Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
SPOILERS
This book sounds interesting. I’ve had lots of good experiences with books that have telekinesis. Yeah. But not this one. The fact that the telekinesis only came in % into the book may have something to do with that. And the fact that Faith was so busy staring at Wade with adoration and deciding whether her jeans looked good that she didn’t really seem to notice anything else.
“Compulsively readable, with thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.”
I’m not completely sure why I even kept reading this book. Maybe because I wanted to know whether Faith would ever become smart enough to realised that Wade is a total creep. Or maybe because I liked Hawk and his adorable geekiness. So yes the book was probably compulsively readable.
But it did not have “thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.”
It is not tender when the guy Faith is in love with takes her to a secluded part of the school that is off-limits and crawling with these freaky Drifters that are supposedly dangerous. 35% into the book I still don’t understand what they are. Not only does he take her freaking go-karting in a hallway, he also gives her a Wire Code which is the equivalent to a drug/date-rape-thing. Then he gives her another one.
I think Patrick Carman thought it might be cool to just add 45% in “Hey, this is Dylan, you know, the guy who’s been watching you sleep. Just to let you know, you can move stuff with your mind and I also like you.”
Faith is the stupidest heroine I’ve ever read about. No, really. She thought that it might have been a good idea just to climb up the side of a building with a guy who 1. Is creepy and 2. Watches her in her sleep. And this is after the other guy who took her an isolated place then gave her a drug. When her best friend Liz tries to prevent her from going with Wade the first time, Faith passes her off as “needy” and “moody,” and that it’s “suffocating,” when in fact Liz has been none of these during the first 20% of the book.
And the plot. I just don’t understand. Only half way through the book do we actually learn about the Pulse, and that’s only after Dylan practically forces Faith into a date. Actually no, he got her to climb up the building and surprise, candles and dinner. But even then Faith has a massive freak out that Dylan put something in her water so that he can take advantage of her. Her amazing idea to get away is to jump off the building. Good job, Faith. Then again I’m not entirely sure what happened because half the descriptions were either totally pointless or just plain misleading.
What happens after that? I don’t know because Pulse was a DNF for me. If you read the book, good luck.
This book sounds interesting. I’ve had lots of good experiences with books that have telekinesis. Yeah. But not this one. The fact that the telekinesis only came in % into the book may have something to do with that. And the fact that Faith was so busy staring at Wade with adoration and deciding whether her jeans looked good that she didn’t really seem to notice anything else.
“Compulsively readable, with thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.”
I’m not completely sure why I even kept reading this book. Maybe because I wanted to know whether Faith would ever become smart enough to realised that Wade is a total creep. Or maybe because I liked Hawk and his adorable geekiness. So yes the book was probably compulsively readable.
But it did not have “thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.”
It is not tender when the guy Faith is in love with takes her to a secluded part of the school that is off-limits and crawling with these freaky Drifters that are supposedly dangerous. 35% into the book I still don’t understand what they are. Not only does he take her freaking go-karting in a hallway, he also gives her a Wire Code which is the equivalent to a drug/date-rape-thing. Then he gives her another one.
I think Patrick Carman thought it might be cool to just add 45% in “Hey, this is Dylan, you know, the guy who’s been watching you sleep. Just to let you know, you can move stuff with your mind and I also like you.”
Faith is the stupidest heroine I’ve ever read about. No, really. She thought that it might have been a good idea just to climb up the side of a building with a guy who 1. Is creepy and 2. Watches her in her sleep. And this is after the other guy who took her an isolated place then gave her a drug. When her best friend Liz tries to prevent her from going with Wade the first time, Faith passes her off as “needy” and “moody,” and that it’s “suffocating,” when in fact Liz has been none of these during the first 20% of the book.
And the plot. I just don’t understand. Only half way through the book do we actually learn about the Pulse, and that’s only after Dylan practically forces Faith into a date. Actually no, he got her to climb up the building and surprise, candles and dinner. But even then Faith has a massive freak out that Dylan put something in her water so that he can take advantage of her. Her amazing idea to get away is to jump off the building. Good job, Faith. Then again I’m not entirely sure what happened because half the descriptions were either totally pointless or just plain misleading.
What happens after that? I don’t know because Pulse was a DNF for me. If you read the book, good luck.
I've never read from this author before and didn't think Pulse would be one of my new top favorites. This book is a must read. There are so many events I didn't expect to happen. I've laughed plenty of times and even cried at points. I have decided to put this series at the top of my list of purchases so I can finish because where it all ends, even the sneak preview of the next book isn't enough to satisfy me.
Personally, I liked the story line and it was great. But I felt like the book was really slow and in the very end where there was a tad of action then it was cut off. If there is a second one, I might give it a second chance though... That's the way I am :)
Summary- In a dystopian future a girl named Faith discovers has a super power called the pulse.
