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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
This was a surprisingly good read. It started out rather slow for me, I was very skeptic. The maincharacter Paivi just seemed like a little bitchy girl. But the characters grew during the book. I assume it is played out in the near future or maybe in our time. It's a bit hard to tell, because this information was not given during the story. But that leaves space for imagination. I personally decided for me it is a near future that didn't go so well.
The story is like a whole Nazi experience all over. There are a few people with special abilities such as mind reading, visions or similar. And one power hungry dude decides to mess with those people. He takes away their rights, he limits them, he humiliates them in public by making them wear glowing EOS symbols and marking their houses with them.
I will surely read the second book, hoping the characters will develop more.
4,5 stars from me because of the slow start.
The story is like a whole Nazi experience all over. There are a few people with special abilities such as mind reading, visions or similar. And one power hungry dude decides to mess with those people. He takes away their rights, he limits them, he humiliates them in public by making them wear glowing EOS symbols and marking their houses with them.
I will surely read the second book, hoping the characters will develop more.
4,5 stars from me because of the slow start.
This may contain very mild spoilers! (nothing specific, though)
I really liked this book.
It is not perfect and rather a diamond in the raw. Here and there is a lack of information (is it a parallel universe?The future?) and some mistakes can be found throughout the book (could be way worse, though).
The story is about Paivi, a 14 y/o girl learning to have special powers.
The America of this book suffers from countless terrorist attacks and suddenly, the government gets a list with names of all the people who have special abilities and they get persecuted as possible terrorists. Paivi and her family among them.
The book was a mixture of Heroes, Harry Potter and a report from the third Reich. Which made it good.
I did not like Paivi at first. She was a total brat and had partly bad intentions, but that changed later on and she got likable. All in all, the characters and their story were realistic and enjoyable. The change of society was very interesting and the scenes which show that were elaborated well. It seemed very exaggerated at times but the reader realises that this has happened and could happen again in real life.
Flaws:
Since the abilities are very important for the topic in this book, there should have been more emphasis on it. Paivi hardly uses her powers and nobody talks about it, even when every "special" is visibly marked. I did not get that. Paivi does not even ask her parents what they can do.
The possible terrorists are also not outed as specials to the public. It is just stated that they may be involved in or may have knowledge of terrorist attacks without explanation whatsoever.
I really liked this book.
It is not perfect and rather a diamond in the raw. Here and there is a lack of information (is it a parallel universe?The future?) and some mistakes can be found throughout the book (could be way worse, though).
The story is about Paivi, a 14 y/o girl learning to have special powers.
The America of this book suffers from countless terrorist attacks and suddenly, the government gets a list with names of all the people who have special abilities and they get persecuted as possible terrorists. Paivi and her family among them.
The book was a mixture of Heroes, Harry Potter and a report from the third Reich. Which made it good.
I did not like Paivi at first. She was a total brat and had partly bad intentions, but that changed later on and she got likable. All in all, the characters and their story were realistic and enjoyable. The change of society was very interesting and the scenes which show that were elaborated well. It seemed very exaggerated at times but the reader realises that this has happened and could happen again in real life.
Flaws:
Since the abilities are very important for the topic in this book, there should have been more emphasis on it. Paivi hardly uses her powers and nobody talks about it, even when every "special" is visibly marked. I did not get that. Paivi does not even ask her parents what they can do.
The possible terrorists are also not outed as specials to the public. It is just stated that they may be involved in or may have knowledge of terrorist attacks without explanation whatsoever.
Well, how to say this... This has been one of the few books I haven't been able to finish. I tried, I really tried. I got as far as page 42.
First of all the book is BADLY written, the dialogues come out as empty, unnatural, forced and cartoonish. The characters have reactions that don't add up into a fleshed out real person. The whole explanation of how Paivi's parents have dealt with her powers since her childhood is at best superfluous and silly. Their whole parental dialogues come out as standoffish and surreal. Who talks like that in the real world?
Paivi, well, talk about a character with no personality. She is shallow, she has had this dreams since she was a child but she is superficial and plain and completely weird in her inner reasoning.
The whole explanation her parents give her as to what they are goes pretty much like this: yeah we are somewhat related to you know, the great Merlin? From King Arthur? and yeah some of the Saints people pray too, well, they are second cousin to my great aunt's. WTF?
I just couldn't stand the interactions between the characters, that is why I had to stop. Never happened to me before. I guess its the chance you take when downloading a free offer from Amazon.
