The Grey Griffins books, at least the first 3 so far, are a guilty pleasure of mine. There's so many things wrong with the books, yet I find them fun and enjoyable for the elements that I do like.

First off, there's a lot of forgotten plot elements. Max gains the ability to "sense" portals, and can transport through them at will. The story even mentions how he's finding portals nearly everywhere at his school, and where he goes. Then, a week later, he can't sense them anymore. Darn. Why not? Because it would resolve the plot too easily if he and his friends could just warp out of danger (which they actually do at one point)? Either way, there's many other examples of this. Ernie gains superhuman speed, but is told that actually using it would rapidly speed up his gradual transformation into a changeling. So The Load, The Scrappy, gains this cool sounding power, yet he can't freaking use it for contrived reasons. Except for the one time he actually does use it and becomes the hero.

Events are ridiculously random, and there's deus ex machina rescues galore. Goblin is about to skewer the kids, except that a car suddenly drives up and rams it - a car driven by Max's bodyguard (Max is rich). There's plenty of others.

So how could I possibly enjoy something so amateurish? Well for one, I like the story when, random as it is, it's making consistent sense. When the kids portal their way to an underground base in the Arctic and work to stop the villain's plans, the whole situation may be absurd, but it's enjoyable and fun. The book's made takes itself strangely seriously, considering how random the plot is, but I feel that actually works to its favor in this case.

That and especially the character interactions are what save the story, in my opinion. Exaggerated as they are (heck, look at their full names!), they're fun. Natalia is ballsy and cool, even for being "girly". Max is pretty likable for a millionaire who only wishes to be normal. Ernie is an outright scrappy, and Harley is okay. Brooke, Max's love interest, goes from being a Shallow Love Interest to being a surprisingly cool character in her own right in the third book.

The 4th book will take place in a school of magic (Hogwarts, anyone?), so I'm not looking forward to it. Otherwise, I like the first 3 books.