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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Funnily (not) this book is pretty ableist! Then there's the tokenization. And what's with the lack of female characters? Terrible, offensive take on "wokeness".
It was fast paced and fun to listen to, but it had a couple of cliches and things were sometimes a little convenient for the characters.
Anyway, for anyone interested, I would recommend getting the audiobook, which is narrated by the author. I listened to it in two sittings, which is very fast for me when it comes to audiobooks.
Anyway, for anyone interested, I would recommend getting the audiobook, which is narrated by the author. I listened to it in two sittings, which is very fast for me when it comes to audiobooks.
Our narrator, twelve year old Phillip, is blind and just found out that he also has a superpower. It turns out that his whole family are superheroes and they just moved to a new town because it's time for his power to manifest and for him to go to school to learn how to be a superhero, or what they call a custodian. Phillip finds himself lumped into a Special Ed class with other disabled custodian students and when the school is going to host simulations for the kids to practice, they aren't allowed to participate. So, they fight back (because hello ableism!) and then get way more than they bargained for when a real villian comes to town and seems to be targeting them. I liked this book!! It had a few twists I did not see coming (especially one in the middle, which is what officially hooked me) and it has disabled main characters, which is not something you often get. Also, the writing must be good because I got super into it considering I'm not a twelve year old boy and can't relate to the narrator in many ways. I am likely to read the next in the series at some point (I think it is a trilogy as of now) but I would also be interested to read reviews and opinions from physically disabled folks who've read the book to see if they think the representation is good or if there are problematic elements. As a former disability support worker who now deals with a sometimes disabling chronic illness, I think it did well but I can't speak for folks with the same disabilities as the kids in the story.
He thought he was going to get the sex talk. When his dad took him out for a long drive, Philip thought he was going to have the heart to heart talk with his dad, instead he gets told he has super powers. As a blind almost teenager he has been given the ability to move things with his mind. . . And he will now being going to school with other kids that have abilities. He is so excited all throughout that first day until he finds out he is in a classroom with other disabled students with special abilities.
I loved this book so so so very much. I don’t even think I can produce enough words to talk about how much I adored this.
This book had just the right amount of nerdiness. There were superheroes of all types; people with the ability to move objects with their minds, people that have super strength, people that are far more intelligent than any man could ever be.
AND THIS IS SUCH A DIVERSE BOOK.
Not only is our main character blind but his whole group of friends have some sort of disability. Their disabilities hinder them in certain ways, whether it is running after bad guys or trying to save a damsel in distress.
Mild spoilers
Philips best friend, Henry, has the ability to read people’s thoughts, and as the book progressed Henry was able to project his sight into Philip’s mind. This gave Philip the ability to see but only when he was with Henry.
I thought this was a clever way to show how the kids’ powers are increasing but it also bummed me out that the author found a way to “fix him”. That was the only thing that really bothered me about the book.
This book had me laughing, crying, and explaining to my coworkers how brilliant I find this book to be.
I give this book an A.
Perhaps the best part of this book was the fact that it was written for adults. I didn’t find this book in the middle grade section, even though all the main characters are twelve years old. This allowed the book to be so much darker.
I loved this book so so so very much. I don’t even think I can produce enough words to talk about how much I adored this.
This book had just the right amount of nerdiness. There were superheroes of all types; people with the ability to move objects with their minds, people that have super strength, people that are far more intelligent than any man could ever be.
AND THIS IS SUCH A DIVERSE BOOK.
Not only is our main character blind but his whole group of friends have some sort of disability. Their disabilities hinder them in certain ways, whether it is running after bad guys or trying to save a damsel in distress.
Mild spoilers
Philips best friend, Henry, has the ability to read people’s thoughts, and as the book progressed Henry was able to project his sight into Philip’s mind. This gave Philip the ability to see but only when he was with Henry.
I thought this was a clever way to show how the kids’ powers are increasing but it also bummed me out that the author found a way to “fix him”. That was the only thing that really bothered me about the book.
This book had me laughing, crying, and explaining to my coworkers how brilliant I find this book to be.
