Perhaps the main thing I remember about my experience with  Masterminds  is that I started the entire series on a summer weekend, and I ended it on the same weekend. Gordon Korman is known for his children's literature, never falling short of delivering a short but captivating novel. The  Masterminds  series, or for the sake of this post, book one of the series,  Masterminds , is no stranger to this. There is not much philosophy to take away from  Masterminds , but everything from the action and the plot twists to the characters and world-building is unexpectedly beguiling. I read the first book, the focus for today,  Masterminds , then after closing that opened the second book,  Criminal Destiny , and then the final book,  Payback .  The book opens with Eli Frieden, the main protagonist, playing with his best friend, Randy. At this point, the reader assumes that the setting is some rural neighborhood like any other. However, the re...

      Adventurers Wanted: Albrek's Tomb, the third book in the Adventurers wanted series follows Alexander Taylor (goes by Alex) as he is requested by one of his old company members to find Albrek, a dwarf who went missing searching for new mines in the village of Thraxon.  Alex and his company have to go through many dangerous places to get to Thraxon in search of Albrek, and run into trouble along the way.        I really liked the first two books in the Adventurers Wanted series, Slagboth's gold , and The Horn of Moran. Slagboth's gold  and The Horn of Moran  were Alex's first two adventures, which introduced me to the fantasy world of magic and adventures, all throughout the book. It was fun to see Alex adapt from being a normal sixteen year old kid, to an adventurer on a quest to find gold, having to slay dragons in the process. I was able to experience getting to know magic in the world for the first time with Alex, and it was f...