Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
I was really impressed with this book! The characters were fascinating and it was a really engaging story. There were some technical errors and parts of it still felt like a draft. But overall a very good read.
While it was a bit slow at first to get into, The Ables gradually drew me in, and the finale cemented the four star rating for me. There was a couple of issues with the plot and some inconsistencies, and I would of loved to of seen a couple of female characters in the spot light as well. But still, despite that I enjoyed.
This book was everything I wanted: humor, drama, adventure, plot twists. It was a ton of fun, I loved every moment and I could not put it down for long. I would pre-order a sequel in a heartbeat!
This is a book that I just stumbled across and decided to give a chance - what a fun and surprising find! I listened to this as an audio-book and the narrator really made the characters come to life.
This is a fun coming of age novel about a kid, Phillip, who has exceptional genetic abilities (i.e. super powers), but who also happens to have a physical disability. Philip and his family are new to town, and he soon meets friends in his 'special education' class full of other disabled kids with super powers. An eclectic gang of kids band together to support one another and have a great time learning about their powers in the process.
A fast paced and intriguing story of budding friendship that explores what it means to be abled (and who gets to decide what that means). With many twists and turns - it will keep you hooked till the very end!
This is a fun coming of age novel about a kid, Phillip, who has exceptional genetic abilities (i.e. super powers), but who also happens to have a physical disability. Philip and his family are new to town, and he soon meets friends in his 'special education' class full of other disabled kids with super powers. An eclectic gang of kids band together to support one another and have a great time learning about their powers in the process.
A fast paced and intriguing story of budding friendship that explores what it means to be abled (and who gets to decide what that means). With many twists and turns - it will keep you hooked till the very end!
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I saw the author at a book convention in 2019, where he sat on a panel with several other authors. When he introduced himself, I was shocked - he’s the CinemaSins dude! After he introduced the book, I immediately put it on my want to read list. A book about disabled superheroes? Yes please!
This book is a solid four stars for me. The characters are really interesting - I don’t want to say that I enjoy their disabilities, more that I enjoy their disability/superpower combination. For example, a blind teleporter - you wouldn’t think that could ever work without death or loss of limb, but somehow it does. I have two favorite characters - the main character Phillip and his friend Bentley. Bentley is so intelligent and clever that it was mind blowing. Phillip deals with so much tragedy in this book that I am amazed he can keep going, but he does. The story has a couple of really surprising plot twists that I didn’t see coming.
The only reason this isn’t a 5 star read for me is the sheer amount of bad luck that the kids have in this book. In my opinion, way too many bad things happen, especially to Phillip. Overall though, this book is great.
This book is a solid four stars for me. The characters are really interesting - I don’t want to say that I enjoy their disabilities, more that I enjoy their disability/superpower combination. For example, a blind teleporter - you wouldn’t think that could ever work without death or loss of limb, but somehow it does. I have two favorite characters - the main character Phillip and his friend Bentley. Bentley is so intelligent and clever that it was mind blowing. Phillip deals with so much tragedy in this book that I am amazed he can keep going, but he does. The story has a couple of really surprising plot twists that I didn’t see coming.
The only reason this isn’t a 5 star read for me is the sheer amount of bad luck that the kids have in this book. In my opinion, way too many bad things happen, especially to Phillip. Overall though, this book is great.
I picked up this book (and actually preordered it) because the author is one of the founders of Cinema Sins --- one of my favorite YouTube channels and an excellent provider of genre-focused snark. I also liked the high concept; we follow a group of disabled middle school students who also have superpowers. Unfortunately, their disabilities sometimes hamper their ability to be super, as in the case of our protagonist Phillip, who is a blind telekinetic.
There's a lot of cleverness involved with the superpowers, especially because one of the middle school students (Bentley) is a super genius. Bentley has a number of great insights throughout the book on how our heroes can use their powers more effectively.
Sadly, I found the cleverness was outweighed by the clunkiness of the writing. Scott uses a lot of dialogue to deliver exposition to the reader, and I disliked the emphasis on discussion over action, especially in the first half of the novel. In addition, many of the plot points appeared to be straw men --- the obstacles appeared only to be knocked down, not because of any other logic inherent in the story.
The biggest example I saw of this was early in the novel when we discover that all of our disabled heroes are in a special education class apart from the rest of the school. Please note that there is nothing that would prevent most of these students, if not all, from being placed in regular education classrooms with a few accommodations. In our world, given the current trends in education, that's exactly what would happen, especially since almost all of the students have no learning differences. But in the world of the Ables, we get a 1950's approach to special education, primarily (I'm assuming) to drive conflict.
There are a number of notes like this in the book --- conflicts or problems that appear with little rhyme or reason. Near the end of the novel, a betrayal in the past becomes very important. Unfortunately for the reader, we never get a clear idea of why the betrayal occurred, just that we need to know about it.
There's some good stuff here, especially in the interactions between the kids. I just wish the plotting was strong enough to support the characters.
There's a lot of cleverness involved with the superpowers, especially because one of the middle school students (Bentley) is a super genius. Bentley has a number of great insights throughout the book on how our heroes can use their powers more effectively.
