Normal

Fearless #31

by Francine Pascal

I am Gaia Moore.
I can throw a 175-pound man over my shoulder,
I have only one friend in the world,
and I don’t own a lipstick.
But I’m not a freak.
Not anymore.
Because now I can feel fear.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Teen

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 6, 2004

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[OnePageAway · Rating 1 out of 5]

Summary: Gaia meets Dr. Ulrich through Chris and Liz's father who helps her regain fear, Gaia gets moved into a boarding house after her dad is sent on another mission, Strange interrogators posing as agents seek out information about Gaia and the serum, A new drug called Invince gets some mention, Jake and Gaia have some communication issues, Gaia has a few run-ins with the skinheads, and just when Gaia is enjoying her new fear gene she gets news of Ed and Kai getting slashed by the same skinhead gang from the night before and doesn't take the news well.

Really bland this time around in Normal, with uninteresting new characters and usual stupidity. Yippee.

1. What's the point of mentioning D in the main series? I haven't read any of the Fearless Super Edition books where this is apparently important, so this felt like an asspulled detail out of nowhere.

2. Why is Gaia sent to a boarding house when she could have stayed with the Moss family or with Oliver? It's also unnecessary as Gaia can take care of herself 99.9% of the time without her dad in the picture. Why wasn't Gaia sent to a boarding house before when her dad had to forcefully leave on a mission near the end of Tears?

3. I didn't really see a purpose in having the first chapter centered around one-off characters getting their hands on a drug that they thought would help get their revenge on Gaia. Not only that, but when reading that part it just felt like an entirely different story.

4. It's great that Chris is gay, but at some points I felt that he was a little bit stereotypical.

5. If the boarding school was for girls only, why wasn't the house called something like Collingwood's house for girls? Also it's a little hypocritical to disallow boys or male guests when the male chef is allowed to work in the house itself.

6. I didn't understand why school closed just because another incident happened in the park. What's the point if the police are still not going to give a shit about the park crimes and will let this keep happening? It's just pretty pointless.

...........

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Number 31 in the Fearless series Francine Pascal did in the late 90's/early 2000's. Honestly, at this point, I'm having a little trouble caring. The most irritating thing about this particular book is that one of the Super Editions is apparently supposed to come before; not knowing that, I was a bit confused to some of the references being made to things that I didn't know had happened. (Which Super Edition? Not sure.) Anyway, I sort of feel like Pascal just keeps recycling variations of the same two or three plots...very glad that I only have a few more left to read.

[Terry Marine · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're following this series, you'll have noticed the episodes are very similar. There is always a threat to Guy-a, because she is born without something everyone else has. It makes her into a prize for not only her obsessed evil uncle; but other unknown players, as well. Like a game of musical chairs, the main or almost main characters, change places. They go from friend to foe, and back to friend; before being eliminated from the script. There are the usual fight sequences with Guy-a. This time, she and Jake beat a hoard of knife-wielding, drug-crazed skinheads; without suffering a scratch. And like Alice returning from Wonderland, Guy-a returns to high school, after battling gunmen, skinheads, and spies. Like coming down from LSD hallucinations, she returns to her high school, with awkward romances, and hissy rivalries. I suppose teen girls are the intended audience. Do teen girls fantasize about super-human girls, like Guy-a? Do they wish they could beat up any man, even packs of gunmen? Guy-a is supposed to underage, yet she casually has sex; with young men. I won't judge, but there it is. Two stars.

[Christy Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this except for the parts with Jake and Gaia at first and I really do like Chris so far. The fact that he's gay was a plus. The rest of this just ugh. It should have ended with book 30.

People are once again after Gaia. Her dad's gone and she's been moved into this boarding house for agents kids that are away. Loki is starting to come forward again. Oliver going in and out.

Gaia meets a Dr. through Chris' dad that helps her get rid of her fear gene it seems, but it has horrible maybe tragic consequences for someone else that was attached and she fled not realizing they were going to be in danger. It's all messed up.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues the story of Gaia Moore a girl born without fear. Gaia has decided to start a new life, one with her new boyfriend Jake and new house. Her uncle Oliver is trying to start over as well. He's given up his evil double ID as Loki and is trying to protect Gaia but can he really forget Loki and his past? Heather is recovering from the Bluebell virus which has left her blind after a short episode without fear. Gaia was also given the serum but it did not effect her. Ed, Gaia's old friend and boyfriend can't seem for forget about Gaia, but maybe he doesn't have to. Its told from Gaia, Loki's, Ed's, Heathers and Jakes POV as well as the enemy. Gaia and Loki are the only people with first and third POV while everyone else is third POV. I love the diary style at the beginning and throughout. Sections start with an excerpt from a chapter while chapters have the title on the rigth with larger font for emphasis. Great place to pick up the series after a four year lapse.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this series over ten years ago. But I remember it being very good. For the first 18 books. After that the more it lasted the worst it got. I stopped at book 32. These days I wouldn't give it more than 20.

Back to the good stuff. I found that Gaia was a good strong, pretty but still flawed character. She was special without being annoying. It's just that once the author stopped looking over the shoulder of the ghost writer. Things went down the drain pretty fast.

Last note. The series may be in boxes but I won't be giving them away any time soon. She's a good example of an interesting main character in an interesting premise.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 31 in this YA series about Gaia, the girl without a fear gene. It's a fun series!

[Stacey Molina]

i stoped in the middle of this book cause i just didn't htink i was going to continue with the series

[Diana Dimas]

Love this series

It is simply back and forth torture. But even though it is quite repetitive, I love this book series, and will continue to read the books.

[anolinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ughhh Ed again whyyy.