The Vindico [Hardcover]

Wesley King (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 14, 2012 | Series: Vindico

X-Men meets The Breakfast Club in this darkly humorous adventure

The Vindico are a group of supervillains who have been fighting the League of Heroes for as long as anyone can remember. Realizing they're not as young as they used to be, they devise a plan to kidnap a group of teenagers to take over for them when they retire--after all, how hard can it be to teach a bunch of angsty teens to be evil?

Held captive in a remote mansion, five teens train with their mentors and receive superpowers beyond their wildest dreams. Struggling to uncover the motives of the Vindico, the teens have to trust each other to plot their escape. But they quickly learn that the differences between good and evil are not as black and white as they seem, and they are left wondering whose side they should be fighting on after all . . .

With fast-paced action, punchy dialogue, and sarcastic humor, this high-stakes adventure from a talented new YA voice pulls you in from the first page.

Editorial Reviews

Review

FROM VOYA, Starred Review: 

"King brilliantly combines teenage points of view and emotions with comic book excitement in this superbly composed tale of superheroes and super villains. Readers get to know each of the five teens through their distinctive voices and personalities and can easily follow their motivations as they struggle to make the impossible decision of how to use their newfound powers. There is nonstop action as the teens learn how to use their powers with and against their villain mentors that will keep readers engaged and excited throughout the book. This is an excellent addition to any library serving teens, as it will appeal to reluctant readers with its fast-paced action, and almost all teen readers will love the comic book feel of this book."

FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL:

"[King's] teens are vivid, funny, and relatable, but their growth never comes at the expense of story or plot development. Add in descriptions of cool weaponry and superpowers, a healthy dose of clever one-liners and snappy dialogue, and plenty of chases and explosions, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a hit series that teens will love. King is definitely an author to watch." 


FROM BOOKLIST:

"Here’s a debut that will knock middle-grade superhero fans on their butts. In a fresh twist, five ordinary teens are recruited to learn superhuman powers—by the villains . . . By minimizing the numbing action scenes so common to this sort of book and focusing instead upon the interplay of the witty, appealing kids, King deepens the reader’s experience by turning each character—yes, even the Torturer!—into more than the typical black-and-white placeholder . . . kids are going to gobble this up."


FROM HORN BOOK:

"With the Vindico characters’ backstories, King grays the line between good and evil even further . . . he never loses his knack for humorous—and teen-friendly—dialogue, e.g., “If you turn a bunch of kids into supervillains, you can’t expect them to follow the rules.”"

About the Author

Wesley King lives in suburban Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, where he spends most of his time in imagined universes of superpowered children, dying stars, and dystopian fantasy realms. This is his first novel.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (June 14, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399256547
• ISBN-13: 978-0399256547
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic YA Debut July 19, 2012

By SciFiChick TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Five teens are abducted by the supervillain team known as The Vindico, and are chosen to be the future of the group. The Vindico have been the long-time nemeses of the League of Heroes; and each Vindico member has their own reason for hating them and wanting revenge. But the teens may not be as easy to sway as the supervillains believe. Tempted by new superpowers and each trained by a skilled and dangerous villain, the teens will be forced to make extremely difficult decisions that will impact not only their lives but those around them.

James was recently dumped by his girlfriend who had been cheating on him with his best friend. Hayden has been living on his own, abandoned by his family. Lana's father has been lying to their family. Emily is already a genius hacker who only has her grandfather to rely upon. And Sam seems to be from a stable, loving home, but the Vindico even put doubts in his mind about how much they really miss him. The Vindico do a great job of breaking the teens down and making them question their home lives. But these teens, while not always making the wisest decisions, have good hearts and loyal natures.

Super hero and comic book fans of all ages should enjoy this fast-paced, action-packed adventure. The villains and heroes are not always black and white. And it's not always obvious what the right path should be. This coming-of-age tale is full of teen angst, humor, and suspense. The Vindico is a fantastic young adult debut told from various character point-of-views, giving more depth to the characters and unique perspectives. This incredibly fun story was impossible to put down. It's a wholly standalone novel, but would make for an exciting series.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Justice League meets The X Men meets The Breakfast Club August 28, 2012

By Mundie Moms/Mundie Kids

Format:Hardcover

Sometimes the only way to out smart a Villain it to become evil in order to become a super hero, or is it.... *evil laugh* If you took The Justice League and X-Men and introduced them to the Breakfast Club, you'd get The Vindico. This well written, fast paced book is one both YA and adult readers will enjoy. It's at times humorous, other times action paced and yet at the heart of this story is a message readers can walk way with. The thing I enjoyed the most about Wes's writing is how he was able to blur the lines of good and evil. It was incredibly fascinating for me to see how my first notion that someone was wrong, or the choice someone else made was good, was in fact not necessarily the truth. Getting to see how someone on the "other side" of that action saw it was eye opening, and explained a lot about the history of two groups and the feelings towards each other.

Mixed into this story about Superheroes and Villains, are 5 proteges who were all kidnapped and in a round about way forced to join the world's greatest villains, The Vindico. Each of these kids are just your average teens, and yet there's something about each one of them that will help them grow into these amazing kids with superpowers. You know the kind of power you wish you had, like jedi mind trick powers, super strength, speed and more. As much as I loved getting to read about and understand the back story on how some of the villains came to be and their ties to the League of Hereos, I enjoyed getting to know about the 5 proteges more.

Wes's writing is fabulous, as he tells the story from all angles, and introduces each character into the story in a very distinct way, making it very easy to follow along with. This not only made the story flow well, but it kept me invested with this story, and all that was going on. I seriously love the Justice League, and really any sort of well created Super Hero vs Super Villain story, and The Vindico was the perfect mix of that. This is a story that I surprisingly read in one setting, I enjoyed it that much. It has all the right elements that I enjoy in my beloved super hero story's, and then some. Like humor, a little bit of romance, kick butt characters, characters who are trying to find their own destiny and can easily be persuaded to do good or to do wrong, and a back story that allowed me to understand the actions of both sides of the law.

Readers are able to get a glimpse into the lives of each of the teen characters that are introduced in this story, and are able to see how their back story's shape who they become, and the roles they now play in the epic battle of good vs evil. Given the fact there's still a lot left to know about them and their final decisions, I'm hoping that either each character will get their own book, or there will be at least a few more books in this series. I'm looking forward to reading more books from Wes and jumping back into this world with his next installment with this series. I think this is a story that both guys and girls, teens and adults alike with all enjoy, and it's one I highly recommend picking up!

5.0 out of 5 stars good book March 14, 2013

By DirtyFaceDoll

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

received in excellent condition without damage. required reading for school book club. great buy! excellent price. good read for pre-teens.