Joint review: SYLO by D. J . MacHale

Author: D. J . MacHale
Publisher: Razorbill
Date of publication: July 2013

Fourteen-year-old Tucker Pierce prefers to fly under the radar. He’s used to navigating around summer tourists in his hometown on idyllic Pemberwick Island, Maine. He’s content to sit on the sidelines as a backup player on the high school football team. And though his best friend Quinn tells him to “go for it,” he’s too chicken to ask Tori Sleeper on a date. There’s always tomorrow, he figures. Then Pemberwick Island is invaded by a mysterious branch of the U.S. military called SYLO. And sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option for Tucker, because tomorrow may never come. 

It’s up to Tucker, Quinn, and Tori to uncover the truth about the singing aircraft that appears only at night—and the stranger named Feit who’s pushing a red crystal he calls the Ruby that brings unique powers to all who take it. Tucker and his friends must rescue not just Pemberwick Island, but the fate of the world—and all before tomorrow is too late.  

SYLO ended up being just on OK read for me.  I was a bit underwhelmed by the story.  The characters were forgettable.  They are supposed to be freshmen in high school, but acted a lot older than that.  When I read a story like this, I do like to have a little bit of a clue as to what is going by mid book.  To be honest,. I'm still not sure what happened in the book.  The ending was a big cliffhanger let down with no real answers.  Not enough to make me want to continue with the series.  Honestly, there are better YA books out there.  I think you can skip this one.


I agree with Kari to some degree.  I started this one, so I'm probably going to keep on with this series because I'm going to have to find out who the heck SYLO is and what is going on.  This first book basically just did some character work, but did nothing in terms of explaining who the two sides were.  While Kari didn't particularly care for this book, I kind of liked it, but I can see why she didn't like it.  It was confusing.  It didn't explain a lot.  It ended in a cliffhanger and I don't like that.