Series/Sequel? Altered #1
Author: Jennifer Rush
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
Age Level: YA
Page Count: 323 (Hardcover)
Perspective: First Person (Female)
Summary: Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.
Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.
Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.
Review: Everything about this book - from the cover to the summary - led me to think this wasn't going to be anything special; just another typical science fiction-romance book. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be so much better than that.
For one, this book is extremely fast and extremely addicting. It kept me reading hours past my bedtime, until my dad came in and turned out the light on me.
Altered was also extremely uncliche. The plot twists and surprises, which I typically guess correctly on within the first 50 pages were actual plot twists that actually surprised me. Maybe that was because my brain was half asleep due to how late I was reading it, but then again, maybe not. This book was more interesting than I ever would have thought, and I'm extremely excited for the second book.
The one thing that I disliked about this book was the romance. The romance was predictable and cliche, and I didn't feel their relationship at all. I found myself wanting to skip past the romantic parts to the much more interesting fight scenes and such - which there were a good amount of, by the way. Anna and the boys can't seem to stay out of trouble no matter where they are, and the fight scenes were awesome, even without the swords, daggers, and magical abilities I typically prefer. But, anyway, (I love this book so much, I'm going off on a tangent!) the romance was the worst part of the book, and I'm kind of cringing imagining this author trying to hype up Sam's and Anna's relationship in the next book.
Besides that little hiccup, this is a great action/adventure and scifi book I would recommend to just about any YA reader!
Rating:
The betrayal took me by surprise too :-)
ReplyDeleteI usually hate romance but I enjoyed this one because it wasn't insta love; she had been in love with Sam for a while. I hope the next one comes out soon, before I forget all about book #1.