Here’s another book I read at 13 and then didn’t get the chance to read again! I read this book at the library, loved it, and then I don’t think I could check out the next two books in the series since it was from a branch far from our house. And by the time I thought to request them to be sent to our local library, I was busy with school. For 7 years, this book was living in my head rent-free. Then I finally bought the last two books in the series from BookOutlet (when I still shopped there) and decided to buy the first on Amazon this summer in order to finish the series for a readathon, and hopefully give the books away to another kid if I ended up not liking it as much. This book didn’t have the same charm and addiction for me as it did when I was in middle school, but it was still a fun book to read.
Jack is a bit of a blank slate of a character, which can be seen in his name which is literally Jack Blank. He is an orphan, no knowledge of his family, the only thing that brings him joy are his comic books. Those are destroyed at the start of the novel, so Jack literally has nothing going for him. Then two of his comic book characters come to the orphanage, saying that they are from another country and are there to take him away. This is where Jack’s story in the Imagine Nation begins.
This book is very similar to Harry Potter in many ways, but it is different at the same time. Jack starts the story as a mistreated orphan. When he is at the lowest point of his life, he is swept away by two strangers to a new world. When he goes to this new world, he is still not considered “normal.” Jack isn’t considered a hero immediately, but his powers change everything. He is put in a place where he is meant to hone his new powers, a magic school of sorts. He has two friends in this school, one girl and one boy. He has a variety of teachers, but one of these teachers absolutely hates his guts from the start. That’s only a few of the similarities, but they really jumped out at me when I was reading this book. And I am not the largest HP fan, I have only read the first novel 2 or 3 times and I’ve only read the series all the way through one time when I was 11. But even I could pick up on this.
Despite these similarities, the world of Jack Blank is very different to the world of Hogwarts. Rather than everything taking place in a medieval castle, this book takes place in a futuristic city full of superheroes. Every page I was being wowed by some other part of this book that was so creative.
I would not recommend getting this book on Kindle. It is such a long book, I had so much more fun reading a physical copy of the book when I was in middle school. I slogged through the pages on Kindle. I don’t think it is because my tastes have changed so much in the past 7 years, as I have reread a few other physical books recently and enjoyed them just as much as I had the first time. I just feel like this is one of those books that does not feel the same reading on a screen as it feels reading a physical copy. It might not be the same for you, but if possible, I would still recommend getting a physical copy of this book. This is why I am so glad I have physical copies of the next two books in this series. I want to be able to delve into this series just like I did the first time, and I think the only way to do this would be to read an actual copy in my hands.
The plot twists that occurred close to the end of this book really shocked me. One of the twists seemed to be a bit predictable. The other came so far out of left field that I couldn’t help but speed read the next few pages in the book to find out what the heck was going on. I can’t wait to see how these twists affect the world in the next books in this series.
I would definitely recommend this book to a middle-grade reader, or to an adult reader looking to get lost in another novel. If I end up loving the next two books in this series, I might end up adding the entire trilogy to my permanent collection.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 books.
