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The Synthesis (2000)

by Jason Letts(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

series

Powerless

review 1: In a world where everyone has some superhuman ability, Mira grows up isolated, unaware that this is the case, because her parents are so worried about her lack of a power that they keep the truth from her until she's 15. Now she has to try to find a way to fit in with the other kids, find a place for herself, and cope with lacking something she never knew she was supposed to have.Things I liked about this book:- Stick to the script. I've read/seen a number of stories in which the initial premise is a protagonist who lacks superhuman abilities in a setting where most others have them. Inevitably, by the end of the story, the protagonist discovers powers, which are typically in excess of normal. In this one, Mira starts out with no powers...and still has none at the end ... moreof this book. I respect that.- Mostly realistic kids. The kids in the book range from shy to popular to outcast, dull to smart, lazy to ambitious. Most are very competitive, but few seem to fall into stock characters of jock/bully/queen bee/class nerd/etc.Things I did not like about this book:- Underdeveloped world. The world is consumed by a war between two factions. After reading this book, I still have no idea what the two factions stand for, what their differences are, or why they are at war. I also have no idea how the protagonist's parents earn a living, whether this is a future or past Earth (though the fact that it's Earth is developed), where on the Earth they are, what the powers of several of Mira's classmates are, etc.- Internal inconsistencies. Everyone has some power in this world. No one knows what it will be until it manifests, and it's considered very weird that one of the characters (not the protagonist) doesn't know what her power is in her final year of school. Yet we're also introduced to the town's healer, whose power is that people who consume her protein heal rapidly from injuries. How on Earth did she figure out that people who eat a chunk of her hair would start to heal?- Clumsy scene changes. There are several sections which shift abruptly and disjointedly across scenes or points of view which struck me as in need of a good editor to smooth them out.
review 2: I picked up The Synthesis (Powerless #1) as a free ebook on Amazon.com It looked interesting, so I decided to give it a shot. I found the story to be original and different. Mira is a girl who grows up in a secluded cottage with her parents knowing nothing about the outside world. As she discovers that there is a world beyond the mist of her home, she finds out that she has no super human powers at all, which is quite unusual in a world where everyone has some sort of power. This story takes her through her schooling and shows her overcoming obstacles of her disability to triumph in the end. The first half of the book was interesting, good set up, detailed characters and scenery. Then the middle half kind of lost me for a bit, I found it tedious to read and repetitive. The last part of the book finally hooked me back in and it ended splendidly with alot of action and Letts executed the wrapping up of the story line beautifully. I only wish there had been more action sooner and less concentrating on dragging out the details that we already knew were there, like Mira working on her skills and gadgets over and over and over again but without any interesting details to grab my interest in those parts. Otherwise, definitely the right price (free!) and worth the read, it's not a quick read either. less

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