Battle Mountain

Gr 4–7—The stakes are high in this technology-filled novel. In an alternate world in which giant robot Transformers have come to Earth, Kevin Bowman's life has been turned upside down and his brother left missing after a run-in with the evil Decepticons. Kevin heads to Battle Mountain with a team of U.S. military ally Autobots in hopes of finding his lost sibling and a secret stockpile of weapons. But they aren't alone-the Decepticons are on their way to Battle Mountain as well, leading to an inevitable showdown. The epilogue promises that the story will continue. The writing is clichéd, character development is minimal, and dialogue is at times trite. The history of the Transformers is included, but there will still be a bit of a learning curve for those new to the characters and backstory. Overall, this is a fairly routine entertainment tie-in.—Travis Jonker, Wayland Union Schools, MI