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A review by bencan_t
The Ables by Jeremy Scott
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.