Ben Braver and the Vortex of Doom review

It’s great when our 10 year-old discovers a new book that he enjoys. That was the case with Ben Braver and the Vortex of Doom. Even though this is the third book in the series it’s the first one that he read and hadn’t heard of the character before. However, Vortex of Doom has that vibe about it that’s just the sort of thing upper elementary school readers through middle school will eat up.   

From a cursory look it has something for parents, as well as, readers. Ages 8 and up will immediately notice that Vortex of Doom feels like a Wimpy Kid book to an extent. There are lots of illustrations that help move the story forward. However, unlike that book series, the Ben Braver story is entirely about science-fiction. Parents will encourage kids to read Ben Braver too because the books require more reading and have more heart.  

At the risk of alienating potential young readers to Vortex of Doom, the book has…emotions. One of its story lines is all about a family that is reunited and their quest to remain that way. However, this family also involves time travel, superheroes, aliens, giant lizards and a vortex that’s about the destroy everything. Yeah, while there are some feelings and emotions in the book, they’re surrounded by so many things that young readers will simply see them as something that’s required to see if Earth gets destroyed.  

Each chapter is about eight pages long and has a couple of illustrations. Our 10 year-old hadn’t read the other Ben Braver books and was immediately attracted to Vortex of Doom. In his characteristically brief description he said, “lots of action, cool characters” and that it made him “want to read the other two”. Our oldest son is apparently a reincarnated beatnik who missed the poetry boat.  

He really enjoyed the book and has already asked when the next one comes out. I explained to him that Marcus Emerson is probably quite busy but that he’ll hop on another story as soon as he can. In the meantime I’ll recommend that he check out Diary of a 6^th Grade Ninja, Emerson’s other series that is probably cut from the same cloth. 

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