Objectionable elements- swearing
Overall- Pretty engaging. Young characters make it kind of un relatable in some ways. Main character is annoying. Not boring.
Objectionable elements- swearing
Overall- Pretty engaging. Young characters make it kind of un relatable in some ways. Main character is annoying. Not boring.
The cover and the blurb made this book call out to me, but the reviews seemed just so-so. Unfortunately I agreed with the majority of mediocre reviews. It was hard to connect with the characters and the world they were in. It really did have some interesting ideas, but maybe too many crammed in together. I read through the book quite quickly, but it was because I just wanted to be done. Did you see the Superman remake, or Will Smith in Hancock? Just the utter destruction and ultimate fight of the superhero was eyerolling ... as was this. I won't be continuing on with the sequels.
This book gets 4 stars from me! It was exactly what I was looking for without me even knowing it. I hadn’t read a book with the whole screwed-up-scifi-future-and-kids-having-to-save-it story line in awhile so although it was similar to things I’ve read before I still enjoyed getting into the story. I’ll be reading the next book though because I really don’t feel like I learned much explanation wise as to why this world is really like this; book one was mainly about the characters getting together and finding some motivation to get ready for war. Overall good read I’d recommend it to anyone who reads these kinds of books.
Spoilers:
Oh my gosh. The death of Liz had me completely shocked and sad. Im not sure why it hit me so hard but wow :( this book was better that I expected!!
Oh my gosh. The death of Liz had me completely shocked and sad. Im not sure why it hit me so hard but wow :( this book was better that I expected!!
Review: http://theliteraturelion.blogspot.com/2013/03/review-pulse-by-patrick-carman.html
I'm not sure as to where I'm even going to start with this novel, because I don't want to bash it and make it out to be the worst book ever, or make it seem like I will forever hate this book.
That is not true.
Despite all my anger revolving around this book, it was not the worst one book written, because this one has some potential. If it was terrible, that means it doesn't have any potential. Therefore, it wasn't terrible.
So you may be wondering what I disliked so much about it. Well, first of all I'm going to say what I did like.
First of all, the cover. It is absolutely gorgeous. I was slightly confused throughout the book as to what it represented, but in the end I figured it out. Symbolically, it represents that Faith is going to tear through the Earth with all her roots - everything that has ever happened to her is going to make her who she is. But it also shows that she is a grown girl now, and isn't afraid to fight for what she wants. Also, the tree shows up in a scene at the end of the novel and it was one of the best scenes of the book. This is what I mean by the book had the potential.
I'm glad I stuck with the book through the end. Just by having the strong ending proves that there is potential for the book and I may actually pick up the next one.
Then there's the setting. There was so much to learn about the States and the outside world and I loved how we learned more and more about it throughout the novel. Also with the Tablets, which shows that our world some day could turn into this due to our obsession with technology.
Lastly, the pulse. This was definitely an interesting idea, and I've never seen anything like this. It was original and strong - well developed and thought out.
The rest of the book through, did not share these qualities.
Where to start... well there's the beginning of the book. Not bad, until about 25 pages in and Faith, the new girl to school, already fell in love with the popular boy just because he is tall enough for her so-called gigantic stature.
WHAT? Okay, so insta-love is sometimes fine, but most often it's DEFINITELY wrong. Especially within the first 25 pages of the book. Then there's her friend Liz, who she is constantly holding hands with. At first I thought it was just a really good friendship, but then when Liz kept talking about possibly having feelings for Faith, it was still okay! I just hate how it was dropped and not brought up again. I thought that this could have either been left out completely, or it should have been developed more.
Then Faith. So she's the main character, and it's important to be able to see a consistency in the main character. Faith had none whatsoever. One minute she was mad, the next she was falling head over heels, then she was trying to be superwoman. She was all over the place, and it just got annoying. I was fine with her until page 25 and then I finally started to like her at page 275. That's a lot of pages to hate a character, but thankfully there were other redeeming qualities.
Another thing was that Faith was living by herself, and we didn't find out until page 100 or so? WHAT? She spends the first 100 pages worrying about wearing the right pair of jeans at her new school rather than possibly question how her parents are doing...? Like I said, quite annoying.
Then there was the romantic interests. First of all, Wade Quinn. This was the guy that Faith thought she fell in love with the instant she saw him. Then two days go by and he drugs her with a thing called a Wire Code and kisses her. She finds out and gets mad, but they still kind of swoon whenever they're around each other. Then *gasp* Wade has a pulse, just like Faith. Now Wade is sad that he has to kill her because she was "the only girl he ever loved." Dude, you knew her for a few days and drugged her. You call that love?
