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bencan_t's review against another edition
4.0
For someone who analyzes movie clichés for a living, you'd think Jeremy Scott would use less of them in his book.
-(First-person) narration *ding*
-Book steals from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" *ding*
-Hero-and-all-his-friends-are-underdogs cliché *ding*
-Donnie ex machina (twice!) *ding*
-Bentley is ridiculously, stereotypically nerdy *ding*
-Henry is the token black friend *ding*
-L̶u̶k̶e̶ Phillip, I am your (grand)father *ding*
-Hero's mom dies *ding*
-SO MUCH EXPOSITIONAL DIALOGUE *ding*
-That-wasn't-my-real-plan cliché *ding*
-Scene does not contain a lap dance *ding*
In all seriousness though, I did like this book. Especially in the second half, when the plot gets more gripping. The characters are likable and the concept is really interesting. The dialogue is sometimes clunky but overall the writing is good, and it's nice that it doesn't spend hours on visual description, since the main character's blind. There are some genuinely unexpected twists (though I spoiled like all of them above) that just make "The Ables" really hard to put down.
Also, I am SO, SO happy that he avoided the usually YA-novel shoehorned romance plot. I'm not sure why I was worried that there would be one, but I'm glad there's not.
-(First-person) narration *ding*
-Book steals from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" *ding*
-Hero-and-all-his-friends-are-underdogs cliché *ding*
-Donnie ex machina (twice!) *ding*
-Bentley is ridiculously, stereotypically nerdy *ding*
-Henry is the token black friend *ding*
-L̶u̶k̶e̶ Phillip, I am your (grand)father *ding*
-Hero's mom dies *ding*
-SO MUCH EXPOSITIONAL DIALOGUE *ding*
-That-wasn't-my-real-plan cliché *ding*
-Scene does not contain a lap dance *ding*
In all seriousness though, I did like this book. Especially in the second half, when the plot gets more gripping. The characters are likable and the concept is really interesting. The dialogue is sometimes clunky but overall the writing is good, and it's nice that it doesn't spend hours on visual description, since the main character's blind. There are some genuinely unexpected twists (though I spoiled like all of them above) that just make "The Ables" really hard to put down.
Also, I am SO, SO happy that he avoided the usually YA-novel shoehorned romance plot. I'm not sure why I was worried that there would be one, but I'm glad there's not.
abide's review against another edition
2.0
God I wish this book had been written by a good author. The premise of the story is so good as well as the world that was built, but it was done in such a sloppy way. There seemed to be no real research done on how actually people who live with these disabilities live and move around in the world. For instance, a kid who has been blind his whole life is granted the ability to see and can instantly read written words which is not possible because they would look only like symbols to him and he wouldn’t be able to recognize them because he’s never seen them before or learned what they mean. The main groups disabilities seem to be largely ignored unless they’re relevant to the plot which doesn’t take into account the reality of living with a disability. Beyond that the writing is lack-luster, there are large portions of exposition dumps through dialogue and the dialogue doesn’t seem natural for 12 year old boys for the most part. Also the villains motivations are very hard to pin down and come across as “he’s the villain because it had to be something shocking” without showing any reasoning behind it. I’m not disappointed I read it, I just wish it had been written by someone who knew a little more about what they were doing and also had an editor.
rumerw's review against another edition
4.0
A bit cliched near the end, but otherwise a really fun, really refreshing read!
kategoodman's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
norma_cenva's review against another edition
5.0
I cannot believe, that I have recorder a video-review, but completely forgot to actually write one. To put it bluntly this is by far, my most favorite book of 2015. I own it in all available formats to date, and even played the test-drive of the newly in-testing video game from the story's expanded universe (by the way the game was great on PC, so looking forward to the full version!).
If you follow my YouTube review's you already know my spoiler free-talk on it. However Gooodreads is special, so I will say with full bias - this story is simply put GREAT. I re-read it so many times I lost count, and re-listened to it too, the Audiobook version is a great story companion.
If you are looking for a light-hearted read, this is probably not it, but it is realistic, as realistic as super-hero pre-teen sci-fi in a small town America, can be. There are great characters in the story, seeing disability represented in such humanistic way is refreshing.
I am in line for the series continuation, and hope more books in the story will be written. But for now will go play the tie-in video game to pass the time!
