Daniel X Book 1 Review: Chapters 1-7

Welcome back to my Daniel X book 1 review! This time we're going to look over chapters 1 through 7. Let's get right to the review! ...Nah. Ok, so I didn't notice this before, but apparently in the cover of the book, along with info about Patterson, there is this following message: In the spirit of the most enduring hit movies and books, James Patterson has written this story for  readers from ten to a hundred and ten. Special care has been taken with the language and content of The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. ...Ok, I can't really fault Patterson for this, even though it is kind of awkward. From what I've seen, his books aren't really what some people might consider "kid friendly", so I guess I can excuse it. Now, let's get to the review.

So, twelve years have past since the death of Daniel's parents, and he's fifteen now. Yeah...15...very original. And we get another few sentences of tease when we hear about all these awesome-sounding aliens that we would love to read about, but won't. Oh, and guess what? Remember when you thought that the prologue was the only part that was going to have 3 page chapters? Guess again! The entire freaking book is made out of these things. The book is 238 pages long and 92 chapters long. There's really no apparent reason for this, but I can only imagine that the author was afraid kids might get bored, so he changed the chapter every minute. Anyway, we do get a short scene of Daniel shredding Alien Number 19 into pieces....
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Anyway, according to Daniel, the process was "Terrible and gruesome and took hours to accomplish, and I hated every second of it, every shred." And it looks like his dialogue sounds like something you would see from a Spider-Man comic, with sarcastic talk and patronizing quips, while thinking of a way to beat a sewer monster, which I suppose is alright. And another two pages later, Daniel is at home in Portland, when he gets a visit by some gruff cops, who ask him if his parents are home. Daniel of course says that they're busy, and the cops of course get ready to haul him to the station. So Daniel's mom comes out and-
Wait.
WHAT?!
And it gets even weirder. Daniel's DAD, Harold Hopper (yeash) exchanges retorts with the cops, who tell him that Daniel has to go to high school under Portland law.

"High school, sure. Well, that would be a real wast of time," my dad said and began to laugh. I laughed along with him as he put his arm around my shoulder.

 

 Daniel's mom explains that Daniel doesn't NEED to go to school, since he had went to high school when he was ten, has a near 200 IQ, and is a MIT grad with a degree in molecular engineering. I'm not sure if this actually true, since it was established that Daniel had a teenage vocabulary at 3 years of age, or if Daniel was just showing off. And we'll get to that part soon. The cops ask to see this "diploma", and Daniel's dad replies, "You'll see his diploma when we see a warrant."

"It'll actually be fun hauling you, your wife, and your 'genius' son in when we come back with that warrant," the cop snarled."
 

 "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a speech to give at the prison guard academy." (Okay, he didn't say that.)

The cops leave, and Daniel tells his parents that he's going after Number 6, the missing Kid Next Door...Okay, his name is Ergent Seth, but I couldn't resist. His mother is concerned that Number 6, who's in California, might be too much for him. Of course, all we're thinking is "WHO THE FRIK ARE YOU?!"

Then I closed my eyes. I took a breath and let it out slowly, and when I opened my eyes again, my mom and dad were gone.
They were gone because I was the one who created them in the first place. I fashioned them into existence out of my memory--just to run interference with the cops. Like I said, a charade. And a pretty good one too.
Now you know a little bit more about me.
Freaky, huh?
 

 Uh, no. The word I'm looking for is...insane, I believe. I mean, how the heck can you do this?! Why are they talking like your real parents would?! Are they ghosts?! Did you raise the dead?! How did you get this insane power?!

Luckily, chapter 7 (three pages long) is mostly about Daniel's powers. You see, Daniel's "parents" that we just saw weren't really his real parents, but "probably" just mental projections that he made real. Oh, and I don't mean like illusions or anything, I'm talking friggin' DNA. Like actual people.
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WHAT?!!!! It seems that Patterson decided to make a 15-year old boy GOD! And he doesn't just remake his dead parents, but we'll get to that in a later segment!

So how does he...create life? Well...he doesn't really know. He basically says that everything, even energy, is made out of the same basic materials, which he can rearrange at will. ...Ok, weak, but if had to explain how a teenager can be like a deity, I wouldn't go too deep either. He does explain that there are limits to his powers.

There's only so much I can create, for a limited period. I have to be really calm, and concentrate like you won't believe. Plus there seems to be a mass limit. Or sometimes I seem to run up against a mental block of some kind. One time I tried to create a really cool, flaming red Ferrari, but nothing happened.
Some things are easy to create. My mom and dad, for one. I do them a lot. When I'm afraid or lonely. They're like a recipe you've done over and over again until you can do it in your sleep.
 

 SO, HUMAN LIFE is no problem, but if you try to do a FERRARI, that's too much!

Alright, let's get this over with. He's fast enough to catch a sparrow out of the air, strong enough to "flip a car in a pinch", can "influence" people ("Sort of like an instant hypnosis type of thing"), and can sometimes tell events before they occur. We get some stuff about aliens having been on our planet for millions of years, and we end the chapter with Daniel saying that he thinks he's an alien too.
Oh, really? No crap.

So that's chapters 1-7.
...What can you say? No really? What can you say?
...Screw it, you think up your own opinions. See you next time.