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Felix, Net & Nika and the Gang of Invisible People
2008/05/11
The novel should not be seen as another Harry Potter like work, although it is addressed to similar reader group. Its heroes are not wizards with magic powers, they are high school students. What makes them exceptional is their personalities, skills and troubles they get into (and of course the way they get out of these troubles).
FELIX has inherited his father’s talent for constructing all sorts of machines. He can always find a way out of any trouble, with the help of the devices he makes. Good at planning ahead, he always has lots of gadgets in hisbackpack.
NET is highly intelligent. He knows more about computers than most IT professionals. He writes his own programmes and is superb at science. His problems are the result of laziness, absent-mindedness and dyslexia. He is funny and fun-loving.
NIKA is a spirited girl, brave and independent. She adores reading. She is an orphan. Gifted with unusual skills, she is able to sense approaching danger and to move objects by sheer willpower.
MANFRED is an artificial intelligence (AI) programme created by Net and his father. He is Felix, Net and Nika’s friend and very often helps them to get out of trouble.
Felix, Net and Nika meet in the first year at secondary school, when they come up against a school gang that is extorting money. They help each other, and in the process they become close friends. In a secret, cluttered attic they set up their HQ. They discover that the attic is haunted by the ghost of a brilliant professor, who worked on anti-gravitational propulsion, the subject of Felix’s father’s research at the Institute for Extraordinary Research. While searching for treasure hidden since the war, they find the professor’s book, which ends up in an archive on the 51st floor of the Silver Tower. To get it back and prevent Morten, the wicked AI programme, from achieving world domination, they have to overcome all sorts of obstacles. After some truly Bond-like action they manage to neutralise Morten and his Gang of Invisible People. This book won the top literary prize, “Book of the Year 2005â€, awarded by the IBBY Polish Section.