Book Review: The 4midables: The Legend Grows

THE 4MIDABLES: The Legend Grows by Don Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book three of the fast-paced The 4midables series continues the adventures of Madison, Ethan, Rafael and Maya, as they make good use of their smarts, energy, and bravado, along with the device that allows them to be anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. The kids also have the ability to travel in time, within strict boundaries. They can’t visit ancient Egypt, but they can go back a day or so to investigate crimes where MI5 or the FBI have few leads. After uncovering crucial intel, the teens anonymously alert the authorities before resuming their normal lives.

I want to talk about the author’s writing style, because it’s not the norm, and there’s an interesting story behind it. Don Young is not a traditional book author. He writes in an active, briskly paced style. Sometimes actions are expressed in just a few descriptive words, rather than a complete sentence. This is because he’s a former writer on the Inspector Gadget cartoon series. Writing for television requires a much different writing style. It comes with the advantage of not having to fully describe a scene, since it will be brought visually to life. A brief description is usually all that’s needed.

After Gadget, the author went on to write TV movies. He came to the conclusion that he didn’t like the levels of violence being shown in movies aimed at teenagers. Don’s 4midables kids align with his viewpoint. These are good kids. Not squeaky-clean kids, as there’s plenty of sneaking around and keeping parents in the dark, but realistic, appealing kids who just happen to have a side-hustle of crime prevention. They have a variety of personal skills that come into play during their adventures. And when they overstep, there are serious consequences to their actions that must be addressed.

As a bonus, there’s plenty of fun facts sprinkled throughout the stories, giving the readers a light education on the countries they visit, examples of how to calculate currency exchanges, and occasionally a history lesson, if warranted. These aren’t heavy-handed. They are value-added bonuses that let readers come away both entertained, and more knowledgeable.

The cinematic pacing and visual style of the storytelling make it easy to imagine the series as a live-action television adaptation, expanding the story beyond the page. I’m looking forward to seeing where Young takes these teens in Book 4.