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Blur Trilogy #3
Curse
Don’t miss this intriguing and climactic conclusion to the Blur Trilogy.
As Daniel Byers prepares to attend a basketball camp before his senior year of high school, the terrifying blurs that’ve plagued him for the last nine months return.
Dark images begin to haunt him—creatures crawling from the deepest pits of his nightmares, glimmers of chilling memories from his early childhood. But before he can unearth the meaning behind his mysterious hallucinations, Daniel must team up with two other extraordinary teens to save a young woman who has been abducted by a scientist obsessed with enacting his own warped form of justice.
This atmospheric mystery picks up where Fury left off and takes readers into the uncharted regions where reality and madness intertwine.
As Daniel Byers prepares to attend a basketball camp before his senior year of high school, the terrifying blurs that’ve plagued him for the last nine months return.
Dark images begin to haunt him—creatures crawling from the deepest pits of his nightmares, glimmers of chilling memories from his early childhood. But before he can unearth the meaning behind his mysterious hallucinations, Daniel must team up with two other extraordinary teens to save a young woman who has been abducted by a scientist obsessed with enacting his own warped form of justice.
This atmospheric mystery picks up where Fury left off and takes readers into the uncharted regions where reality and madness intertwine.
490 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2016
79 people are currently reading
807 people want to read
About the author
Steven James
135 books1,758 followersSteven James is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of twenty novels and numerous books on the craft of novel writing, including the new release, DELVE, PIVOT, PROPEL, which explores revolutionary new approaches to fiction writing. With a master's degree in storytelling, James teaches writing worldwide and has appeared on five continents telling stories and teaching storytelling at over 2000 appearances.
His latest Young Adult horror novel, RIFT, is the first in a new trilogy that takes place in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. James lives in Eastern Tennessee and loves watching sci-fi movies, playing basketball, and eating chicken fajitas—although not all at the same time.
James has been penning smart, taut thrillers that actually thrill, since 2007, when his acclaimed psychological suspense novel, THE PAWN, released.
If you love stories and storytelling, check out his podcast, The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed nearly 200 of the world's top writers and storytellers.
His latest Young Adult horror novel, RIFT, is the first in a new trilogy that takes place in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. James lives in Eastern Tennessee and loves watching sci-fi movies, playing basketball, and eating chicken fajitas—although not all at the same time.
James has been penning smart, taut thrillers that actually thrill, since 2007, when his acclaimed psychological suspense novel, THE PAWN, released.
If you love stories and storytelling, check out his podcast, The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed nearly 200 of the world's top writers and storytellers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
April 19, 2017
I always like this author. All questions were answered. My hero remained a hero even when tempted. Though there were a few plot holes. Like I thought his need to call his dad came late considering he would know people were worried. And it all came together a little too easy. Still, ill one click this author anytime.
May 1, 2023
Curse
is the final book in the Blur trilogy and a superb conclusion! I loved how everything wrapped up nicely and I can't think of anything I was wondering during the story that wasn't answered in the end (I mean, even the riddles got answered). :)
I read Curse pretty quickly and I have a love/hate with that; because I loved that the pages flew by, but I hated when I was finished because I then had nothing more to read. ;)
There were some very creepy scenes in Curse (can I say "tattooing eyeballs"?!?), but that's what makes Steven James' books so good - you never know what to expect.
All in all, I absolutely loved Curse and I definitely recommend it! If you enjoy thrillers with great characters and a very thought-provoking plot, you should read it!
*I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*
I read Curse pretty quickly and I have a love/hate with that; because I loved that the pages flew by, but I hated when I was finished because I then had nothing more to read. ;)
There were some very creepy scenes in Curse (can I say "tattooing eyeballs"?!?), but that's what makes Steven James' books so good - you never know what to expect.
All in all, I absolutely loved Curse and I definitely recommend it! If you enjoy thrillers with great characters and a very thought-provoking plot, you should read it!
*I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*
June 9, 2018
Well, It's finally over.
"... Daniel's off to a basketball camp before his High School senior year. Meanwhile Malcolm Zacharias is recruiting other kids who have blurs. Dr. Adrian Waxford from the last book has also returned and he is up to something evil. Eventually all of their paths come across. And there is deadline as well..."
Curse didn't do it for me! This wasn't because my taste differs, or because I am not one of the intended audiences of this book. No! It's because the writing is poor.
Steven James has YA-ified this book, Considerably more from the first two. What do all of those Hunger games, Divergent and Maze runner books have in common?
Teens on an adventure, big bad henchmen chasing teens, teens vs. adults, the greater good hanging on the shoulders of the teens, a noble hero, Mad scientists, love triangles.
You're going to find all of the above in some shape or form in Curse.
