The author of Well-Tempered City likes urban planning and music. As a Bach fan, he was inspired by his well-tempered musical work to create the concept of a well-tempered city. It is a city that has a diversity of functions and a balance of how they are carried out. The first part of the book is a historical review of cities. He starts back at the beginning with hunter-gatherers that gradually join together to live in small social groups. Man had a habit of hunting large animals in their reproductive years, thus reducing the reproductive ability of their prey. This, along with environmental changes forced man to seek other sources of food. They began to encourage the growth of plants they saw and thus started agriculture. The domestication of crops encouraged people to bind further together and remain in the same place. (The monoculture also had negative impacts on the environment as well as people's health.) Rules and additional communication came out as people were joining together. Religion and a creation myth was important in binding people together and ensuring adherence to a moral code. (Science, democratic capitalism and the "theory of evolution" fills the same role in today's society. However, it is relatively new, so we have yet to see how it will survive.) Many societies collpased due to warfare, inequality and environmental degradation.Two primary ideals of city development have dominated the world. The Greek model considers a number of different parts that exist together. The Chinese model focuses on the whole environment, with different areas fulfilling the function of the whole. The United States, alas, took the Greek model to the extreme.
The discussion of cities in the US is quite depressing. There was a great degree of self-inflicted harm. Zoning began in New York as an attempt to improve the quality of life of residents by allowing some distance from noisy factories and to provide light for residents. However, it soon was adopted as a way to segregate functions, leaving people in isolated residential pockets of single family homes. This produced traffic and ironically more noise and pollution. The federal government heavily subsidized highways, and tore through cities to build them. "Urban renewel" would often rip apart functional neighborhoods and lead to their decline. Housing policy heavily subsidized loans for single family houses, while neglecting multi-family rentals. The government insisted that subsidized multifamily housing only be allocated to the poor, rather than mixed income. This along with restrictive covenants (meant to improve single-family home values) resulted in the drastic decline of cities and the growth of sprawl.
The book then goes on the explore the people in the city. Social programs and diversity help make a good city. However, incomes should not be too diverse or else conflict starts to arise. Europe has created greater peace by supporting the common good (through parks and social programs) and thus narrowed the income gap. Third world cities often have very high inequality and plenty of conflict.
The discussion of social aspects of a city is important in understanding how cities work. However, it spreads the book too far. There are plenty of things to talk about, but it is difficult to tie everything together into one comprehensive thesis. The book would have been better chopping off some of the later chapters and just mentioning their key points in the discussion of city layout.
In the second book, Micahel Vey has escaped from the Elgen compound with some new friends. They get close to being captured, but are aided by some mysterious strangers that manage to send strange communications just in time. However, these anonymous helpers only help them after they have done everything else they could do. (In an early chase, they elude a couple cars, while one still manages to keep going. The helpers manage to blow it up.) This book has a brief bit where the "anonymous" board of Elgen decides to cancel Hatch's "superhuman" project. Hatch doesn't take it well. I wonder if these board members are connected with the "voice" that is helping out Vey. 
The first Michael Vey book starts out with kids living a relatively normal life. Michael is picked on by bullies and has a crush on a cheerleader. One day, the bullies pick on him and he shocks them as she looks on. From this, they discover that they both have special power. They are eventually found out by Mr. Hatch and the Elgin. Here the book gets depressing. Hatch is just too evil, spending money as much as he wants and crashing airplanes for ransom. His strategy is to use carrots and sticks to gain control. He lavishes his "kids" with gifts and tells them how separate they are from other people. Then he gets them to perform "acts of loyalty" which often harm or kill others. Now he has their loyalty as well as potential crimes to hold over their heads. Of course, our heroes don't fall in the trap and they eventually escape. In the process they experience the joys of the big city from the point of view of a small town kid. Even sushi is something special. 
The author of Family Gene has a rare genetic mutation that appears only in her immediate family. It seems to be sexed-linked, only passed down from mother to child. However, men are more severely impacted. It leads to bloating and excessive fluid production and an early death - though typically after child-bearing years. She is lucky enough to have connections to a medical research community that is studying her condition and seeking out a cure. Alas, for now all they can do is small treatments to help lesson the impact. 
The 6th Michael Vey book picks up right where the 5th one left off. This one would be a much better introduction to the series. It provides descriptions of the different characters and a lot of backstory to help understand what is going on. Hatch has taken over Tuvulu and is punishing his self-appointed "King" to teach them a lesson. They have created a fortified base where they have cut off communication with the outside world. We also learn that his company has been producing a source of super-cheap energy based on rats. They plan on selling these in a self-destructing sealed container in order to make a lot of money and prevent tampering. It is all part of Hatch's plan to take over the world. He is willing to kill anybody that gets in his way. The quest for clean energy is a noble one, but if things get in to the wrong hands, we could have serious problems.
The Mark of the Thief starts out in a Roman slave-mining operation. The life of these slaves mixes in the life of Roman slaves with experiences of more modern African slaves. Life is hard, and the possibility of freedom is nonexistent. This mine is rumored to hold some great jewels from Caeser. One boy tries to escape, but is caught and then required to go down to retrieve the jewels. He finds it, but in the process befriends a Griffen and unleashes some magic that allows him to escape. He tries to remain free, but is caught many times. He struggles to find out who is friends and enemies are. Many times, it feels the author is telegraphing the role of characters to us, despite what the boy may feel. However, our impressions are not always right. The characters do not confirm to "good" and "evil", but instead have a multitude of interests and "uses" for others. We get to see stark contrasts in the lives of different classes of people, as well as the use of entertainment and violence as an elixir to keep them together. The book ends with more questions than it answers, leaving it as an obvious first book in a series. The characters and story structure feel very similar to those in the 
The Supernaturalist takes place in a not-so-distant future where humanity has struggled to solve its ills through whatever means possible. The protagonist is an orphan. An unsponsored orphan is relegated to a life somewhat between a guinea pig and a slave. He has no rights and is regularly used to test out new medicines or other chemicals. He escapes and joins with a group of "supernaturalists". They are trying to fight some parasites that seem to be taking away the life force of humans. However, it turns out this fighting has been causing them to multiple. These parasites have lived with humans and have helped to take away pain. However, there is an "evil scientist" who has discovered that they can be used to produce energy. The hero manages to use cunning to prevent his death and expose her and the company's evil plan. However, this merely leads to her reassignment. This is a cautionary tale about messing with the environment. We may be doing something that we think would help humanity at the expense of nature. However, it could very well be causing many more problems.
With sound as the subject of the second "secret" book, listening to the audiobook seems to be the way to go. The audiobook production did not disappoint. Music and sound effects are added perfectly to bring about the theme of the book. Cass and Max-Ernest are two weird kids that seem to just as easily fall victim to the plots of the evil Midnight Sun as they are to follow the terces society. They also meet up with a new kid, a guitar playing Japanese student, who helps them on their way.