2022
WISE Score
Amazon
Michael Vey is back from 'retirement' because apparently, saving the world once wasn't enough to keep the electric bill down.
4.8
4.8View →Our reviews and ratings are 100% unbiased, but as an Amazon Associate, Screenwise earns an affiliate fee if you buy a book or game by clicking one of our links. We don't get any credit if you just Google it instead :)
If your kid is already a Michael Vey fan, this is a no-brainer. It’s a solid return to form for a series that many thought was over in 2017.
It’s not high-brow literature, but it’s high-engagement fiction. It’s the kind of book that actually gets finished instead of sitting on the nightstand gathering dust.
It’s clean, it’s exciting, and it values friendship over 'lone wolf' tropes. Definitely worth the shelf space.
Best for ages 11 to 15. It's perfect for middle schoolers who want a 'big kid' book that isn't overly dark or depressing.
The series is built on loyalty and the 'Electroclan' bond. It's refreshingly focused on teamwork and sacrifice rather than just individual ego. While there's plenty of conflict, the moral compass of the protagonists remains pointed north.
Richard Paul Evans keeps finding new ways to play with electrical powers. The transition from high school rebels to 'trying to be normal' adults adds a fresh perspective to the superhero-lite genre.
It's a standard YA thriller. There's action-oriented violence and some 'brutal' threats as mentioned in the synopsis, but it lacks the gore or explicit content that would make it a 'parents only' read. Very safe for the 12+ crowd.
It’s primarily an adventure romp, but it touches on the difficulty of moving on from trauma and the responsibilities of power. It's great for keeping kids reading who might otherwise drift toward mindless scrolling.
The Michael Vey series was a completed circuit back in 2017. When book seven wrapped, most fans assumed the Electroclan had earned their retirement. Then 2022 happened. Richard Paul Evans decided to restart the generators with The Parasite, and the result is a book that feels like catching up with old friends who have finally started paying their own cell phone bills.
The biggest shift here is the age of the characters. Michael and the gang aren't hiding in lockers or dealing with high school drama anymore. They’re in college. They have jobs. This is a smart move for a series that has been around long enough for its original readers to have grown up. It bridges the gap between middle-grade fiction and young adult tropes without diving into the dark, edgy content that usually defines the latter.
If you’re wondering Michael Vey 8: The Parasite — Does the Series Reboot Still Have That Spark?, the answer is a qualified yes. It keeps the wholesome core of the original books but acknowledges that the stakes are higher when you have more to lose than just a passing grade in history class.
One thing Richard Paul Evans has mastered is the "just one more chapter" trap. The chapters are short. The prose is lean. There isn't a lot of fluff or internal monologuing about the nature of power. It’s an action-first book. For kids who struggle to stay focused on 500-page fantasy epics, this is a lifeline. It moves with the speed of a Netflix binge, which is why it maintains such a high rating on Amazon despite being the eighth entry in a long-running saga.
The shift from fighting a global corporation like the Elgen to a more "parasitic" threat changes the tone. The previous books were very much "us against the world." This one feels more like a psychological thriller. The threat is more intimate and, frankly, a bit creepier. It’s less about big lightning battles and more about who you can actually trust when the enemy is invisible.
If your kid lived for the I Am Number Four series or the later Percy Jackson books, they’ll appreciate this evolution. It’s a bit more sophisticated than the early books, but it doesn't lose the "Electroclan against the world" energy that made the series a bestseller in the first place. Just be prepared for them to ask when book nine is coming out the second they hit the final page.
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