This got me to thinking about other books similar to I Am the Weapon, which are fun teen-boy-swashbuckling-etc. reads:
Chasing the Falconers, by Gordon Korman (*AR: 4.9, 4 pts; 154 p.) First of six books in the On the Run series. Brother and sister Aiden and Meg are out to prove their parents are innocent of espionage and high treason against the government, and, after escaping from a juvenile detention center, they are on the run (get it?) from juvenile authorities, government agents, and a shadowy group of mysterious spies.
The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey (AR: 4.6, 17 pts.; 457 p.) It's an alien-infested world for Carrie Sullivan who is trying to escape these earth-invading horrors with the help of a boy who may be one of them. Also on the 2015-2016 Gateway Award Nominee list. The start of a fun sci-fi adventure series.
Framed! by Malcolm Rose (AR: 5.0, 6 pts; 223 p.) First in the Luke Harding Forensic Investigator series. Set in the future, Luke Harding graduates from forensic investigating school just in time to delve into a series of murders happening at his school in which the prime suspect appears to be him.
I Am the Weapon, by Allen Zadoff (AR: 3.6, 9 pts; 337 p.) A young assassin highly trained by a mysterious government organization is filled with doubts about his mission to kill the mayor of New York City when he starts to fall for the mayor's fascinating daughter Samara.
Infinity, by Sherrilyn Kenyon (AR: 4.5, 11 pts; 464 p.) The beginning of The Chronicles of Nick series finds Nick battling demons and other supernatural creatures with Kyrion of Thrace, a dark vampire slayer who helps Nick discover his true identity.
The Last Thing I Remember, by Andrew Klavan (AR: 4.7, 10 pts: 346 p.) The last thing Charlie West remembers, he was writing a hot girl's phone number on his hand with an ink pen. The next thing he knows, he's tied to a chair in a lab confronting two evil goons bent on killing him with a syringe full of poison and him trying to figure out how to escape. Murder, chase scenes, and terrorist plots ensue. First of four books in The Homelanders series.
The Living, by Matt de la Pena (AR: 5.0, 11 pts. 311 p.) There's an earthquake, a tsunami, a suicide, and sharks. And that's just the first 50 pages. Throw in a murder and a mysterious illness, and you've got a killer of a summer job for Shy, a Mexican-American teen who signed on to a luxury cruise ship to earn some extra cash to help his mother pay the bills but who ends up confronting a whole mess of secret agents, conspiracies, and some fairly nasty germ mutations. Whew! Almost too much action for one book. And the excitement only continues in the sequel, The Hunted.
Traitor, by Andy McNab and Rob Rigby. (AR: 5.3, 10 pts., 265 p.) British teen Danny Watts is in danger because of a crime committed a world away from England by a grandfather he's never met. Grandfather Fergus was a M-16 operative in the 1990s running an undercover drug operation in Colombia when he was accused of stealing cartel money and then disappearing. But did he really do it? And where is he? Danny needs to find out before the covert agents following him make him--Danny--disappear. Permanently. Boy Soldier, Traitor's original title when it was first published in England, is the name given to this four-book series in America.
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, by Joe Schreiber. (AR: 5.0, 6 pts. 190 p.) When Perry is forced to take Gobi, his family's weird, frumpy and decidedly uncool Lithuanian foreign exchange student, to prom, he' sure he's in for a night of excruciating boredom and grievous embarrassment. But when Gobi reveals herself to be a trained assassin bent on a mission of revenge, Perry finds himself playing the hapless, naive chauffeur (in his dad's precious Jaguar sports car) to Gobi's sexy, butt-kicking, weapon-wielding, avenging angel as they speed around NYC looking for her targets. More car chases, mafia goons, and tense standoffs than you can shake a Glock at. Perry's Killer Playlist is the sequel.
What other YA action-adventure titles fit this mold? Post your suggestions.
*Accelerated Reader level and points