Then there's Dylan. He was fine. Kind of that brooding, mysterious type that everyone loves. Dylan has a pulse just like Faith and teaches her how to use it. He doesn't show much romantic interest in her, but you can tell there's something going on between them. Finally he professes his love to her, when she's unconscious. How does he do it? By kissing her unconscious body many times. Can you say creepy?
There were just so many things that I didn't know what to do with this book. I just kept trekking through this one, and my boyfriend had to sit through many rant-fests with me.
Truthfully, I think that everything was okay, except for the characters and how they dealt with things. The setting and background was fine, and if there was just stronger writing and some alterations made to the characters then this book would have been awesome. That's my thoughts.
I'm still wondering if I'm going to read the second book when it comes out next year. I guess we'll see!
I'm not sure as to where I'm even going to start with this novel, because I don't want to bash it and make it out to be the worst book ever, or make it seem like I will forever hate this book.
That is not true.
Despite all my anger revolving around this book, it was not the worst one book written, because this one has some potential. If it was terrible, that means it doesn't have any potential. Therefore, it wasn't terrible.
So you may be wondering what I disliked so much about it. Well, first of all I'm going to say what I did like.
First of all, the cover. It is absolutely gorgeous. I was slightly confused throughout the book as to what it represented, but in the end I figured it out. Symbolically, it represents that Faith is going to tear through the Earth with all her roots - everything that has ever happened to her is going to make her who she is. But it also shows that she is a grown girl now, and isn't afraid to fight for what she wants. Also, the tree shows up in a scene at the end of the novel and it was one of the best scenes of the book. This is what I mean by the book had the potential.
I'm glad I stuck with the book through the end. Just by having the strong ending proves that there is potential for the book and I may actually pick up the next one.
Then there's the setting. There was so much to learn about the States and the outside world and I loved how we learned more and more about it throughout the novel. Also with the Tablets, which shows that our world some day could turn into this due to our obsession with technology.
Lastly, the pulse. This was definitely an interesting idea, and I've never seen anything like this. It was original and strong - well developed and thought out.
The rest of the book through, did not share these qualities.
Where to start... well there's the beginning of the book. Not bad, until about 25 pages in and Faith, the new girl to school, already fell in love with the popular boy just because he is tall enough for her so-called gigantic stature.
WHAT? Okay, so insta-love is sometimes fine, but most often it's DEFINITELY wrong. Especially within the first 25 pages of the book. Then there's her friend Liz, who she is constantly holding hands with. At first I thought it was just a really good friendship, but then when Liz kept talking about possibly having feelings for Faith, it was still okay! I just hate how it was dropped and not brought up again. I thought that this could have either been left out completely, or it should have been developed more.
Then Faith. So she's the main character, and it's important to be able to see a consistency in the main character. Faith had none whatsoever. One minute she was mad, the next she was falling head over heels, then she was trying to be superwoman. She was all over the place, and it just got annoying. I was fine with her until page 25 and then I finally started to like her at page 275. That's a lot of pages to hate a character, but thankfully there were other redeeming qualities.
Another thing was that Faith was living by herself, and we didn't find out until page 100 or so? WHAT? She spends the first 100 pages worrying about wearing the right pair of jeans at her new school rather than possibly question how her parents are doing...? Like I said, quite annoying.
Then there was the romantic interests. First of all, Wade Quinn. This was the guy that Faith thought she fell in love with the instant she saw him. Then two days go by and he drugs her with a thing called a Wire Code and kisses her. She finds out and gets mad, but they still kind of swoon whenever they're around each other. Then *gasp* Wade has a pulse, just like Faith. Now Wade is sad that he has to kill her because she was "the only girl he ever loved." Dude, you knew her for a few days and drugged her. You call that love?
Then there's Dylan. He was fine. Kind of that brooding, mysterious type that everyone loves. Dylan has a pulse just like Faith and teaches her how to use it. He doesn't show much romantic interest in her, but you can tell there's something going on between them. Finally he professes his love to her, when she's unconscious. How does he do it? By kissing her unconscious body many times. Can you say creepy?
There were just so many things that I didn't know what to do with this book. I just kept trekking through this one, and my boyfriend had to sit through many rant-fests with me.
Truthfully, I think that everything was okay, except for the characters and how they dealt with things. The setting and background was fine, and if there was just stronger writing and some alterations made to the characters then this book would have been awesome. That's my thoughts.
I'm still wondering if I'm going to read the second book when it comes out next year. I guess we'll see!
As much as I love Patrick Carman, I would have to say this book was a let down. Although it had its moments, I just felt it was too slow, with unlikable characters, and a horrible romance. I did however, end up liking it at the end due to some plot twists, and a final battle but it all just was left unresolved leading to the next book which I will unfortunately not be reading because I don't think its worth it. It was an okay read, but that's about it.