Well this was my first book that I read by D.J. MacHale and I'm glad that I picked it up. I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own if I hadn't met him at an author event. 
 The whole premise of the book was really interesting. I thought it was going to be science fiction but it also had a mystery, adventure and war-ish themes to it too. Had to characterize it under one. I liked how football played a little bit into the story because when I'm struggling to find more football book this would be a good option. I actually just had a student check this out yesterday because he saw that it said fans of James Dashner's series The Maze Runner would like this. 
 Tucker was your stereoypical male character so he really wasn't a super character but I think he went along with the story ok. I liked some of the other characters in the story a little bit but sad that they won't be making it to book 2 (no spoilers, I promise). 
 The ending was pretty crazy! Not much was resolved so I think the next book is going to hopefully answer a lot of questions that are kind of left hanging. I think a lot of kids will be interested in the story but I just wish the book wasn't so thick!