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findtheword's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
jimbowen0306's review against another edition
2.0
I'm sorry, but this book read like an Enid Blyton "Famous Five solves crime" book. That or an unfunny Scooby Doo story. I kid you not. There are 4 children, and a flipping dog in this book. And they solve crime, in a middle classed, nerdy way. Could this BE any more Famous Five?
So what happens in the story? There are four kids whose parents work for a university in South Carolina. They live on and island, and go to a nice private school. While being all middle-class Swallows and Amazons, they find a Vietnam War era dog tag. They investigate who owned it. They stumble across a vivisection experiment. They become infected with a disease (a la Peter Parker), and use the superpowers they get from that infection, while trying to find who owns the dog tag.
In short, this book is a modern day supernatural tome. It's like a Famous 5 book, targeted at those who like Vampires, Werewolves, and want some crime mixed into it. Having read the reviews here, people are complaining here others here that we should have realized that it was a "young adult" book, but... it wasn't in the Young Adult section (at my bookstore anyway). The cover was typical of all the other Kathy Reichs books, and the blub on the back read like an adult book.
The book isn't a bad read, but made me wonder if Kathy Reichs had read the Twilight, Divergent and Hunger Games books, and thought "I want a part of that sweet sweet YA action."
So... what's wrong with it? Nothing, It's just it feels a little... desperate and craven.
So what happens in the story? There are four kids whose parents work for a university in South Carolina. They live on and island, and go to a nice private school. While being all middle-class Swallows and Amazons, they find a Vietnam War era dog tag. They investigate who owned it. They stumble across a vivisection experiment. They become infected with a disease (a la Peter Parker), and use the superpowers they get from that infection, while trying to find who owns the dog tag.
In short, this book is a modern day supernatural tome. It's like a Famous 5 book, targeted at those who like Vampires, Werewolves, and want some crime mixed into it. Having read the reviews here, people are complaining here others here that we should have realized that it was a "young adult" book, but... it wasn't in the Young Adult section (at my bookstore anyway). The cover was typical of all the other Kathy Reichs books, and the blub on the back read like an adult book.
The book isn't a bad read, but made me wonder if Kathy Reichs had read the Twilight, Divergent and Hunger Games books, and thought "I want a part of that sweet sweet YA action."
So... what's wrong with it? Nothing, It's just it feels a little... desperate and craven.
sierraphillips_lees's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was a reread of one of my favorite series when I was younger. As an adult I still found it thrilling and captivating with mysteries to deduce. With each twist and turn the book pulls you in trying to solve who the real culprit is. True to Young Adult stories
c_knowles0708's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
maddyblenk's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book! it had great twists and the plot was well thought out it was sometimes scary which i liked! it was a bit slow and a bit boring in the first 50 pages but there is alot of building required.I will be reading the next one!
princessmud's review against another edition
Characters were flat stereotypes. The plot got nowhere fast. Our main character has so much internalized misogyny that she is unbearable.
yodamom's review against another edition
4.0
Ms. Riechs, really wrote an intelligent YA novel. The characters are teens and take teen chances, being invincible and all that, weren't we all ? They are friends with all their flaws and drama involved in a normal life. The story takes place in South Carolina and it's islands. They live a life on the outside of the privileged, living in a remote area with their families.They follow a wolf dog pack on one of the research islands, and search when a pup disappears. This leads them to breaking into a lab to save the pup from terrible experiments, unlawful ones and the being of their new existence. This course of action will change everything for them and drags them into some horrible revelations.
This is a YA mystery/sci-fy book, there is no smut, no romance, it is just a really good story. The main character was 14 and was worried about real life issues not who her love interest was. I enjoyed it very much and it was a quick read. I am not a fan of her adult books too many details.
This is a YA mystery/sci-fy book, there is no smut, no romance, it is just a really good story. The main character was 14 and was worried about real life issues not who her love interest was. I enjoyed it very much and it was a quick read. I am not a fan of her adult books too many details.
sarahp85's review against another edition
3.0
3,5 more than 3 stars. Really enjoyed it. It was like Enid Blytons the 5 series but then in a YA way
bookph1le's review against another edition
3.0
I have really mixed feelings about this book. I haven't read any of the Bones books--yet--but I am a fan of the series, which is what led me to pick this book up in the first place. Still, I have no real basis for comparing this series to the Bones books, so I won't attempt to do so. Instead, I'll review it on its own merits. Some spoilers to follow.
