Love at first character sighting

Was skeptical this book would live up to the hype and not fall prey to clichés but WOW it blew all my expectations out of the water Alexandra bracken has you falling in love with her characters at first glance and the narrator added so much his personality and heart to the characters that I actually cleaned my room just for an excuse to keep listening to this audiobook.

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So much better than the movie

I realize the movie can change some details to shorten the story but they cut out some pretty important details to understand the character development and choices made later.

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Gritty YA Dystopia

Alexandra Bracken does a passable job delivering what fans of this genre expect: a young misfit with an impeccable heart-of-gold and secret powers.. navigating a fight against injustice, loyalties to friends, and confused hormonal urges.
Her protagonist (16 year-old Mind-control Psychic 'Ruby') is interesting, appropriately conflicted/insecure, and worthy of admiration. Surrounding characters (Psychokinetics 'Liam' +'Chubbs' .. and Electropsychic 'Zu') are typecast - but portrayed realistically; the threats are credible [The Government, Bounty-hunters known as "skip-tracers", a Psychic Terrorist organization who wants them for use as weapons ('The Children's League'), and "tribes" of feral-anarchic psychic kids]; the vocabulary/prose in this offering is creditable; and the author's conception of a collapsing world is chilling.
Unfortunately, the whole scenario is made so ludicrously implausible that the suspension of disbelief is nearly impossible. There are only 200,000 Americans under the age of 18 left alive and Society has collapsed (characters loot a burned out gas station for food at one point, for example).. but there are functioning Howard Johnson Hotels, Starbucks, Classic Rock Radio Stations, and well-maintained Cellular Networks for some reason 🙄.
In addition, Bracken's commitment to a dark, moody atmosphere is over-the-top (melodramatic dialogue is faaaaar overdone and metaphorical descriptions - everything in the environment is somehow "skeletal" or "slithering" - are heavy-handed).

The end result is an interesting but lazily sophomoric story (readers/listeners 10-14 years old are clearly the target demographic - adults will have some reservations that kids will likely miss).

Happily, Brilliance Audio did a great job casting Amy McFadden to read the book. Her diction and rate of reading are exemplary, her timbre and cadence are *perfect* for a First Person narrative from the perspective of a 16-year-old, and her emotive tone is spot-on. Yes, McFadden exhibits a noticeable sibilance that engineers struggle to soften and some of her voice-acting is cartoonishly overdramatic.. but the performance is undeniably enjoyable.
Bottom Line: while other production teams could doubtless generate similarly effective recordings, this iteration is solidly "above-average".

Taken altogether, this audiobook rates a respectable 7.5 stars out of 10. If you can get it on sale - as I did - it's an excellent option for a long drive with the kids. It was well worth the $7.30CDN I paid for it. Should they ask for full price/a Credit, however.. you would do better spending it on some Veronica Roth or Suzanne Collins.

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Was so good!!

I’ve watched the movie, and didn’t like it so never gave the book a thought to listen too. Omg I’m glad I do cause the book was better!! Ugh I’m glad I finally got around to it!!

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Inconsistencies

I really had to force myself to finish this book. I kept thinking, “Well how could that be possible?” Or “Why wouldn’t they…” I simply couldn’t get lost in this reality and kept being jerked out of the story with questions. So no, I can’t recommend this book.

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Enjoyable!

With a captivating performance by Amy McFadden, Alexandra Brackens story comes alive for an enjoyable listen. Great character voices and an interesting storyline that keeps you wondering what will happen next?!

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Great story but slow moving.

I really liked the story but at times it was a little to poetic and therefore stalled the story. the characters were well developed and and the relationships were well written even if sometimes I wanted to slap Ruby for being so naive. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

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Unpredictable!

Amazing book. I was sucked in and stayed interested for the entire book. The ending cracked my heart in half.

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I loved this book!

The story was great. The performance was really great too, I felt very invested in the book.
#audible1

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Riveting!

I really loved this book! The voices for each character were clear and precise. Can't wait to listen to the next book in the series.

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