If you follow my YouTube review's you already know my spoiler free-talk on it. However Gooodreads is special, so I will say with full bias - this story is simply put GREAT. I re-read it so many times I lost count, and re-listened to it too, the Audiobook version is a great story companion.
If you are looking for a light-hearted read, this is probably not it, but it is realistic, as realistic as super-hero pre-teen sci-fi in a small town America, can be. There are great characters in the story, seeing disability represented in such humanistic way is refreshing.
I am in line for the series continuation, and hope more books in the story will be written. But for now will go play the tie-in video game to pass the time!
jamestomasino's review against another edition
2.0
Review for the audiobook:
The story is pretty good, but the author's reading made it very difficult to follow. He didn't pace himself well or allow for pauses for emphasis and understanding. I stopped listening after a couple hours. I think this book deserves to be read instead of listened to. It will likely result in higher ratings once I get the chance.
The story is pretty good, but the author's reading made it very difficult to follow. He didn't pace himself well or allow for pauses for emphasis and understanding. I stopped listening after a couple hours. I think this book deserves to be read instead of listened to. It will likely result in higher ratings once I get the chance.
dearanonymous's review against another edition
1.0
This book was a disappointment. I am not super familiar with CinemaSins, so I don't care about who the author is, but I was excited about the premise. Only a couple chapters in, I started wondering if this was a self-published book. Yup! The worst part is that if only Jeremy Scott had taken the time to get an agent and a proper editor with a real publishing house, this could have been an excellent book. The story itself is interesting, but he does an extremely mediocre job telling it, and there are a lot of flaws that could have been caught and fixed if he'd even had a friend who was good at proofreading. He clearly improved as a writer from the beginning of the book to the end, but didn't go back and do any serious editing.
I almost never review books, but I need to get a few things off my chest after reading this.
1. I have no idea who the target audience is. I know this guy has a Youtube channel and knew he could sell this book to rabid fans, but those fans are mostly adults. This book talks to its readers like they're children. There is no room to figure things out yourself because the book spends SO MUCH TIME telling you what every bit of dialogue meant. The cover says YA, the formatting says YA/Adult, but the writing says I should be about 10 years old.
2. Why is there a random Adult Phillip voice giving his two cents every once in a while? No one wants it. It's obnoxious and spoils how things are going to turn out right before they happen.
3. What 12 year old is going to ask his friends, "Whom should we get on our team?"
4.
5. Penelope walks around with them on Halloween. Plenty of people have already complained about the female representation, so I won't harp on that, but this girl is supposed to be intolerant of sunlight. I guess it was dark outside? It's never mentioned that she could come out because it's safe in the dark. She just showed up, complained to show how annoying those pesky girls are, attracted Bentley in a vaguely referenced way so that he wouldn't be in the next scene (but WHY?), and then walked out of the book forever.
6. Late in the book, Mrs. Crouch mentions that Darla is deaf and blind. Who is Darla? In his class is a Delilah Darlington who is deaf. Does she go by the nickname Darla because of her last name, or did the author forget her name and not bother to check? Because even I checked.
7. Formatting errors. Random bolding of a partial sentence and Part 4 looking like it's the last sentence of a chapter. Come on, guys!
8.
9.
In fact, I think the over-explanation of the desk is a good example of the writing style. Let's include it.
"Bentley, James, Freddie, and Patrick his in a classroom just down the hall from the prisoners and Finch's guards. The gang had moved the teacher's desk to a new position behind the door. The classroom door opened inward, and the desk now stood behind the door."
We get it. It's in a perfect location for me to *headdesk*
10 Freddie. I constantly forgot that Freddie existed. He didn't add anything to the story, and only spoke up every once in a while. He should have been replaced with one of the girls from class to better round out the characters.
11. Are all his friends 12? Is their entire special ed class 12? Are there multiple grades of it? Are there enough kids with special needs (because this book didn't use person-first language, but I will) in this small town of superheroes to populate six grades of special ed classes, or do our characters just happen to be the same age in a class that covers several grades or all 7-12th graders? This doesn't even count the question of why a lot of them aren't in normal classes anyway. They can't use their powers in school, so it's not like they should function any differently from a school of non-superpowered kids.
Okay, I've run out of steam.
Jeremy, get an editor and do this again, please. I would love to read an edited, re-released version of this in the future.
I almost never review books, but I need to get a few things off my chest after reading this.
