Review: Monster republic - The Judas Code by Ben Horton

The explosion at the Prime Minister's visit to Long Harbour means the cover of the Monster Republic is blown, and they are forced deep into hiding. Lazarus Fry turns his tactics to infiltration, and is confident of their swift crushing. Plus his new pets, the Blood Hawks, are hungry to get their talons into some fresh kill...   But Fry hasn't counted on this band of rebel kids' awesome will for survival. When your back is against the wall, the only option is to come out fighting...

It really doesn't seem like twelve months since I read and reviewed Monster Republic, the first book in Ben Horton's series about a gang of children who have been experimented on by an evil scientist and lived to tell the tale. That first book was very much the story of Cameron, a boy caught up in a massive explosion who awakes to find that he has been worked on by the evil Lazarus Fry. Thanks to the explosion he is now severely disfigured, a tragedy that isn't even slightly improved in his mind by the fact that he has also been  given various bionic enhancements. That book detailed his escape from Fry's compound, and his discovery that he is not alone as he is taken under the wing of other experimentees, who have christened themselves the Monster Republic.

Cameron's character is still a key element of The Judas Code, which follows straight on from the events at the end of its predecessor. However, this story has a broadened focus in that the plot is now just as much about the group and their attempts to stay alive and hidden from the armed forces that are amassing in Broad Harbour and its surrounding area. Of course, there are still elements within the Republic who resent Cameron's presence, and do not yet trust him, fearing that his headstrong nature and desire for revenge may lead to disaster for them all. And maybe they they are right........


Just two books into the series and a reader will already know what to expect from Ben Horton. These are not books that are going to win prizes for the complexity of the plotting, or thorough and detailed character development. However, if there was an award going for pace and non-stop action then he would surely have a chance of being on the shortlist. That's not to say that the characters aren't good - with their various enhancements these monster children make for great reading fun, and I know many boys who really enjoyed the first book in the series because of Ben Horton's imaginative creations. The Judas Code helps us to get to know these damaged kids much better, and he really has fun  describing some of them (I think my favourite is the aptly named Crawler).


This is a great book for both struggling and reluctant readers, as the relatively large print and shortish chapters will appeal and the fast pace will help draw them into the story very quickly. At a push this book could be read as a standalone as the author seems to have gone out of his way to fill us in on the events that happened in the first book. This will certainly appeal to many reluctant reader boys who, if they see a book they like, want to read it there and then instead of having to faff around waiting for the first in the series to drop into their hands. However, the more discerning boy reader should really read book one first to get the most out of this sci-fi action series. The Judas Code was published on 6th January and my thanks go to the generous people at RHCB for sending me a copy to review. Watch this space for a chance to win a copy of the book in a few days time.

Review: Monster Republic by Ben Horton

An explosion in a nuclear power plant. Kids patched up with scavenged body parts and bionic implants. A growing army of superhuman soldiers programmed for destruction. Cameron Riley is about to discover that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...

Firstly.... great title!
Secondly...  great cover art!
Thirdly (and most importantly)... great story!

As a result of the Harry Potter phenomenon, over the last ten years the kids and YA market has been swamped with fantasy books (both good and bad). Similarly, the success of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books led to a glut of teen boy action heroes. On the basis of some of the books I have read lately I think that a) 2010 is going to be a great year for YA/kids horror and b) we really need more science fiction books released for these age groups. Joe Craig and Keith Mansfield have both written great science fiction stories over the past few years, and now Ben Horton wants a piece of the action. And if Monster Republic, the first in a new series, is anything to go by then I think Mr Horton will be here to stay.

The publishers of Monster Republic have billed it as The Terminator meets X-Men and they are not far off with that comparison. Mix in a massive dollop of The Six Million Dollar Man (if you are of an age where you have no idea what I am talking about - ask your parents) and you have this: a fast paced sci-fi actioner with great characters and a storyline that is begging to be reproduced on the big screen. And the action is there almost from the start; there is no hanging around whilst scenes are set in this book. We have a slightly creepy Prologue, Chapter 1 to introduce us to Cameron, the main character, and his normal, everyday school friends (and one school fiend), and then BOOM!..... life for Cameron will never be the same again. The remaining 261 pages with their larger than average typeface do not leave much room for faffing around - once the action starts it hardly lets up until the final page.

When reviewing the first book in a series I rarely expect full character development. After all, if a new character is introduced in a soap opera you don't expect to find out everything that makes them tick within that first episode. I would suggest, though, that Ben Horton manages to develop Cameron's character pretty well, aided and abetted by the plot - Cameron is thrown into situation after situation where he has to come to terms with what has happened to him; the reaction of other people to him; the lack of trust shown towards him by other victims of human medical experimentation gone wild; and so on, and so on. The personalities and motivations of many of the secondary characters are still something of a mystery to us as the action mainly focuses on Cameron, but I expect we will see these developed in future books.

This really is movie blockbuster material and it is the sort of book that this blog was born to promote. The last five pages even present us with some glorious black and white graphic novel style images... perfect for boys who struggle with picturing images from the words they read, although I am not sure they will have much trouble conjuring up images of Cameron's manufactured appearance. Mr Horton does not give us lengthy passages of descriptive writing when it comes to Cameron and the other 'creations' of Dr Lazarus Fry.... again, he lets the action do the talking and if it weren't for these graphic novel images I would imagaine that every reader would formulate a different mental image of what Cameron looks like.

Monster Republic is aimed at the 12+ market. It is published by Corgi and is in stores right now. My thanks go out to the kind people at RHCB who sent me this copy to review.