Should be read, just like any of the other Flight 29 Down books.

Ten Rules: Prequel in the Flight 29 Down series by Walter Sorrells
4 out of 5 stars

School elections, fundraisers, relationships, dirty tricks, missing money, secrets… just another normal high school in LA. Nathan the nice-guy, football player and Daley the competitive, miss organization are both running for President of the Junior class. Melissa is the quiet, BF of Nathan’s who is taken for granted. Lex is Daley’s stepbrother who’s almost genius IQ is helping is sister win the election. Taylor the rich, stereotype blond is Nathan’s girlfriend. Eric is the sneaking, cunning guy in the background who has a crush on Taylor. And then there is Jackson. Jackson, the quiet nerve-racking new kid from a bad part of town. Everything is doing fine until almost two thousand dollars disappear. Then everyone is affected by the search for truth about the money and also certain people’s reputations.

This prequel was a little disappointing in the fact that not all the relationships in the later books are hinted at in Ten Rules. Example: Melissa’s crush on Jackson, there wasn’t anything about it in the prequel. Also, the fact that some of the characters that play such a big part in later books only have a few lines.

It was a great benefit for the book, I believe, that there was a lot more about Jackson and his past though. You really got to know him better and start to understand the way he reasons. Also, “seeing” the relationship between Daley and Nathan progress and change during their campaigns and how they become more and more competitive, helped grow the tension and drama to the right level for the next book, Static, in which their campaign behaviors are once again needed.

Ten Rules ended in the perfect spot for Static. Ten Rules ended with the plane flying into the air and Static starts with the plane falling out of the air.

In a long run, a great book that helped you understand where these guys were coming from.

Date Reviewed: September 4th, 2008 ( )