Review: Entertaining supernatural tale
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 13, 2014
I was a little put off by the beginning of this book. It didn't exactly promise much in the way of conflict or drama. Mostly, it described the main character, Kat and her relationship with her mom and friends and the new dishy boy Mason; so far nothing to make it stand out from all the other High School romance books I have read. At first I thought, oh no not another teen action/adventure novel with a spunky female teen heroine, set in a High School, and if it weren't for the promise of something a little more interesting in the shape of the nanobot threat, then I would not have read on.I'm a sucker for technology and weird science and I was not disappointed in the sci-fi aspect in this book.  The nanobots are created to cure people, but something goes wrong. The very thing made to help mankind becomes a danger in the form of a menacing metallic fog that infects whole towns with a nasty virus. That got me hooked and I bought into the rest of the nano-tech storyline. I really appreciate it when an author goes that extra mile and does some research to add authenticity to their concept.Although I wasn't too keen on the first person chatty style of this piece, it did give the whole narrative a 'young' feel, as did the dialogue - all very "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" type of thing. Which sometimes made the characters seem clichés of archetypal teenager images that we often find in books and on screen. I did warm to Kat and Brie, but I wasn't too fond of the young male characters, because they came across a bit two-dimensional; which I found strange because I think she did a good job with most of the other characters, including the incidental ones, such as Jack and his wife.I thought on occasions that there was too much narrative dealing with mundane things - such as describing in detail a typical day in a classroom, or field trip. Page after page I waited for the actual story to kick in. As this book is quite short, I would have liked the author to spend more time developing the storyline and less on the characters bitching about each other. When the plotline does emerge, it was good. I liked the idea that Kat develops super powers when she gets a surge of electricity from a guitar amp. She uses it to great effect when she has to save herself and her friends from an attack by an infected bear. Then she has to help the cub left without a mother, and we get an adorable character in the form of Baby bear. Although, the animal is cute, I didn't see the relevance of it being included, as it did nothing to enhance the story line, or move the plot along.There were some nice moments when Kat uses her power that just sums up the whole feel of this teen novel:"I follow his finger and see the metallic fog. I get out of the car, my hands already in front of me, creating an energy sphere. I can’t afford to hold back, and finally, the numbness I’ve been feeling since we left Columbus, is waning. In its place is fury. I’m pissed. I’m super pissed. And I’m going to unleash my rage on these freaking nanobots."Despite the fact that I was not too fond of the beginning of this book, I found the pace and plotline in the last part to be exciting on the whole, and it kept me reading on. I'm not sure if the ending is gripping enough to leave the reader wanting more and to follow the further adventures that await our super charged heroine. With a little work on plot development and characterization, I think this book will be really good.