Steven James has ditched the who-did-it? part of the first two books. The Villain of the book has clear motivations. You are with him from the start, you know why he does what he does− which I liked, as opposed to the first two books where the villain makes an appearance in the background at some point of the plot and then pops towards the end, explaining his evil plan.
Also Daniel's narrative is told from first person. Another good change! It gives a creepier feeling to his Blurs.
Daniel's friends are more than just his friends; they actually do things on their own. A narrative is dedicated to them− Another good change.
"... Daniel's off to a basketball camp before his High School senior year. Meanwhile Malcolm Zacharias is recruiting other kids who have blurs. Dr. Adrian Waxford from the last book has also returned and he is up to something evil. Eventually all of their paths come across. And there is deadline as well..."
Curse didn't do it for me! This wasn't because my taste differs, or because I am not one of the intended audiences of this book. No! It's because the writing is poor.
Steven James has YA-ified this book, Considerably more from the first two. What do all of those Hunger games, Divergent and Maze runner books have in common?
Teens on an adventure, big bad henchmen chasing teens, teens vs. adults, the greater good hanging on the shoulders of the teens, a noble hero, Mad scientists, love triangles.
You're going to find all of the above in some shape or form in Curse.
Steven James has ditched the who-did-it? part of the first two books. The Villain of the book has clear motivations. You are with him from the start, you know why he does what he does− which I liked, as opposed to the first two books where the villain makes an appearance in the background at some point of the plot and then pops towards the end, explaining his evil plan.
Also Daniel's narrative is told from first person. Another good change! It gives a creepier feeling to his Blurs.
Daniel's friends are more than just his friends; they actually do things on their own. A narrative is dedicated to them− Another good change.
June 4, 2016
A great finish to the set! Not a dull moment! Loved that the characters were all followed throughout the story.
January 12, 2020
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
Curse is the final book in the Blur trilogy, featuring Daniel who has been seeing 'blurs', which are basically hallucinations, or are they? In the previous books, he has been thrown into several murder cases because of this ability, but in Curse there is very little going on besides Daniel solving crime through his ability. Only, this time he is not only helped by his friends but also by some like-minded kids. By which I mean, they have special abilities as well. And these abilities just happen to be the exact ones they need to crack the case. What a coincidence, right?
This was another fast read, but I get the feeling more and more that I don't completely understand the YA mystery genre. Teens solving crime seems weird to me under the best of circumstances but where is the police in all this? The ending did not surprise me, but left me wondering because Daniel didn't really receive a way to better handling or accepting his blurs. As such, I had hoped Curse would bring more closure to the story.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Curse is the final book in the Blur trilogy, featuring Daniel who has been seeing 'blurs', which are basically hallucinations, or are they? In the previous books, he has been thrown into several murder cases because of this ability, but in Curse there is very little going on besides Daniel solving crime through his ability. Only, this time he is not only helped by his friends but also by some like-minded kids. By which I mean, they have special abilities as well. And these abilities just happen to be the exact ones they need to crack the case. What a coincidence, right?
This was another fast read, but I get the feeling more and more that I don't completely understand the YA mystery genre. Teens solving crime seems weird to me under the best of circumstances but where is the police in all this? The ending did not surprise me, but left me wondering because Daniel didn't really receive a way to better handling or accepting his blurs. As such, I had hoped Curse would bring more closure to the story.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Read
February 15, 2022i might've DNFed this and i do not know how to rate it.
first of all, the thing that made me immediately dislike this book was the first person narrative; the two previous books were third person POV so why start writing in 1st person POV in the final book?
i also hated how it goes from Daniel's first person POV to another character's 3rd person POV. in the /same/ chapter.
the other thing is, after the 2 first books, this last book sort of became predictable. the reader can guess pretty accurately how it's gonna go, everything's normal for like 2 chapters, then daniel sees a blur and the next day he decides to become the almighty mystery solver. this lacked creativity, the excitement of the MC unfolding the mystery and the thrill of plot twists the previous books had.
i read around 150 pages, and unlike the other 2 books, i felt this book was unnecessarily long.
it could've been less dragged and better.
first of all, the thing that made me immediately dislike this book was the first person narrative; the two previous books were third person POV so why start writing in 1st person POV in the final book?
i also hated how it goes from Daniel's first person POV to another character's 3rd person POV. in the /same/ chapter.
the other thing is, after the 2 first books, this last book sort of became predictable. the reader can guess pretty accurately how it's gonna go, everything's normal for like 2 chapters, then daniel sees a blur and the next day he decides to become the almighty mystery solver. this lacked creativity, the excitement of the MC unfolding the mystery and the thrill of plot twists the previous books had.
i read around 150 pages, and unlike the other 2 books, i felt this book was unnecessarily long.
it could've been less dragged and better.