At first, I thought seriously about adding this book to my DNF pile. I really didn't like the writing style as the constantly fragmented sentences irritated me. I don't know if this was an attempt to make the book seem young adult, but I think the book was better when the sentence fragments were minimized. Of course, this is a personal preference, but I just felt the structure made the book feel too much like shorthand at times.
I didn't really like the way the villains played out in this book. There was an element of the old Scooby Do "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Karsten, who is the villain for most of the book, has an abrupt change of heart that I would have found more convincing had it developed a bit more slowly over time. And the real villain was unfathomably stupid in a lot of respects, which was another thing I couldn't credit. I'd think someone who'd successfully covered up a crime for forty years would be better at finding ways of cleaning up the mess when his involvement threatens to come to light.
There was also a big math fail for me when it came to Chance Claybourne and his father. I estimated that Hollis would have had to have been around 48 when he had Chance. It's feasible, but it does make some aspects of the novel questionable, and I wonder if this was considered thoroughly when the book was in edits.
As for the characters, I thought they were okay. Tory, however, needs to get over her bad habit of constantly name-dropping her aunt in a variety of situations. It feels cheap, like it's a crassly commercial effort to capitalize on the popularity of an entirely unrelated franchise. The other characters aren't all that developed and can be more or less boiled down to their particular attributes: the tech geek, the science geek, etc. This is a problem that could improve over time, given that this is a series, so I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt here. There are hints that there are other underlying story lines being set up.
What I really liked about this story, and what ultimately convinced me to give this three stars rather than two, is the concept. I feel I'd have to read more in the series before I could make a firm judgement, but the idea of them becoming virals and using their powers to solve crimes is an intriguing concept to me. I'm not much of a fan of vampire and werewolf novels, but I find that I do enjoy books about exactly these types of creatures when there is a pseudo-science viral explanation offered (I Am Legend, this series, Justin Cronin's books). Go figure. At any rate, I'd be interested in seeing what the characters do with their newfound powers and whether the series matures.
At first, I thought seriously about adding this book to my DNF pile. I really didn't like the writing style as the constantly fragmented sentences irritated me. I don't know if this was an attempt to make the book seem young adult, but I think the book was better when the sentence fragments were minimized. Of course, this is a personal preference, but I just felt the structure made the book feel too much like shorthand at times.
I didn't really like the way the villains played out in this book. There was an element of the old Scooby Do "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Karsten, who is the villain for most of the book, has an abrupt change of heart that I would have found more convincing had it developed a bit more slowly over time. And the real villain was unfathomably stupid in a lot of respects, which was another thing I couldn't credit. I'd think someone who'd successfully covered up a crime for forty years would be better at finding ways of cleaning up the mess when his involvement threatens to come to light.
There was also a big math fail for me when it came to Chance Claybourne and his father. I estimated that Hollis would have had to have been around 48 when he had Chance. It's feasible, but it does make some aspects of the novel questionable, and I wonder if this was considered thoroughly when the book was in edits.
As for the characters, I thought they were okay. Tory, however, needs to get over her bad habit of constantly name-dropping her aunt in a variety of situations. It feels cheap, like it's a crassly commercial effort to capitalize on the popularity of an entirely unrelated franchise. The other characters aren't all that developed and can be more or less boiled down to their particular attributes: the tech geek, the science geek, etc. This is a problem that could improve over time, given that this is a series, so I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt here. There are hints that there are other underlying story lines being set up.
What I really liked about this story, and what ultimately convinced me to give this three stars rather than two, is the concept. I feel I'd have to read more in the series before I could make a firm judgement, but the idea of them becoming virals and using their powers to solve crimes is an intriguing concept to me. I'm not much of a fan of vampire and werewolf novels, but I find that I do enjoy books about exactly these types of creatures when there is a pseudo-science viral explanation offered (I Am Legend, this series, Justin Cronin's books). Go figure. At any rate, I'd be interested in seeing what the characters do with their newfound powers and whether the series matures.
lookeeitsmc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Good YA fun! Kathy Reichs through and through