I give this book an A.
Perhaps the best part of this book was the fact that it was written for adults. I didn’t find this book in the middle grade section, even though all the main characters are twelve years old. This allowed the book to be so much darker.
This book doesn't have much going on. The characters lack personal plots and motivations which makes the whole plot lack stakes.
A bit slow to start but once you get to the halfway mark it really picks up.
Interesting perspective for a story to be told by the perspective of a blind person, and the plot is fun and engaging with interesting and sometimes predictable twists and turns.
Interesting perspective for a story to be told by the perspective of a blind person, and the plot is fun and engaging with interesting and sometimes predictable twists and turns.
Be warned, this is a long review.
As an avid viewer of Cinema Sins, my excitement when I heard that Jeremy Scott had written the book was impalpable, especially when I heard what the book was about.
‘The Ables’ is set in a world where superheroes (Custodians) live in secret while defending the world from evil. Each hero has their own abilities and must learn to use these by attending a special school. The main character is a twelve-year old boy called Philip Sallinger, with the gift of telekinesis and who is blind. He finds himself in the special education class at school where he and his classmates must learn to overcome their disabilities and work together to save the town.
I really wanted to enjoy this book. The premise sounded fascinating and it was refreshing to see disables characters taking the foreground, especially since they have superpowers. The story itself was enjoyable too and pleasant to read. However, there were a number of problems I had with it.
Firstly, as a book about disabled children overcoming any disadvantages they might have to prove that they are as capable as abled people, this book conveniently forgets any problems that the disabilities might have, even giving the blind character a way to see. This in itself gave a number of problems. For instance, as someone who had been blind his entire life, the first time Philip sees the world he is able to read a nameplate. It would be impossible for him to be able to read so quickly. These inconsistencies continued throughout the book, with a character who lost his arm regaining it on occasion and on occasion some disabilities seemed forgotten. I also have issues with how depression was treated – it got a page at most of the character saying how he knew he was depressed because he was acting so selfishly before being was told to snap out of it, after which the depression was supposedly ‘cured’. That is not how depression works at all and it came across as quite offensive.
Secondly, for all this book proclaimed to be about representation and diversity, there was a single character of ethnic diversity (of which a big deal was made of). There were also three female characters who got more than a passing mention. One was the mother – a fabulous cook whose one time in action resulted in her becoming unconscious a minute after arrive. One was a fellow disabled student who accompanied the group once on Halloween and left early because she was tired, never to seen or heard of again. The last was a teacher who was prominent in helping the boys at the beginning, but was forgotten about half way though. This was disappointing. I understand that twelve year old boys have a thing about being friends with girls (I have brothers) but the treatment of women in this was appalling. They did not even feature in the final climactic battle – all the characters mentioned were men.
The writing was not as good as I had hoped. It is incredibly difficult to write from a blind perspective, but the chunks of exposition revealed in the dialogue was clumsy and distracting from the story. A pivotal aspect of the story was a betrayal made in the past for which no explanation was given and which made very little sense. It was also incredibly predictable – I guessed all the main twists and the plot points from the first 50 pages. I also felt the world was not quite as built up as it could have been and the fact that certain characters such as one with asthma and one in a wheelchair ended up in a special education class made no sense – they had no learning difficulties and were perfectly capable of joining in with the rest of the school.
I really hate being negative but this novel did have a lot of issues with it and many parts of it did not make sense. I think it may have worked better as a film, but as a book it was not great; especially since I’m not sure it was proofread before it was published (there was at least one big formatting error and a number of inconsistencies). The book has been left open for a sequel, so I will give the second book a try since there is a lot of potential, but a lot of issues to overcome.
As an avid viewer of Cinema Sins, my excitement when I heard that Jeremy Scott had written the book was impalpable, especially when I heard what the book was about.
‘The Ables’ is set in a world where superheroes (Custodians) live in secret while defending the world from evil. Each hero has their own abilities and must learn to use these by attending a special school. The main character is a twelve-year old boy called Philip Sallinger, with the gift of telekinesis and who is blind. He finds himself in the special education class at school where he and his classmates must learn to overcome their disabilities and work together to save the town.