I don't like giving bad reviews, I truly don't. I prefer to at least add positive things or how things could have improved the novel, but in this case not even the whole undercover thousands of people with power at the mercy of a greedy Senator or whatever is new. It has been done, it has been done better and the chars don't even talk and react like real people, what more can be said of it?
I don't recommend it.
First of all the book is BADLY written, the dialogues come out as empty, unnatural, forced and cartoonish. The characters have reactions that don't add up into a fleshed out real person. The whole explanation of how Paivi's parents have dealt with her powers since her childhood is at best superfluous and silly. Their whole parental dialogues come out as standoffish and surreal. Who talks like that in the real world?
Paivi, well, talk about a character with no personality. She is shallow, she has had this dreams since she was a child but she is superficial and plain and completely weird in her inner reasoning.
The whole explanation her parents give her as to what they are goes pretty much like this: yeah we are somewhat related to you know, the great Merlin? From King Arthur? and yeah some of the Saints people pray too, well, they are second cousin to my great aunt's. WTF?
I just couldn't stand the interactions between the characters, that is why I had to stop. Never happened to me before. I guess its the chance you take when downloading a free offer from Amazon.
I don't like giving bad reviews, I truly don't. I prefer to at least add positive things or how things could have improved the novel, but in this case not even the whole undercover thousands of people with power at the mercy of a greedy Senator or whatever is new. It has been done, it has been done better and the chars don't even talk and react like real people, what more can be said of it?
I don't recommend it.
"Everyone's story has a different ending and unfortunately we aren't the writers, just the readers." (pg. 21/location 273)
A set of people are set apart as 'gifted' yet these gifts are quickly discovered and re-defined as a threat to national security. Following is a disregard for personal freedom and rights and a showcase of discrimination, segregation and a government bent on creating fear in hopes of gaining power.
Another reviewer mentioned the slow start of the book, and I would have to agree, the beginning was slow and often felt a bit disjointed or as an attempt to build the necessary background without going into detail, but I may have liked some more details or just a different presentation of the necessary background. Regardless, I found myself eager to finish the story and deeply moved by the experience of the main character Paivi and the other's who were deemed 'Enemies of the State' and their advocates.
A set of people are set apart as 'gifted' yet these gifts are quickly discovered and re-defined as a threat to national security. Following is a disregard for personal freedom and rights and a showcase of discrimination, segregation and a government bent on creating fear in hopes of gaining power.
Another reviewer mentioned the slow start of the book, and I would have to agree, the beginning was slow and often felt a bit disjointed or as an attempt to build the necessary background without going into detail, but I may have liked some more details or just a different presentation of the necessary background. Regardless, I found myself eager to finish the story and deeply moved by the experience of the main character Paivi and the other's who were deemed 'Enemies of the State' and their advocates.
While I liked the plot and the idea of the story, it was a very underwhelming opening book in my opinion. There was too much focus on unrelated things in the first half of the book, which I think were to try to make Paivi a more interesting character (spoiler alert: it didn't work). The switching of the perspective in the novel to the Senator/President-Elect felt super forced and didn't really add to the plot, in my opinion. I believe that the author wanted to tell the audience that there would be more than just the interrogations and rounding up the characters, but it was unnecessary. As well, it was obvious that the author was trying to correlate this story to Nazism, so that added in dialogue about the ATC being Nazis was not needed. I was hoping there would be more magic and a sort of mentor ship/coaching so that Paivi could use her magic more to help solve their problems. I guess that could still happen in the next novel, but it is a bit doubtful.
Paivi wasn't that interesting. The fact that she has visions of the future gives the book spoilers throughout and you don't get really surprised when things happen because the audience was already told it would happen. Again, I think there was too much focus on Paivi's life before the list and not enough focus on what it means now that the list has been given to the public. I didn't really connect to Paivi but that might have been because I found her boring.
Paivi's relationship with Jason makes me cringe. He is a pretty flat character too, there is nothing really special about him. Like, I get it, he is accepting of the "EOS" and of Paivi, but I like Christian a lot better. Honestly, Christian was even better developed than Jason (although not by much). I found that Jason was developed as like the "perfect" guy for Paivi because he liked everything she did and did everything he could to complement her. But Christian was written as similar but opposite to Paivi. He had more emotional range (again, not by much), but it was enough that he felt like a real person rather than a one dimensional character.
I hope there is more Torsten in the next novel and that he has more of a role to play. I hate when characters are dragged along but don't move the plot forward and are there as a way for the main character to get their ideas out by speaking to this character.
The dialogue was shaky and there was too much "telling" in my opinion. I also think it was way too easy for the characters to be. I know it was a homage to historical events, but it was still a bit ridiculous in my opinion.
