Circle of Fire (The Maya Brown Missions)

Really good read. Not sure what to expect when I downloaded it onto the Kindle. Don't hesitate just do it! Beware it does get exciting so make sure you have plenty of time for uninterrupted reading!

The Circle of Fire started well, and had a definite Nancy Drew feel about the story and the writing early on. Unfortunately after a good start, I found the book got a bit lost in itself and the whole terrorist/racism element. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, it was good for what it was, but it wasn't a story I'd be in any rush to read again.I think the biggest problem was the main character, Maya. She's supposed to be 15 years old, but at times her actions made her seem much younger and more naive, whilst at other times I felt for the situations, she would have been better suited being a couple of years older. Whilst the blurb on the Amazon product page has her as "a feisty and appealing heroine", more often than not I had the urge to give her a good shake and tell her to stop being so stupid.The other issue I had was the characters. Again, at the start of the book there was the promise and potential of some interesting and well rounded characters, but in the main they tended to become fairly flat and two-dimensional, or ended up being a typical stereotype character which then became consumed by the terrorist/racist narrative, rather than having any great impact on the story telling.In all, a reasonable read that was mildly entertaining, but certainly not the "edge-of-seat thriller featuring a feisty new heroine" as listed on the cover.

I'm a fairly strong advocate for the young spy/action here genre of novel and as of yet, I haven't found one that I extremely disliked. They have all fallen anywhere between average to great. Unfortunately, this means that Maya Brown has a lot of competition, and I'm afraid she really doesn't match up. The character is supposed to be fifteen, which you would think would give her at least some level of maturity, but throughout a lot of the book she seems to be extremely childish and just annoys rather than drawing sympathy.The premise of the novel seems strong. It promises a mix between the fantastic events of an Alex Rider novel, but tempered by the down-to-earth groundedness of the CHERUB series. Unfortunately, it rarely delivers. It starts promisingly enough, but as the novel gets going, you are faced by a series of characters without any real development, and you realize that you really don't know any of them.The book is ok, and I certainly wouldn't call it bad, but it doesn't live up to what it could have been. If you want a young action hero, then read Alex Rider. If you want a young female protagonist who is well developed and likeable with an exciting story, read Hunger Games. If you absolutely have to have a mix of the two, then read this.