Voice of the Undead by Jason Henderson - Review

Henderson, Jason. Voice of the Undead (Alex van Helsing, 2). HarperTeen, 2011. 16.99. 304p. 978-0-0619-5101-5.

Alex is finally training with the Polidorium, that CIA-like super funded group of evil fighters, and he feels like he's found where he belongs.  Unfortunately, Scholomance, the vampire training school, wants Alex dead.  They've sent the crazy blond, Elle, to bring him down and she's pulling out all the stops.  Whatever wild worm-like creature she set on him leads to him burning down his school, Glenarvon!  All the boys have to move to the girl school, LaLaurie.  Which is not so bad because they go to class with Minhi!

Yes, they are all back! Minhi, the ju-jitsu expert who saved Alex from a beatdown with bullies Bill and Steve, Paul, one of Alex's roomies who he rescued from Scholomance, and Sid, Alex's other roomie, vampire lore expert, and future writer.  The only problem: Minhi is dating Paul!   Okay, now back to the story.

The Polidorium is convinced that Scholomance wants Alex dead.  The buzz is that someone called Ultravox is coming in to do the job and they want Alex to get to Ultravox first.  Things, of course, do not go as planned! Alex gets too cocky and they kidnap him! He finds out the real reason Ultravox is here and he has to figure out how to get back and warn everyone.

Voice of the Undead is a fast-paced, action-packed caper.  Alex is in and out of trouble faster than you can say Vampire Rising.  There isn't much character development, Alex is too busy surviving to reflect on anything, but the mishaps keep the story moving forward.  Henderson takes a risk setting the story only one month after book one as not much has happened in that short time period. That allows Voice of the Undead to stand alone, though.  The writing here is uneven and seems to jump around instead of flowing from point to point.  Still, I can see students enjoying this one.  Alex has some cool gadgets and rides a motorcycle. There isn't much he's afraid of and he's got great friends to back him up.  This series is worth purchasing.

Thanks to Kelley and Hall Book Publicity for this ARC.

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