Sean Patrick Little

Reading this book felt the same as watching the first X-Men movie. Everything was a setup for another book. Unfortunately, it seems there will never be a sequel.

I enjoyed this book very much. But I wish I'd been able to connect with the characters. It was hard, though, because everyone feels incomplete. That's probably because once the action starts it never really stops. Everything goes from one "we need to escape and survive" situation to another. I left the book feeling like I didn't know anyone.

It's interesting. I've never read a story that felt so...sterile. It was like reading a dvd player manual or some kind of guide book for "how to work your machine" but it was a young adult fiction book. Everything led to everything else, but not in that flowy way that writers do. Every situation was very set; this happens and then this happens and then this... I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I did like this book a lot. Eventually I may re-read it.

PS: The last line of this book is the cheesiest last line of any book I've ever read ever.… (meer)

Reviewed by Theresa L. Stowell for TeensReadToo.com

In the first section of the book, "Origins," readers meet Holly, Sarah, Andy, John, Kenny, Indigo, and Posey, a group of very unique seventeen year olds.

Sarah and Holly are compassionate, Andy is funny, John is analytical, Kenny is brilliant, Indigo is irritable, and Posey is sentimental and loving. Since they were taken from their families at seven and raised in the Home with only Dr. Cormair, Dr. Sebbins, and a crotchety housekeeper, the children have become family to each other.

They have suffered through numerous operations, genetic manipulations, and testing at the hands of Drs. Cormair and Sebbins.

One by one the friends begin to notice that they have special abilities.

When Posey undergoes a dramatic and frightening physical change, they start to realize the purpose of all of the operations Dr. Cormair has done on each of them, and they rebel against the exploitation of their minds and bodies. Fairly quickly, they realize that they have been re-created to be some kind of super soldiers.

On the heels of this discovery, the Home is surrounded by suspicious military personnel who take two of the kids prisoner.

Book Two is titled "Truth and Consequences" and Book Three "Razing Hell." In these parts of the story, the teens fully develop into the powers Dr. Cormair has given them and begin to accept and deal with the repercussions of their changes.

Readers who like traditional comic books will enjoy this novel. Sean Patrick Little has taken the idea of the graphic novel and developed it with a strong plot, likeable characters, and non-stop action.… (meer)