Adam Armstrong is one of the Pioneers, a group of formerly terminally ill teens whose essences were harvested and transferred into robotic superhero-esque bodies. As a team, they work for the government, going undercover with the mission to keep the world a safer place. The sequel to The Six (Sourcebooks, 2015/VOYA June 2015), Adam and his team find themselves once again battling their nemesis, Sigma, a vengefully jealous Artificial Intelligence (AI), with plans to dismantle the Pioneer team from within. When Adam learns there is a traitor in their midst, he has to decide who to trust in order to protect those closest to him.This is an action-packed novel, perfect for both middle and high school readers, especially boys. Strengths include pacing, characterization, and plot development. The premise is unique, giving terminally ill teens a second chance and the power to do good when they had previously been helpless. One drawback is a too conveniently "evil" Artificial Intelligence computer; however, its motivations are intriguing and readers will be surprised by the traitor reveal, as well as the unexpected cliffhanger. Both The Six and The Siege are quality read-a-likes for reluctant readers and audiences who enjoyed Illuminae (Penguin Random House, 2015/VOYA August 2015), enjoy robotics, science, and a dash of romance and action.Linsey Milillo.

Gr 7 Up-In The Six , readers were introduced to Adam, a young teen with muscular dystrophy. When Sigma, an AI created by Adam's father, goes rogue and threatens the future of humanity, Adam, along with five other terminally ill teens, agrees to undergo an experimental procedure that will meld his body with a weaponized robot. In the latest installment, Sigma is back and smarter than everit now understands human betrayal and plans to use it to its full advantage in the next stage of its war against humanity. Will Adam and the other Pioneers be able to stop Sigma again? Alpert's series is a fascinating tale of humans vs. technology, a conflict that is often missing from YA sci-fi offerings. Give to readers looking for a technology-driven sci-fi story. This series can also be used as a bridge to Isaac Asimov's adult "Robot" series.

Adam and the other sentient, robot Pioneers return to battle evil Sigma, who targets Adam's hometown and everyone he loves by pitting the Pioneers against one another. In this mission, the Pioneers are acutely aware that their high-tech bodies are prosthetic—not immortal. Their vulnerability, combined with civilians' fear of or pity for their robot forms, raises unexplored comparisons to their former disabled bodies. But while the Pioneers frequently explored the differences between their human and robot selves in The Six (2015), here they could well be humans with superpowers. Adam's emotions are analogous to humans', but his analyses could dull readers' reactions. The rules of robot romance (robo-mance?) are clever, but it's unclear how—even with sensors—the Pioneers can feel emotions so intensely without organs. However, if neuromorphology can apparently outstrip some laws of physics, mechanics may be moot. This superpower creates another deus ex machina, which suggests ominous consequences for technological evolution but also cheapens Adam's earlier vulnerability. Though emotion is technically crucial to the plot, action overwhelms it. Fans of Transformers might enjoy the robots' diverse weaponry, but Adam's dense blow-by-blow battle narration also makes the action potentially hard to visualize. (Robots seem to be able to process onslaughts of information effortlessly, but readers may not.) An abrupt cliffhanger sets up the next book. Worth reading for its unanswered questions if not for its heart. (Science fiction. 13-16)