Overall: 1.5/5 stars but rounded up to 2 for the star counter.
Paivi wasn't that interesting. The fact that she has visions of the future gives the book spoilers throughout and you don't get really surprised when things happen because the audience was already told it would happen. Again, I think there was too much focus on Paivi's life before the list and not enough focus on what it means now that the list has been given to the public. I didn't really connect to Paivi but that might have been because I found her boring.
Paivi's relationship with Jason makes me cringe. He is a pretty flat character too, there is nothing really special about him. Like, I get it, he is accepting of the "EOS" and of Paivi, but I like Christian a lot better. Honestly, Christian was even better developed than Jason (although not by much). I found that Jason was developed as like the "perfect" guy for Paivi because he liked everything she did and did everything he could to complement her. But Christian was written as similar but opposite to Paivi. He had more emotional range (again, not by much), but it was enough that he felt like a real person rather than a one dimensional character.
I hope there is more Torsten in the next novel and that he has more of a role to play. I hate when characters are dragged along but don't move the plot forward and are there as a way for the main character to get their ideas out by speaking to this character.
The dialogue was shaky and there was too much "telling" in my opinion. I also think it was way too easy for the characters to be
Spoiler
smuggled out of the country and into CanadaOverall: 1.5/5 stars but rounded up to 2 for the star counter.
I bought this book on Amazon.com for my Kindle. Here is my honest review:
2.5 stars
This book needs a bit of editing, but the idea behind the story is interesting. There is a presidential election about to take place, and the turning point in the decision is when one of the candidates finds a list of special people in his country who he calls terrorists. Since he has the plan, he gets the most support. But he takes it to an unconstitutional level and strips the rights away from these special people. It's like Nazi Germany, with segregation and abductions. Yikes. Paivi is in the mix. She's a special person, as she has a paranormal ability. Into the Shadows is her story.
It's told in third person, mostly through Paivi's POV. We also see the POV of Senator Stevens, the aforementioned presidential candidate. By the end of this novel, so many things are left unsaid, undone, and unexplained. I know this is a trilogy, but at least SOME answers should be available. Absolutely everything is up in the air. And I still don't quite have a grip on the abilities of these people. Why do they have them? What exactly can Christian do? Are there different abilities? Why are they marked as terrorists? OY.
Anyway, I didn't really like all of the characters. Her parents were very Brady Bunch sounding at the beginning, and the feel of the book changed all the time for me. There was a depth level that this book just didn't reach. I'll still try some other stuff by this author because she is pretty awesome on Twitter and Facebook. :o)
2.5 stars
This book needs a bit of editing, but the idea behind the story is interesting. There is a presidential election about to take place, and the turning point in the decision is when one of the candidates finds a list of special people in his country who he calls terrorists. Since he has the plan, he gets the most support. But he takes it to an unconstitutional level and strips the rights away from these special people. It's like Nazi Germany, with segregation and abductions. Yikes. Paivi is in the mix. She's a special person, as she has a paranormal ability. Into the Shadows is her story.
It's told in third person, mostly through Paivi's POV. We also see the POV of Senator Stevens, the aforementioned presidential candidate. By the end of this novel, so many things are left unsaid, undone, and unexplained. I know this is a trilogy, but at least SOME answers should be available. Absolutely everything is up in the air. And I still don't quite have a grip on the abilities of these people. Why do they have them? What exactly can Christian do? Are there different abilities? Why are they marked as terrorists? OY.
Anyway, I didn't really like all of the characters. Her parents were very Brady Bunch sounding at the beginning, and the feel of the book changed all the time for me. There was a depth level that this book just didn't reach. I'll still try some other stuff by this author because she is pretty awesome on Twitter and Facebook. :o)
... free download from Amazon. I think I'll always have a very good memory of this book, it was my FIRST DIGITAL read. The concept looked interesting, and once while I was out waiting, I decided to start it on my ipod. At the very beginning, I wasn't super impressed, the writing seemed a bit stilted. The main girl's name seemed a stretch(Paivi) and the way it mentioned her parents (always Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, never just "her parents"). But the story itself was compelling, and while I had originally only planned on reading digitally when I was out and about and didn't want to lug a book around, I found myself reading at home too. I was very pleased that just a random, free book I had picked up was as interesting as this was, it really gave my hope that there were a lot more free reads worth reading out there. It jumpstarted my digital addiction. Unfortunately I do now have 100+ books waiting for me, and I have yet to BUY one digitally (as I would need to do to continue on in this series) If I ever get caught up, I would like to find out how the next books in the series go *Ü* ... 267 pages, 4858. Kindle App.