Review: I have the greatest respect for authors who pull stories from their life's pains and turn them into positive tales for today.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
Ladybug Lin here, and yep, I've been at it again...keeping my antenna to the e-reader and letting my wings take a long siesta...but boy did I get a LOT of reading done...so I didn't morph from my gorgeous Ladybug self into a yucky old slug.Today I am reviewing Book Two in the trilogy written by Stuart R. West about Tex, that teen witch boy from Kansas. So let's get started...and I'm gonna start by saying I have the greatest respect for those who revisit the turmoil they experienced in years gone by...you know the real stuff we somehow manage to survive by the skin of our teeth.A lot of Stuart's stuff makes it into TEX AND THE GANGS OF SUBURBIA, and let me be perfectly honest...I grew up a bit north of Philadelphia, and I really didn't think gangs...dangerous ones, really existed in places like Kansas. I figured Kansas was pure rolling hills, country, and calm, cool, and collected. I was wrong.This book picks up where Book One...TEX, THE WITCH BOY,....ended, only a year later. Tex is still trying to figure out what it means to be an unwitting , but predestined witch while also dealing with the "normal" angst issues that go with puberty and not being one of the "in" crowd.Murder, portals, magic, bullying...how much should one teen boy have to deal with? Throw into that a VP determined to prove he's done something ANYTHING the VP can nail his hide to detention hall for, oh and his girlfriend has just broken up with him and he wants her back really bad. Poor Tex is really struggling to keep his magical head above water, so to speak. Add in Tex's growing number of misfit friends, including one his ex-girlfriend is flirting with entirely too much...oh and a cop who knows somehow Tex is like a magnet for bad things so is haunting his footsteps too...At least he has his car, "Bucket".Tex and his misfits are far from perfect and yet each and every one of them is a person we find ourselves cheering on as the trouble with gangs in Suburbia escalates all around them.Tex is not wise beyond measure. He's facing many issues we all faced...being the odd kid out...the one the others tormented...teased...picked on...terrified, but he's also facing things like seeing the crawling flesh of the bully who died last year popping up in the creepiest of places and at the most inopportune moments. Hmmm...come to think on it, IS there ever an OPPORTUNE moment for such a visit?There's a lot going on in this book, and as a former teacher, I know how valuable this book could and would be for any teacher to incorporate in his/her lesson plans.Therefore I easily award Stuart R. West and his TEX AND THE GANGS OF SUBURBIA,FIVE STARS.Mr. West, you've tackled difficult subjects in these last two books, so I have to wonder, what do you have in store for us in book three TEX AND THE GOD SQUAD?