The Secrets of Arkaim (The Reeds of West Hills) by B. E. Padgett – Review by Tia Martel

The Secrets of Arkaim by B.E. Padgett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

West Hills School for the Perceptually Gifted isn’t like other schools. At West Hills, they take in students with special gifts above and beyond what the normal student can do. They have classes for telepathy, telekinesis, and more!

Franklin and Jonathan Reed are two students (and twins) at West Hills and this year is big! The school is taking part in a competition amongst houses and if they’re lucky, they get to participate.

Jon is struggling with being the only student with his gift, while Frank is worried that he’ll fall victim like the others with a similar gift. The boys must work together and try to save the school.

I found this book really hard to get into. It may be because I didn’t read book one or that it just wasn’t a book in my usual middle grade genre.

I felt there were missing parts (these may become clear when I go back and read book 1) throughout and several areas where more information could’ve been helpful in hammering out some storyline. I also struggled with the changes in perspective with this book. It goes from Frank to Jon to others in third person without much transition so I found it hard to know who I was reading as on several occasions and had to go back and find out.

It has a ton of potential and I loved the zodiac games and the suspense for the boys to figure out what was going on. I can’t wait to try again once I’ve read book one to see if that has helped me pick up on where I struggled with this one.

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