I really wanted to enjoy this book. The premise sounded fascinating and it was refreshing to see disables characters taking the foreground, especially since they have superpowers. The story itself was enjoyable too and pleasant to read. However, there were a number of problems I had with it.
Firstly, as a book about disabled children overcoming any disadvantages they might have to prove that they are as capable as abled people, this book conveniently forgets any problems that the disabilities might have, even giving the blind character a way to see. This in itself gave a number of problems. For instance, as someone who had been blind his entire life, the first time Philip sees the world he is able to read a nameplate. It would be impossible for him to be able to read so quickly. These inconsistencies continued throughout the book, with a character who lost his arm regaining it on occasion and on occasion some disabilities seemed forgotten. I also have issues with how depression was treated – it got a page at most of the character saying how he knew he was depressed because he was acting so selfishly before being was told to snap out of it, after which the depression was supposedly ‘cured’. That is not how depression works at all and it came across as quite offensive.
Secondly, for all this book proclaimed to be about representation and diversity, there was a single character of ethnic diversity (of which a big deal was made of). There were also three female characters who got more than a passing mention. One was the mother – a fabulous cook whose one time in action resulted in her becoming unconscious a minute after arrive. One was a fellow disabled student who accompanied the group once on Halloween and left early because she was tired, never to seen or heard of again. The last was a teacher who was prominent in helping the boys at the beginning, but was forgotten about half way though. This was disappointing. I understand that twelve year old boys have a thing about being friends with girls (I have brothers) but the treatment of women in this was appalling. They did not even feature in the final climactic battle – all the characters mentioned were men.
The writing was not as good as I had hoped. It is incredibly difficult to write from a blind perspective, but the chunks of exposition revealed in the dialogue was clumsy and distracting from the story. A pivotal aspect of the story was a betrayal made in the past for which no explanation was given and which made very little sense. It was also incredibly predictable – I guessed all the main twists and the plot points from the first 50 pages. I also felt the world was not quite as built up as it could have been and the fact that certain characters such as one with asthma and one in a wheelchair ended up in a special education class made no sense – they had no learning difficulties and were perfectly capable of joining in with the rest of the school.
I really hate being negative but this novel did have a lot of issues with it and many parts of it did not make sense. I think it may have worked better as a film, but as a book it was not great; especially since I’m not sure it was proofread before it was published (there was at least one big formatting error and a number of inconsistencies). The book has been left open for a sequel, so I will give the second book a try since there is a lot of potential, but a lot of issues to overcome.
3.5 stars, having only read the more edited 2019 version.
This is a book that would have benefited so much from a more traditional editing process (which makes me wonder on what the original was like).
It was a good story, I'd say most of the flaws were ones you'd expect from a debut novel, as well as the ones produced from not having enough people going over it thoroughly to fix parts.
One thing I hate the most in books is continuity issues, particularly since I retain ridiculous details so they stand out to me so much. So where for most people, a single line on page 297 that referred to a character that had never been mentioned before or after might not get noticed, for me it just threw me entirely out of the story. I'm guessing a character that got changed or removed in the different drafts, but I ended up going back to one of the first chapters to see if I somehow missed this person with these specifics. (I didn't. You don't exist Darla!). A lot of the errors are small continuity ones, like a character being able to do something they shouldn't be able to do in the rules of this universe,such as Phillip referring to his dad's facial expressions when Henry isn't around . Minor details, but it sticks out to me.
Some of these errors where a lot more obvious, and those lost it a half a star. For example, at one point there was a chapter in between two others that seemed misplaced. The characters are up late at night, talking about doing a test of powers and about a big event the next morning, the next chapter they're at the pizza place talking about something entirely different, with not mention of the big event. Then the next chapter is the big event. I never like when I have to check the page numbers to make sure I haven't missed any along the way.
