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Mindwarp #7
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Book by Archer, Chris
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First published August 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 19, 2014
The joyride on a UFO ended almost as quickly as it started, but no one can believe where it took them. Stranded in the future, surrounded by enemies in all shapes and sizes, Ethan, Ashley, Jack, and Toni struggle to get their bearings. Ethan finds himself alone and going from bad situations to worse. The others are determined to find him, wherever he is, but they may be up against more than they can handle.
Arrival. Earth. What happened? The shapeshifting alien menace finally gets a name and an origin, though their purpose is less clear. Amusingly, the aliens aren't even the biggest danger: in this strange, familiar land, humans have fallen back on more primitive ways, and it'll take every power the kids have just to survive. There's a lot more of a sense of them as a team this time around, and Ashley finally develops more of a personality. Jack and Toni hit it off wonderfully: Jack's talent of saying exactly the wrong thing rubs up against Toni's inclination to take offense at everything. Ethan's quietly in charge, and when he's alone he quickly figures out how much he needs the rest of them.
This is the first book about more than one major character, and the book keeps shifting point of view. It isn't too hard to keep track, given the large names printed at the beginning of each chapter, but I did find myself going back to check more than I wanted.
Overall it's a strong book, though I would recommend starting somewhere closer to the beginning of the series lest the backstory spoil too much. I rate this book Recommended.
Arrival. Earth. What happened? The shapeshifting alien menace finally gets a name and an origin, though their purpose is less clear. Amusingly, the aliens aren't even the biggest danger: in this strange, familiar land, humans have fallen back on more primitive ways, and it'll take every power the kids have just to survive. There's a lot more of a sense of them as a team this time around, and Ashley finally develops more of a personality. Jack and Toni hit it off wonderfully: Jack's talent of saying exactly the wrong thing rubs up against Toni's inclination to take offense at everything. Ethan's quietly in charge, and when he's alone he quickly figures out how much he needs the rest of them.
This is the first book about more than one major character, and the book keeps shifting point of view. It isn't too hard to keep track, given the large names printed at the beginning of each chapter, but I did find myself going back to check more than I wanted.
Overall it's a strong book, though I would recommend starting somewhere closer to the beginning of the series lest the backstory spoil too much. I rate this book Recommended.
June 13, 2026
Don’t let the rating drop fool you: this is still a great if not perfect continuation of the Mindwarp plot. However as a stand-alone episode, it might be the weakest. But let’s kick off with the usual rounds of applause: Chris Archer is a great writer, one of the best from the genre I’d argue, and his characterization shined heavily in this book with the unique trait of perspective switches for every chapter. Each character was recognized in personality, including the new ones, and bounced off one another well. I liked both plots in this book; the story stretch focusing on Ethan led to a quick but heartfelt plot point that transitioned into the ending greatly, and there’s some world-building introduced with the shit he has to go through on his lonesome. The rest of the kids (who get it a lot easier) get the same world-building treatment, as well as their own revelation that was one of my biggest wants from this book in terms of payoff in the story, which gives further conclusion to the end of book four as well as a character who has been the catalyst for the plot yet we haven’t met. Their storyline also introduces some new characters which I liked overall. The story continuation is good, and I love the Sci-Fi and now dystopian inclusions here, plus some other tiddlywinks of lore we were fed. But my larger complaint here that I’ve not had with other Mindwarps is that the story arrangement is not for its favor. Since the cast is stacked by now, every chapter is through the eyes of one of the four kids… which yeah, I understand switching to third-person for a first-person series would be jarring, but I think it could’ve been the better alternative, or just—now getting to pace—not making this book twice as many chapters to give each kid a higher number of segments. The book could’ve flowed better without switching every couple of pages—not because of confusion, but for cohesion. Stick to twelve chapters, and my lord did this one feel slow in general, even if we got a tone of drops. Overall, 9/10. It’s another success from the series, however I hope the narrative direction corrects. Fairlike and squarelike.
September 26, 2024
Another propulsive installment of this 90s middle-grade science-fiction series, finally now firmly past its original formula of kid after kid turning thirteen, unlocking special powers, and facing off against a shapeshifting alien assassin. At this point, the core team of Ethan, Ashley, Jack, and Toni has been well established, and for the first time, they trade off narrating chapter by chapter Diadem-style in lieu of each individually covering an entire book like the Animorphs.
The plot picks up right where the last volume left off, with the four teens stranded in the wreckage of future earth, eventually revealed to be a century beyond their own era. It's a Mad Max dystopia populated by crazed mutant cannibal slavers on the surface, more normal-seeming people trying to lead a resistance movement in the tunnels below, and the technologically-advanced Omegas -- those same gray-skinned black-eyed beings that had been going after the protagonists back in the present -- as the true rulers of the world. We also learn that they're not extraterrestrials at all, but actually genetically-enhanced humans who overthrew their government creators rather than submitting to be super-soldiers as designed. The children's parents, the Alphas, were of an earlier batch who retained more of their humanity in both appearance and conscience, although it remains unclear why they fled to the planet's past, had babies, and vanished.
The adventure here is fun and a neat change of pace from the X-Files conspiracy stuff we'd been getting before, and while the immediate storyline wraps up nicely, it ends with the heroes still in the future instead of returning to the old status quo, which feels like a promising sign for the remaining sequels ahead.
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The plot picks up right where the last volume left off, with the four teens stranded in the wreckage of future earth, eventually revealed to be a century beyond their own era. It's a Mad Max dystopia populated by crazed mutant cannibal slavers on the surface, more normal-seeming people trying to lead a resistance movement in the tunnels below, and the technologically-advanced Omegas -- those same gray-skinned black-eyed beings that had been going after the protagonists back in the present -- as the true rulers of the world. We also learn that they're not extraterrestrials at all, but actually genetically-enhanced humans who overthrew their government creators rather than submitting to be super-soldiers as designed. The children's parents, the Alphas, were of an earlier batch who retained more of their humanity in both appearance and conscience, although it remains unclear why they fled to the planet's past, had babies, and vanished.
The adventure here is fun and a neat change of pace from the X-Files conspiracy stuff we'd been getting before, and while the immediate storyline wraps up nicely, it ends with the heroes still in the future instead of returning to the old status quo, which feels like a promising sign for the remaining sequels ahead.
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
September 9, 2015
It had a lot of action but it didn't describe events very well.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews