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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
OH EM GEE THIS BOOK!
(Okay.. I just needed to get that out.)
The premise of the book is that there really are superheroes in the world, that go by the term custodians. And the main character, Phillip Sallinger, has superpowers but is also blind, therefore having to overcome his blindness to be able to use his superpower. The book starts with him going to school and building a team with his other disabled superhero friends and just goes on from there… (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here.)
STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T READ YET!
So the team, which call themselves the Ables after a legendary team of superheroes, join a hero simulation at their school, but while on the simulation they witness a true villain breaking into the public library. (THE PUBLIC LIBRARY??) And they try to find out what happens and BAM! he gets in the way of that! But who could he be?!? (Seriously, it’s probably you who think it will be but you should still read to find out because HOLY TOLEDO, BATMAN! THIS IS SUCH A GOOD TWIST!)
And what is the super-villain after?! Well…. the reincarnation of the superhero equivalent of an all powerful god (part of the original Ables legend.) Le duh. You didn’t see that coming?! (Neither did I.)
How do Phillip and his friends stop the super-villain and save the town? Read and find out! :)
Reveiwed on personal blog: A good book and a cup of coffee...
(Okay.. I just needed to get that out.)
The premise of the book is that there really are superheroes in the world, that go by the term custodians. And the main character, Phillip Sallinger, has superpowers but is also blind, therefore having to overcome his blindness to be able to use his superpower. The book starts with him going to school and building a team with his other disabled superhero friends and just goes on from there… (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here.)
STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T READ YET!
So the team, which call themselves the Ables after a legendary team of superheroes, join a hero simulation at their school, but while on the simulation they witness a true villain breaking into the public library. (THE PUBLIC LIBRARY??) And they try to find out what happens and BAM! he gets in the way of that! But who could he be?!? (Seriously, it’s probably you who think it will be but you should still read to find out because HOLY TOLEDO, BATMAN! THIS IS SUCH A GOOD TWIST!)
And what is the super-villain after?! Well…. the reincarnation of the superhero equivalent of an all powerful god (part of the original Ables legend.) Le duh. You didn’t see that coming?! (Neither did I.)
How do Phillip and his friends stop the super-villain and save the town? Read and find out! :)
Reveiwed on personal blog: A good book and a cup of coffee...
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that jeremy did it with a finesse only a talented author like himself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The ables Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties people with disabilities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a “controversial” label, but if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POC’s shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.
It is normal to be abnormal...
It is normal to be abnormal...
This book doesn't work for several reasons, the quality of the writing being the primary one, of course. The book reeks of self-published amateurism. The characters themselves have both redeeming and annoying features, and the fact that I cared what happened to them accounts for the two stars (I struggled with the second one, to be honest). The massive plot holes are extremely frustrating.
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.
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.
A bit cliched near the end, but otherwise a really fun, really refreshing read!
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
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!
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.