The recruit Robert Muchamore novel June 2019

Cherub the Recruit is a fiction novel written by Robert Muchamore direct at teenagers. this story is based on a young teenage boy called James Adams who’s childhood was very rough, being raised by his criminal mother and abusive father he struggled during his schooling days to maintain acceptable behaviour. after a tragic accident of his mother’s death, he is forced to live in foster care where he continues to display bad behaviour and finds himself in trouble with the law. Then James’s life changes instantly when he wakes up one day in a secret child/teenage spy campus called Cherub. James’s undergoes intensive training and discipline in order to become a Cherub agent. this story narrates James’s journey before and during his time at Cherub in an exhilarating and breathtaking way displaying many morals and messages throughout.

there are many interesting characters in this fictional story but because the story is focused so much on James there are so many more interesting qualities presented about James has compared to other characters. This is why I find James a very interesting character. James has struggled throughout his youth because of different family orientated circumstances. He has grown up in with little to no support in such a way that results in poor behavioural issues and attitude. Once he is recruited into the Cherub association he is required to go through intensive learning and training to become an official Cherub agent. In the beginning and for a long period of time, he struggles immensely to display correct and acceptable behaviour. But as he grows up and matures through the help and guidance of his leaders and teachers he starts to change his behaviour for the better. He begins to become a determined, respectful and polite young man. I find this interesting because it shows how much your environment around you can affect what kind of man you become.

A powerful message I took from this text was the will power you can obtain through determination and hard work. In order to qualify as an actual Cherub agent students must undergo “basic training”. “Basic Training is the worst 100-days of your life” says Kyle Blueman, one of James’s mate. The idea of basic training is to insert a very strong mental capability. When agents are in the field on missions and are in extremely difficult circumstances and feel like giving up or that there is no way out, they can be reminded of a much more difficult time and how they used there own mental ability to overcome such hardship. This shows me that the human’s minds limits are much higher than some may underestimate. Everyone has the ability to dig deeper into there mind and heart and find the strength to push through anything they are presented with.

I believe the biggest challenge presented within this text was James’s childhood before Cherub. James’s life was no cup of tea. He was abused and abandoned by his father, and constantly neglected by his criminal mother and forced to live independently, simultaneously looking after and supporting his sister Lauren. James was in a very dark place, a place that we as a community in Wanaka are very foreign to. To add to James’s misfortunate lifestyle his mother died. James and his sister Lauren are now homeless having nowhere to go and are forced to live in foster care. Although James does not see it this way, overcoming such a terrible upbringing is more challenging the any learning or training James was required to do as an agent. This is because unlike Cherub training this challenge required both mental and emotional strength. Overcoming a physical challenge is difficult but nowhere near comparable to a challenge which requires mental and physical strength. A quote is presented in this novel which I believe relates to this circumstance; “you can’t make an omelette without cracking the eggs” to me this is symbolising James’s mental and emotional strength. Going through such difficult times (the egg cracking) makes you and allows you to become a better person and a much more mentally strong character (the omelette).

In conclusion, I strongly recommend others to give this book a read because at the same time as being a gripping and captivating story it displays a high level of the human’s capability to display will power, determination and mental strength. and is a great book for teenagers because of the relevance of age seeing as all the Cherub agents are teenagers. Although the teenagers may not directly relate to the situations and challenges within the story it still displays strong qualities which people can relate to or learn from.