Jeff Bailey's Review of Brad LaMar' Fantasy     Angler Island 

I just got back from a trip to Angler Island, the fictional locale of Brad LaMar’s newest YA adventure Sci-Fi novel. We’ve all heard of Star Wars being called a classic ‘space opera.’ Well, Angler Island is YA ‘Sci-Fi opera.’ An opera of the highest order. Several good guys, several bad guys and a convoluted cat and mouse game.

A family and their teenaged son, Evan, are on a family cruise. By a twist of fate, they find themselves marooned on a mysterious island. There is no way off the island, but the previous residents have turned the island into a utopia: or so it would seem. Evan and his new friend Taylor begin to suspect that all is not as it was portrayed. What makes this such a compelling read is that there are several story threads all rushing to the same climatic scene, excellent. Of course, there was so much more to make this a very entertaining read.

The one thing that I look for in a good Sci-Fi is a solid, unpredictable ending and Angler Island has a doozie. Some mysteries are solved but others are created. The whole situation is more confusing at the end than in the middle. That said, the ending would seem to be the perfect lead-in to a follow-up book, maybe even a whole series of books. We can only hope.

My favorite character in the chaos was the genetically enhanced monkey that led everyone on a non-stop chase, lol. For me Brad LaMar’s Angler Island was more than a fun read and worthy of my five stars. Well done.