Review: SYLO

SYLO by D.J. MacHale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Pemberwick Island is a small community off the coast of Maine. Tucker Pierce is happy there. His family moved there five years earlier and unlike other teens on the island, he has no plans to leave. Then the star football player dies at the end of a game and he needs to step up and be the replacement. A stranger named Feit offers him a nutritional supplement called Ruby and tells Tucker that it will give him strength and speed naturally and legally. Tucker has small problems. Should he take the Ruby, should he pursue Tori as a girlfriend and does he have dreams beyond this sleepy island? All of these small problems evaporate instantly when Pemberwick Island is invaded by SYLO, an unknown branch of the U.S. military. Residents are told they are being quarantined due to a virus, but when Tucker and Quinn hack into the hospital computers they discover there is no virus and both of their parents are involved in some way.

It is now up to Tucker, Quinn and Tori to discover what is happening on their island. Why is the CDC quarantining the island? What is SYLO, and why are they involved? What is this Ruby that Feit is pushing? Is any of this related to the “singing” aircraft that are only seen at night? MacHale creates an adventure story that hints at the end of the world as we know it. Readers will be drawn into the easy life of Tucker and then become quickly drenched in adrenaline as they experience this journey with him. SYLO is the first book in the series, but the unanswered questions only become evident toward the end so the book doesn’t seem like one big set up for the series.




View all my reviews