Saban and the Ancient: Book One of the Transformation

Dante Amodeo
High-Pitched Hum Publishing (2006)
ISBN 9780977729081
Reviewed by Ian McCurley (age 13) for Reader Views (4/07)

Saban Smith is just a regular college student who is practically unnoticeable, or so they think.  That is until one day when he and his friend Margo Weissmann are outside the library and agents in blue start falling from the sky.  The agents carry guns that fire mercy bullets.  Mercy bullets are glass bullets that shatter upon impact and contain chemicals that leave you unconscious.  Saban and Margo are fleeing when they see their other friend, Mikey, face down in the bushes.  As they check his vital signs, they are attacked by two men in camo who are also carrying mercy guns.  When Saban defeats the two agents using the advanced martial arts, Margo wonders how such an unremarkable person can be so remarkable.  Saban learns from Ford, camo guy #1, that there are 10 other camo-dressed agents and that they are up against the Ancient, a group of agents who have never been exposed and very little is known about them.  As Saban and Margo continue their escape, they come to the wall of the campus.  The campus wall is 14-feet high, and Margo, in a standing jump, nearly clears the top.  Saban wonders how she did that.  Failing in the wall jump, they move towards one of the three exits when they are confronted by a blue-clad agent code-named Franklin.  When Saban gives a password and the blue-clad agent stands down, they are joined by other members of the Ancient.  The group they are in is the Alpha, one of the Ancient’s teams of agents.  While Margo is wondering how Saban knew the password, they are being led beneath the headmaster’s house to a bunker where they must find one of the five U-crystals.  The purpose of these crystals is unknown, but it is discovered that everyone in the Alpha is a Talent.  A Talent is someone with enhanced capabilities is strength, speed or other less-obvious skills.   Who is Saban?  Is he a Talent? And for that matter, who is Margo?  Is she a sleeper left behind during a failed mission? 

This book is for readers ages 13 and up who enjoy novels about spies and secret organizations.  Dante Amodeo really shines in this book.  “Saban and the Ancient” is creative, intriguing and a real page-turner.  I’m looking forward to the next book in the Transformation series, “Saban and the Betrayer.”

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