LitPick Review
Jiho, Camelia, Jordan, Ravi, Ava are five teens who never expected to walk into a science expo and walk out with powers. Five teens who never, not even in their wildest daydreams, saw themselves as anything close to dangerous. And they certainly never expected to be hunted down by NOVA, a reclusive organization which seems to be hiding a secret. Tensions heighten even further in the group when they discover that their powers play a part in an experiment that seeks to make them into weapons. With threats lingering in their minds and the teens determined to stay far out of NOVA’s clutches, danger could come out at any corner. In this tantalizing sci-fi thriller, life-changing decisions will have to be made, cowardice will have to be swept away, and things will have to be left behind— willingly or not.
Opinion:
Quite an interesting read! In a multi-POV book like this one, it’s admittedly challenging to develop the characters properly in their individual parts, but that obstacle managed to be skillfully diverted! The five teens were all vibrant and lovely characters, their personalities very real and unique. The buildup to the climax was perfect. With everyone constantly at odds against each other, you could almost feel the strained atmosphere as all the pressure boiled up to a point where everything went wrong. The authors also did a great job writing the antagonist of the story, NOVA. The organization was crawling with people of all kinds of feelings and beliefs from Dr. Ward, a seemingly wicked and unsympathetic manipulator, to her puppets who believe they are in control, to the more morally ethical persons. I’d recommend this story to 8-12 year-olds and lovers of sci-fi.
