and his father in efforts to draw the boy that got away out from hiding. It all comes to a head with an undercover M.D. entering Jentles State Prison, a facility notorious for breaking prisoners beyond imagination. Sitomer's Caged Warrior (2014) was an exciting action thriller that leaned into its darkest elements in smart, interesting ways. Unfortunately this sequel can't pull off the same balancing act. This scenario involving top-secret government agencies and Supermax prisons is completely removed from the reality established in the previous book. Instead of escalating the stakes, the author has blown them up to comic-book levels. When everything is so big and so tough and so gritty and so violent, there's no room for hope, nor is there much room for reader engagement. The book concludes with a beat that feels cribbed from The Shawshank Redemption and a hint at further books. Few readers will want to follow. A sequel that destroys the goodwill established by its predecessor. (Thriller. 12-16)

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June 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Recruited by the F.B.I. as an urban warrior, 17-year-old McCutcheon "M.D." Daniels is a martial-arts phenom fighting gang violence in his Detroit hometown. In this sequel to Caged Warrior (Disney-Hyperion, 2014), M.D. is lured out of the Witness Protection Program to infiltrate a prison, and knock off "The High Priest," leader of the Detroit gang responsible for numerous atrocities of domestic terrorism and forcing M.D.'s family into hiding. Disconnected from his girlfriend, Kaitlin, M.D. fears for her safety and accepts the (supposedly) three-day mission at Jentles Penitentiary, (or "D.T" Devil's Toilet), which houses the most notorious felons in Michigan, including M.D.'s own dead-beat father. Once inside, it becomes clear to readers that M.D. has an ulterior motive for wanting "in," and that his mentor, Colonel Stanzer, may have purposely arranged this as a no-return suicide mission for the teenager whose ethics often get in the way of F.B.I. goals. Captive, and at the mercy of his conniving father and crooked guards, M.D. relies on martial arts strategies to stay calm, focused, and alert. Gritty fighting details keep the well-paced drama flowing, and it is suspenseful to the end as obstacles mount for M.D.'s possible escape, and motives of minor characters seem to add up to an ultimate betrayal for the teen. Some raw language and situational violence inherent in urban gang warfare juxtaposes M.D.'s strong moral values, for even more hero appeal. VERDICT Not just for martial-arts fans, but for all teen readers who thrive on roller-coaster action and drama.-Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Grades 10-1 In Caged Warrior (2014), McCutcheon Daniels made a name for himself as a mixed martial arts genius fighting in underground cage matches. This picks up his story at age 16, and it's a doozy. Recruited into a top-secret, experimental government program that uses teens to thwart terrorist activity, McCutcheon has become a fine-tuned weapona sort of teenage Jason Bourne. His only weakness? The girl he left behind, Kaitlyn. When he receives word that a Detroit gang known as the Priests has taken Kaitlyn hostage, McCutcheon smuggles himself into Jentles State Prison, aka the Devil's Toilet, where he attempts to save her life by fighting in illegal prison matches on behalf of the High Priest incarcerated there. Surrounded by corruption, twisted humanity, violence, and personal betrayal, McCutcheon's warrior code is tested to the breaking point. The stakes are high, as is the brutality; however, if blood and shoelace hangings aren't a problem, readers will easily get caught up in the action and many double-crosses. The ending leaves room for another series installment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)