Putting aside those flaws though, it was a really interesting story and I liked the world he built and the characters in it. I did predict one of the plot points,guessing Donnie was the all powered one early on , but there were several things that completely took me by surpriseFinch being the grandpa, and actually killing off his mom, I still expected her to magically come back to life at the end , which is always nice when reading.
One of the things I really didn't like about the story though was the fixing of the disability, in a way. I've had this issue in another book I've read where they've given a main character a disability and then easily fixed it/made it not a problem. I get it, it's hard to write around, and sometimes it would just be easier to get the character to be able to do this thing in the moment. In doing so though, you lessen what you were going for with the disability all along.For example, there's no in-universe explanation on why Phillip was able to see what Donnie did at the end. Henry wasn't in the same spot for parts of it, since he got moved much earlier. It was the leftover from Finch, but that doesn't make sense within the rules of the universe. You just needed to be able to have it seen, so it was fudged. Same with Henry being around making Phillip pretty much not blind at all. Doesn't it tire Henry out to keep sending him images? Doesn't it take up his brain space to do that all the time? Also, nitpick, but if a blind kid is seeing for the first time, he can't read the things he sees - how on earth would he know what letters look like?? Anyway, things like that bugged me.
I recommend the book though, especially if you aren't so nitpicky about continuity like I am, it really was a nice read. I look forward to the sequel, where hopefully the debut bugs have been worked out and maybe another editor or two had a look at it for content and not just typos and grammar.
This is a book that would have benefited so much from a more traditional editing process (which makes me wonder on what the original was like).
It was a good story, I'd say most of the flaws were ones you'd expect from a debut novel, as well as the ones produced from not having enough people going over it thoroughly to fix parts.
One thing I hate the most in books is continuity issues, particularly since I retain ridiculous details so they stand out to me so much. So where for most people, a single line on page 297 that referred to a character that had never been mentioned before or after might not get noticed, for me it just threw me entirely out of the story. I'm guessing a character that got changed or removed in the different drafts, but I ended up going back to one of the first chapters to see if I somehow missed this person with these specifics. (I didn't. You don't exist Darla!). A lot of the errors are small continuity ones, like a character being able to do something they shouldn't be able to do in the rules of this universe,
Some of these errors where a lot more obvious, and those lost it a half a star. For example, at one point there was a chapter in between two others that seemed misplaced. The characters are up late at night, talking about doing a test of powers and about a big event the next morning, the next chapter they're at the pizza place talking about something entirely different, with not mention of the big event. Then the next chapter is the big event. I never like when I have to check the page numbers to make sure I haven't missed any along the way.
Putting aside those flaws though, it was a really interesting story and I liked the world he built and the characters in it. I did predict one of the plot points,
One of the things I really didn't like about the story though was the fixing of the disability, in a way. I've had this issue in another book I've read where they've given a main character a disability and then easily fixed it/made it not a problem. I get it, it's hard to write around, and sometimes it would just be easier to get the character to be able to do this thing in the moment. In doing so though, you lessen what you were going for with the disability all along.
I recommend the book though, especially if you aren't so nitpicky about continuity like I am, it really was a nice read. I look forward to the sequel, where hopefully the debut bugs have been worked out and maybe another editor or two had a look at it for content and not just typos and grammar.
DNF. I wanted to like this book. Truly. The story concept is fantastic - a group of kids who have a disabilities that have discovered they also have been gifted superpowers. A simply brilliant premise. But what I couldn't get past was the author's writing style of telling instead of showing throughout every paragraph. I became so frustrated reading a witty line of dialogue to find the next sentence describing how that line was witty. Either the author thinks his audience is dumb and needs some help along, or he doesn't understand the concept of show don't tell being paramount. Too much exposition bookended the dialogue, And I just couldn't get past 60 pages of it to see how the story progressed.
It was fun to read and provided entertainment while I was reading it but not much else. It was a predictable and shallow plot, though the world the author built was interesting and left me wanting more stories from it. Actually, I wanted a better story from it - it was a book I wanted to like so much but it ended up being fairly bland. 2.5 stars if I could.