Daniel X, who has no other last name, has the best superpower ever: The power to create. He can create real objects, including people, with only his mind. In addition, he has super-speed (he outran a truck traveling at 100 miles per hour) and super-strength (he can flip a car in a somersault). He is also granted an extra long memory.
When he was 3 years old, Daniel's parents were brutally murdered by a praying mantis-like alien called the Prayer, who came in search of the List of Alien Outlaws on Earth. When Daniel's parents wouldn't hand it over, the Prayer killed them. Daniel survived only by transforming into a tick and grasping onto the Prayer's dreadlock hair as he fled from the burning house. After he lost his grip on the Prayer and fell off, Daniel vowed to kill the Prayer for the death of his parents, and returned to the site when he was 13 to recover the List.
Twelve years after the murder of his parents, fifteen-year-old Daniel X has taken up the task of his parents as Defender of Earth.
There are five more books in the series, Watch the Skies, Demons and Druids, Game Over, Armageddon, and Lights Out. And like Patterson's earlier Maximum Ride series, Yen Press adapted it into an OEL Manga by Seung Hui Kye.
Tropes associated with this piece of literature
- Alien Animals: Elephants were a gift from Alpar Nok.
- As You Know: At the start of each book, Daniel explains to the reader how he’s an alien, how he hunts aliens on Earth, why he hunts aliens on Earth, and how much he wants to kill Number 1. Sometimes Exaggerated, since Daniel feels like telling this again to the viewer after a chapter or two.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: As revealed in the third book, Merlin was an Alpar Nokian assigned to protect the Earth just like Daniel was.
- Breather Episode: Daniel often takes a break from alien hunting to hang out with his imaginary friends, even if the alien isn’t even dead yet.
- Brought Down to Normal: As the final book demonstrates, Number 1 has sedatives powerful enough to cancel out Daniel’s Reality Warping temporarily. Either that or Number 1 can focus with his own reality warping to shut Daniel down. It varies from time to time and it’s not always clear to Daniel, and by extension the reader.
- Card-Carrying Villain: All the bad guys appear to be this.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover to the first book features the titular character holding The List; the problems is that it is depicted as a literal paper list, whereas in the book it is actual stored on an alien computer system. Granted it is mentioned that The List’s appearance can be altered, but it still never appears as an actual paper list in the book. (though it appeared as an old book once)
- Death by Origin Story: Daniel’s family and friends. He can imagine them back to life with his mind at any time, but he frequently points out to the reader that at the end of the day, they’re all in his head.
- Deus ex Machina: When Daniel can just imagine himself out of a situation, his excuse to the audience for not imagining himself out of said earlier was that he was "distracted." However, the most Exaggerated example is the end of the last book, where Daniel is killed by Number 1 and immediately Comes Back Strong with all of his dead friends (all of whom we are then told could come back to life AT ANY POINT IN THE SERIES, and not just in Daniel's imagination.) And it doesn't stop there: After a seven-day battle with Number 1 and his army, Daniel decides to go up against Number 1 one-on-one to the death, even if it was explained several times that it would guarantee the destruction of them both. But at the last possible second, Daniel's father comes back to life as well. He grows 1700 feet tall, pulls Daniel to safety, and immediately pulls a Taking You with Me to Number 1. Series ends with a huge party.
- Evil Counterpart: Number 2, aka Abbadon, is the Big Bad of the fifth book in the series. He’s an Alpar Nokian, just like Daniel, and is literally Satan. Daniel imagines him to death.
- First-Person Smartass: To annoyingly high levels.
- Five-Man Band: Daniel and his group of friends:
- The Leader: Daniel, being the one who calls on the others when he needs them and the protagonist.
- The Lancer: Joe, the wise guy who's less enthusiastic about the alien-hunting business.
- The Big Guy: Willy, who has a wide variety of talents and is the one usually brought out for combat.
- The Smart Guy: Emma, who has a vast knowledge of Earth and its flora and fauna.
- The Heart: Dana, The Heart of the group and the closest thing Daniel has to a consistent Love Interest.
- God of Evil: Number 1 on the List, aka the Prayer.
- Humanity Came From Space: It's mentioned that humans and the people of Alpar Nok originally came from another planet.
- Humans Need Aliens: Without alien hunters like Daniel, the world would've been destroyed very long ago.
- Insufferable Genius: Daniel.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Let's see, Daniel has the following powers:
- Super-Strength
- Reality Warper
- Telepathy
- Time Travel as of book three.
- Mind over Matter
- Animorphism
- Super-Speed
- Reality Warper: Feels overshadowed by his other godlike powers.
- Recycled In Space: James Bond WITH A TEENAGE ALIEN!
- Tagline: “ALIEN WARNING: PREPARE TO BE BLOWN AWAY!”
- Totally Radical: Just like James Patterson’s other young adult series
- A True Story in My Universe: The second book mentions that Superman was based on an actual alien.
- "X" Makes Anything Cool: His name is Daniel X.