1. I have no idea who the target audience is. I know this guy has a Youtube channel and knew he could sell this book to rabid fans, but those fans are mostly adults. This book talks to its readers like they're children. There is no room to figure things out yourself because the book spends SO MUCH TIME telling you what every bit of dialogue meant. The cover says YA, the formatting says YA/Adult, but the writing says I should be about 10 years old.
2. Why is there a random Adult Phillip voice giving his two cents every once in a while? No one wants it. It's obnoxious and spoils how things are going to turn out right before they happen.
3. What 12 year old is going to ask his friends, "Whom should we get on our team?"
4.
Spoiler
Chad regrows his arm twice. Once while tripping a bad guy in New York by getting "on his hands and knees" and again, importantly, by placing a hand on both Henry and Phillip to make them invisible at the end.5. Penelope walks around with them on Halloween. Plenty of people have already complained about the female representation, so I won't harp on that, but this girl is supposed to be intolerant of sunlight. I guess it was dark outside? It's never mentioned that she could come out because it's safe in the dark. She just showed up, complained to show how annoying those pesky girls are, attracted Bentley in a vaguely referenced way so that he wouldn't be in the next scene (but WHY?), and then walked out of the book forever.
6. Late in the book, Mrs. Crouch mentions that Darla is deaf and blind. Who is Darla? In his class is a Delilah Darlington who is deaf. Does she go by the nickname Darla because of her last name, or did the author forget her name and not bother to check? Because even I checked.
7. Formatting errors. Random bolding of a partial sentence and Part 4 looking like it's the last sentence of a chapter. Come on, guys!
8.
Spoiler
Phillip abuses Henry for the ability to see, and Henry is totally cool with it because Phillip is the only one who matters. Henry is 12. He does not have the willpower to stare at a computer screen while danger is happening all around him in the final scenes, just so Phillip can see and hopefully save the day.9.
Spoiler
Bentley climbs on a desk, lifts a flowerpot over his head, and jumps off a desk? Okay, sure. They only need to have disabilities when it's not inconvenient for the author. Also, they pushed a desk up against the door, which opened inward (as Scott spent way too much time telling us), so how did the "bad guys" as Phillip constantly calls them, open the door and get hit with flowerpots being held by the kids standing on that desk behind the door? What is happening here?In fact, I think the over-explanation of the desk is a good example of the writing style. Let's include it.
"Bentley, James, Freddie, and Patrick his in a classroom just down the hall from the prisoners and Finch's guards. The gang had moved the teacher's desk to a new position behind the door. The classroom door opened inward, and the desk now stood behind the door."
We get it. It's in a perfect location for me to *headdesk*
10 Freddie. I constantly forgot that Freddie existed. He didn't add anything to the story, and only spoke up every once in a while. He should have been replaced with one of the girls from class to better round out the characters.
11. Are all his friends 12? Is their entire special ed class 12? Are there multiple grades of it? Are there enough kids with special needs (because this book didn't use person-first language, but I will) in this small town of superheroes to populate six grades of special ed classes, or do our characters just happen to be the same age in a class that covers several grades or all 7-12th graders? This doesn't even count the question of why a lot of them aren't in normal classes anyway. They can't use their powers in school, so it's not like they should function any differently from a school of non-superpowered kids.
Okay, I've run out of steam.
Jeremy, get an editor and do this again, please. I would love to read an edited, re-released version of this in the future.
dear_alice's review against another edition
5.0
A great concept brought to life in a well developed and enticing plot. Interesting characters and the end is certainly quite the nailbiter. Sometimes the story appears to be more of a children's book, but this might be because of the age of the main characters. However, the action near the end of the plot and the themes of good and evil, loss, and making the right choice make this book less suitable for children. I would highly recommend this book as it is a great read. The only thing I didn't like as much was the choice in layout of the pages, but you do get used to it rather easily, and the plot takes the attention away from the layout anyway.
0525's review against another edition
4.0
While I called the identity of the main villain very early on, I was pleasantly surprised by the "twist" at the end - gotta love a troupe subversion. All main characters having a disability and being diverse was nice - and even empowering as it was their disability that helped them to find solutions and skills that others would not have even thought off. All in all, I enjoyed it more than I expected!
neonnikki's review against another edition
4.0
This was great!! Superheroes with disabilities, who are dimensional characters and have an awesome friendship. This book made me laugh and cry, and want to go to superhero school. I would have liked some more girl characters though.