Sadly, I found the cleverness was outweighed by the clunkiness of the writing. Scott uses a lot of dialogue to deliver exposition to the reader, and I disliked the emphasis on discussion over action, especially in the first half of the novel. In addition, many of the plot points appeared to be straw men --- the obstacles appeared only to be knocked down, not because of any other logic inherent in the story.
The biggest example I saw of this was early in the novel when we discover that all of our disabled heroes are in a special education class apart from the rest of the school. Please note that there is nothing that would prevent most of these students, if not all, from being placed in regular education classrooms with a few accommodations. In our world, given the current trends in education, that's exactly what would happen, especially since almost all of the students have no learning differences. But in the world of the Ables, we get a 1950's approach to special education, primarily (I'm assuming) to drive conflict.
There are a number of notes like this in the book --- conflicts or problems that appear with little rhyme or reason. Near the end of the novel, a betrayal in the past becomes very important. Unfortunately for the reader, we never get a clear idea of why the betrayal occurred, just that we need to know about it.
There's some good stuff here, especially in the interactions between the kids. I just wish the plotting was strong enough to support the characters.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
You should know first that I am fan of Cinema Sins. Jeremy is half the writing team behind Cinema Sins and the narrator so when I saw on their Youtube channel that Jeremy had written a book I figured that I should check it out. It didn’t hurt that John Dies at the End author David Wong has a nice little quote up over on the book’s website. I jumped when I saw that Netgalley had it up. The Ables is about a secret society of superpowered peoples living around us. We don’t see them but they are there protecting us from both regular criminals and from super-powered individuals who do not have out best interests at heart. So when Phillip Sallinger learns that he has inherited superpowers he absolutely ecstatic; even if his telekinesis is difficult to use due to his blindness.
Phillip is placed in a special education class at his new superhero school along with other youths whose special abilities are impaired by physical or mental disabilities. Phillip is dead set on not letting his disability affect his ability to be a Custodian. Things really kick-off with the introduction of the SuperSim; an event where super-powered adults create a town wide Danger Room like situation where teams of super-powered kids can try their hand at super-heroics without the risk of the real-world. Overcoming some adversity Phillip and his other classmates take their first steps towards being superheroes only fail pretty spectacularly. However, it’s this failure that spurs them onward toward exploring their abilities in new and deeper ways in order to find a way to overcome their physical limitations.
The Ables would be an entertaining book if it was just watching these kids experiment with their abilities. Scott comes up with some creative and fun ways for these kids to use their abilities and it’s an absolutely joy to experience each little triumph along the way. However, there are darker doings going on in the background of The Ables’ world as full-fledged Custodians are disappearing and a mysterious figure keeps taunting Phillip and his friends. Scott doesn’t flinch from putting his hero through the wringer and he does an excellent job at describing the emotional aftermath of the handful of traumatic events Phillip faces throughout the novel.
While I found The Ables conclusion to be initially entertaining, Scott really stacks the odds against the heroes, some last minute twists and revelations felt a little too contrived for comfort. The novel’s final heroic reveal was telegraphed a bit too neatly for my tasted. Then again, Scott’s target audience is not a 33-year old somewhat jaded fan of genre fiction so the book’s final revelation might come as more of a surprise. The Ables is an entertaining and exciting read whose vibrant characters leap off the page. I definitely anyone looking for an excellent bit of middle-grade fiction give Jeremey Scott’s The Ables. For avid Cinema Sins fans I feel it worth also noting that Scott himself reads the audiobook version. Both the print and audiobook versions of The Ables are available now.
Phillip is placed in a special education class at his new superhero school along with other youths whose special abilities are impaired by physical or mental disabilities. Phillip is dead set on not letting his disability affect his ability to be a Custodian. Things really kick-off with the introduction of the SuperSim; an event where super-powered adults create a town wide Danger Room like situation where teams of super-powered kids can try their hand at super-heroics without the risk of the real-world. Overcoming some adversity Phillip and his other classmates take their first steps towards being superheroes only fail pretty spectacularly. However, it’s this failure that spurs them onward toward exploring their abilities in new and deeper ways in order to find a way to overcome their physical limitations.
The Ables would be an entertaining book if it was just watching these kids experiment with their abilities. Scott comes up with some creative and fun ways for these kids to use their abilities and it’s an absolutely joy to experience each little triumph along the way. However, there are darker doings going on in the background of The Ables’ world as full-fledged Custodians are disappearing and a mysterious figure keeps taunting Phillip and his friends. Scott doesn’t flinch from putting his hero through the wringer and he does an excellent job at describing the emotional aftermath of the handful of traumatic events Phillip faces throughout the novel.
While I found The Ables conclusion to be initially entertaining, Scott really stacks the odds against the heroes, some last minute twists and revelations felt a little too contrived for comfort. The novel’s final heroic reveal was telegraphed a bit too neatly for my tasted. Then again, Scott’s target audience is not a 33-year old somewhat jaded fan of genre fiction so the book’s final revelation might come as more of a surprise. The Ables is an entertaining and exciting read whose vibrant characters leap off the page. I definitely anyone looking for an excellent bit of middle-grade fiction give Jeremey Scott’s The Ables. For avid Cinema Sins fans I feel it worth also noting that Scott himself reads the audiobook version. Both the print and audiobook versions of The Ables are available now.