this was my very first Gordon Korman book...dang what was I waiting on???? A fairly quick read, Jax has always thought himself to be a little odd. Little did he know that he has a long family history of hypnotists....on both sides of the family. Enter The Sentia Institute...a place for hypnos to fine tune their skills. Jax thinks the institute is great until he learns that things are not as they seem. ( )

The premise of this book sounded very exciting. At first I was intrigued but this excitement only lasted for about four chapters into the book. After this I was bored but I thought I would stick with the book in the hopes that it would get intriguing again when Jax arrived and honed in his skills at Sentia Institute. Which at first my interest did peak up again some but it was evident quickly that there was nothing really fascinating about Jax and his skill. Ok, maybe this is not fully true as this book probably would have been better if the rest of the characters were exciting, the dialect better, and there was heightened action. Yet for the younger readers they may like this book. ( )

Narrated by Ramon de Campo. Wouldn't it be fun to have powers of hypnosis and manipulate people to get what you want? With great power comes great responsibility and that's the theme here as Jax finds himself battling his mentor to save democracy. It's all very over-the-top and the adults are pretty inept, but it serves as a suspenseful escapist read for kids. ( )

Jax is recruited into an organization that helps people who have the power to hypnotize others learn to use and control their powers. Jax is special even among hypnotists as he is the descendent of two famous mesmerizing families. The head of the organization tries to use Jax's amazing abilities to affect politics and Jax ends up getting help from a rival organization.

So the book starts off very action and adventure...peters out in the middle....and then gets all action again at the end. It was the slow middle that killed me, that and Jax's blind trust just about killed the book for me. There was a lack of new information about the institute, the things Jax was learning weren't that interesting and it got a bit repetitive. ( )

Jax is recruited into an organization that helps people who have the power to hypnotize others learn to use and control their powers. Jax is special even among hypnotists as he is the descendent of two famous mesmerizing families. The head of the organization tries to use Jax's amazing abilities to affect politics and Jax ends up getting help from a rival organization.

So the book starts off very action and adventure...peters out in the middle....and then gets all action again at the end. It was the slow middle that killed me, that and Jax's blind trust just about killed the book for me. There was a lack of new information about the institute, the things Jax was learning weren't that interesting and it got a bit repetitive. ( )