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A review by bookph1le
Virals by Kathy Reichs
3.0
I have really mixed feelings about this book. I haven't read any of the Bones books--yet--but I am a fan of the series, which is what led me to pick this book up in the first place. Still, I have no real basis for comparing this series to the Bones books, so I won't attempt to do so. Instead, I'll review it on its own merits. Some spoilers to follow.
At first, I thought seriously about adding this book to my DNF pile. I really didn't like the writing style as the constantly fragmented sentences irritated me. I don't know if this was an attempt to make the book seem young adult, but I think the book was better when the sentence fragments were minimized. Of course, this is a personal preference, but I just felt the structure made the book feel too much like shorthand at times.
I didn't really like the way the villains played out in this book. There was an element of the old Scooby Do "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Karsten, who is the villain for most of the book, has an abrupt change of heart that I would have found more convincing had it developed a bit more slowly over time. And the real villain was unfathomably stupid in a lot of respects, which was another thing I couldn't credit. I'd think someone who'd successfully covered up a crime for forty years would be better at finding ways of cleaning up the mess when his involvement threatens to come to light.
There was also a big math fail for me when it came to Chance Claybourne and his father. I estimated that Hollis would have had to have been around 48 when he had Chance. It's feasible, but it does make some aspects of the novel questionable, and I wonder if this was considered thoroughly when the book was in edits.
As for the characters, I thought they were okay. Tory, however, needs to get over her bad habit of constantly name-dropping her aunt in a variety of situations. It feels cheap, like it's a crassly commercial effort to capitalize on the popularity of an entirely unrelated franchise. The other characters aren't all that developed and can be more or less boiled down to their particular attributes: the tech geek, the science geek, etc. This is a problem that could improve over time, given that this is a series, so I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt here. There are hints that there are other underlying story lines being set up.
What I really liked about this story, and what ultimately convinced me to give this three stars rather than two, is the concept. I feel I'd have to read more in the series before I could make a firm judgement, but the idea of them becoming virals and using their powers to solve crimes is an intriguing concept to me. I'm not much of a fan of vampire and werewolf novels, but I find that I do enjoy books about exactly these types of creatures when there is a pseudo-science viral explanation offered (I Am Legend, this series, Justin Cronin's books). Go figure. At any rate, I'd be interested in seeing what the characters do with their newfound powers and whether the series matures.
At first, I thought seriously about adding this book to my DNF pile. I really didn't like the writing style as the constantly fragmented sentences irritated me. I don't know if this was an attempt to make the book seem young adult, but I think the book was better when the sentence fragments were minimized. Of course, this is a personal preference, but I just felt the structure made the book feel too much like shorthand at times.
I didn't really like the way the villains played out in this book. There was an element of the old Scooby Do "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Karsten, who is the villain for most of the book, has an abrupt change of heart that I would have found more convincing had it developed a bit more slowly over time. And the real villain was unfathomably stupid in a lot of respects, which was another thing I couldn't credit. I'd think someone who'd successfully covered up a crime for forty years would be better at finding ways of cleaning up the mess when his involvement threatens to come to light.
There was also a big math fail for me when it came to Chance Claybourne and his father. I estimated that Hollis would have had to have been around 48 when he had Chance. It's feasible, but it does make some aspects of the novel questionable, and I wonder if this was considered thoroughly when the book was in edits.
As for the characters, I thought they were okay. Tory, however, needs to get over her bad habit of constantly name-dropping her aunt in a variety of situations. It feels cheap, like it's a crassly commercial effort to capitalize on the popularity of an entirely unrelated franchise. The other characters aren't all that developed and can be more or less boiled down to their particular attributes: the tech geek, the science geek, etc. This is a problem that could improve over time, given that this is a series, so I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt here. There are hints that there are other underlying story lines being set up.
What I really liked about this story, and what ultimately convinced me to give this three stars rather than two, is the concept. I feel I'd have to read more in the series before I could make a firm judgement, but the idea of them becoming virals and using their powers to solve crimes is an intriguing concept to me. I'm not much of a fan of vampire and werewolf novels, but I find that I do enjoy books about exactly these types of creatures when there is a pseudo-science viral explanation offered (I Am Legend, this series, Justin Cronin's books). Go figure. At any rate, I'd be interested in seeing what the characters do with their newfound powers and whether the series matures.