The Magnificent 12: The Call

From themag12.com:  Three thousand years ago the Pale Queen was banished to the underworld. Now she’s back: meaner, crazier, and more dangerous than ever. Only one thing stands between her and the destruction of the human race—a team of twelve twelve-year-olds. So humanity is basically out of luck. It’s clearly hopeless. Seriously: a bunch of twelve-year-olds versus the greatest evil the world has ever known? Please. No way. Unless . . . unless Mack MacAvoy can assemble and lead the Magnificent Twelve as they discover unsuspected powers. But he’d better to do it quickly because if the Magnificent Twelve don’t win, then the world as we know it will be lost forever. And that would be a bad thing. 

No one has ever accused twelve-year-old Mack MacAvoy of being brave. He has so many phobias he’s even developed a phobia of phobias! Mack is sarcastic, a little lazy, and a born bully magnet. Not exactly your typical hero. Too bad the evil Pale Queen couldn’t care less. She is determined to destroy the world, and only Mack and a team of twelve twelve-year-olds from around the globe have the power to stop her. They are the Magnificent Twelve, and it’s up to Mack to assemble and lead them.

Mack’s first mission is to travel to Australia to find Jarrah, the second of the Magnificent Twelve—but it won’t be easy. Ereskigal, the Queen’s drop-dead beautiful daughter, is already on the loose. And don’t let her drop-dead looks fool you. She’s much more into the dropping-dead part than the being beautiful part. She is the evil goddess of the underworld, after all.

Luckily, Mack has his very own bodyguard—Stefan, king of the bullies. Sure, Stefan used to use Mack as his personal punching bag. But things are different now. And besides, when you have to travel across the world, fight indescribable evil, and face your deepest fears, sometimes it’s good to have a bully around. That, plus advice from a very old man named Grimluk, who fought the Pale Queen himself thousands of years ago, will be invaluable to Mack.

So Mack’s got Grimluk, Stefan, and a brand-new credit card on his side. Now all he has to do is get to Australia, face an army of deadly elves, and fight the undefeatable Ereskigal. Oh—and hope his parents don’t figure out they’re living with a shape-shifting creature called a golem instead of their son.
Piece of cake, right?

From Heather:   This was kind of a fun book to read.  It wasn't my very favorite book of all time, but it was a nice fun read.  It's probably one of those that, if my age fell into the target audience range, I would love it.  And if I was a boy.  =]  (There were way too many descriptions of ugly monsters and action for my taste...I found myself skipping past a lot of it.)  It's a fun story, and the writing was just the right amount of sarcasm and humor in it.  Mack is a funny character at times, and I really liked reading about him, although I loved Stefan even more I think.  He is the king of the bullies.  (Each group at school has their "own" bully, and Stefan is king of them all.)

All in all it was a fun middle-grade read and I'm  interested to see what happens next!  (Oh!  And check out the website themag12.com...this is one of those books that has a companion website with games and stuff to go along with the story!  It might be even more fun than the book!)