I preferred the first half over the second, but both were hard to swallow. These 6 ninth graders are smarter, more motivated, and more calm then any of the adults. They save the plane and then the world in a short time span, better than any adult could. Might be fun for kids to read, but not an adult. I wish it had been more plane and more realistic teens. I wouldn't recommend it to my 12 year old.

Fantastical, fun story, really more like 2 books in 1. I loved the first half of the book, when 6 kids in a chess club were on a plane forced to land on an island near Iceland, then stranded with a bunch of adults for 10 days before being rescued. Their creativity, determination, and positive attitude turned around the pessimism of the adults, and they formed a cooperative, caring little society.

Upon their return, an Asian missile crisis was playing out, and they happen to manage hacking into the Asian government computer and lowering the missile. They then proceed to get the dictator in charge to negotiate with other governments, and get aid to that country's people.

Too unrealistic, too tidy, kind of silly. But, I suspended my belief long enough to finish the book, and enjoyed the fantasy of the kids' power to change the world. The first part with the plane wreck was more believable and interesting, a good enough read.

There is a sequel, but that's too far for me to go.

Knights of the Square Table launched straight into the action without much build up or immediate backstory, which initially was a positive but there didn't seem to be very much backstory which soon became a negative. I assumed the story was set in the present, but there was indicators that something monumental had shifted in the world. I didn't feel there was enough backstory.

When the plane crashed in Iceland there were definitely tones of Lord of the Flies, although there were adults involved in Knights of the Square Table, it was the students who took centre stage and took control of the situation. I am unsure how realistic this would be, even if you did have a group of highly intelligent teenagers, would they really have taken control of such a dramatic situation?

This felt like quite a basic writing style and you could tell it was aimed at younger readers. Personally it felt as though the book was comprised of random events that had been put together into a timeline with the same characters running through.

A bit of backstory to the war with Asia and what was going on in the world would have been useful. Overall I was disappointed and don't think I will read the next book in the series.