May 25, 2023
Amazing Read
This was an incredible read. This was the third and final book of the Blur Trilogy. I have got to say that this series was one of the best YA mystery novels that I have read. They were incredible in plot, suspense and mystery. It was an edge of your seat type book because of the plot twists and I am very happy with the series. I think Daniel was a brilliant character. This book made me admire him so much more. Also, I loved the ending. I thought it was very fitting. I can’t wait to read more Steven James books. Overall, an amazing read.
This was an incredible read. This was the third and final book of the Blur Trilogy. I have got to say that this series was one of the best YA mystery novels that I have read. They were incredible in plot, suspense and mystery. It was an edge of your seat type book because of the plot twists and I am very happy with the series. I think Daniel was a brilliant character. This book made me admire him so much more. Also, I loved the ending. I thought it was very fitting. I can’t wait to read more Steven James books. Overall, an amazing read.
June 14, 2025
I had a long ass review in mind to write, but we're at war so who gives a shit.
Maybe if we survived the war I'll come write it.
Maybe if we survived the war I'll come write it.
December 18, 2017
Absolutely fascinating
May 23, 2016
Not my favorite book in the series, but I think that if you read the first two books, you will want to read this one because it does offer some closure to the big questions posed by the first two books. There is plenty of action and danger for both Daniel and his friends (both old and new) in this book, and the suspense is sustained right until the end. My biggest gripe is that the book takes Daniel out of his hometown and effectively skirts the real issues he needed to resolve with his mother. I am also always annoyed when new characters are added at the end of a series. I didn't care about them, and the mystery really relied more heavily on their abilities - Daniel didn't feel as pivotal. I also struggled to think that Daniel's parents would let him travel halfway across America with a bunch of other 16 or 17 year olds, and I had a harder time believing his father wouldn't have extracted him from the obviously dangerous situation, no matter what the cost would be to someone else. Hey, ghosts I can accept, but irresponsible parenting from Daniel's dad - not so much. Regardless of my thoughts on the book, I have several of my high school readers invested in this series, so I'm adding it to my classroom library wish list. I actually think they will find it exciting and a nice bit of closure to the series, more so than I did. Language and situations are appropriate for grades 8+. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 18, 2016
(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)
This was an okay read, but just like the other books in the series, it struggled to keep my interest. There were a few times where it started to drag slightly for me because of it, which made it feel quite long.
Overall, An okay read.
This was an okay read, but just like the other books in the series, it struggled to keep my interest. There were a few times where it started to drag slightly for me because of it, which made it feel quite long.
Overall, An okay read.
July 27, 2023
Poor Daniel Byers. All he wants to do is live a normal adolescent life. But not only is he plagued by ghostly visions he calls Blurs...now he's embedded in an intrigue initiated by someone who wants to exploit what sound like Daniel's "powers."
A sinister group of both current and former government officials have given themselves the charge to experiment with a drug that, to the injected, slows down time. An afflicted individual might be sealed in a jail cell for twenty four hours, and emerge feeling as if they have been imprisoned for years. These self-styled vigilantes want criminals who have been convicted of more than a single life sentence to serve what feels like multiple lifetimes. Somewhere in there lies a story about how Daniel Byers connects to all this, but the mysterious stranger named Malcolm Zacharias, introduced to readers of the second book in the trilogy, appears to be elbow deep in the miasma of the group's existence and intentions.
Daniel not only contend with a badly separated shoulder and a sprained ankle, but he must also rescue other teens like himself who possess similar powers and have been targeted by this group. He relies on his usual posse, including his girlfriend Nicole and his best friend Kyle, to extricate innocent people from the clutches of this group. This story is the most intense of the trilogy, and in the end, the good guys win and the bad guys suffer, so everyone should be happy with that. Steven James makes nearly every page worth reading, but I'd like this series to continue without sinister organizations lurking in the background.
A sinister group of both current and former government officials have given themselves the charge to experiment with a drug that, to the injected, slows down time. An afflicted individual might be sealed in a jail cell for twenty four hours, and emerge feeling as if they have been imprisoned for years. These self-styled vigilantes want criminals who have been convicted of more than a single life sentence to serve what feels like multiple lifetimes. Somewhere in there lies a story about how Daniel Byers connects to all this, but the mysterious stranger named Malcolm Zacharias, introduced to readers of the second book in the trilogy, appears to be elbow deep in the miasma of the group's existence and intentions.
Daniel not only contend with a badly separated shoulder and a sprained ankle, but he must also rescue other teens like himself who possess similar powers and have been targeted by this group. He relies on his usual posse, including his girlfriend Nicole and his best friend Kyle, to extricate innocent people from the clutches of this group. This story is the most intense of the trilogy, and in the end, the good guys win and the bad guys suffer, so everyone should be happy with that. Steven James makes nearly every page worth reading, but I'd like this series to continue without sinister organizations lurking in the background.
Read
August 5, 2019Steven James kicks ass when it comes to mysteries, plot twists, conflict, action-packed adventure, and super nasty bad guys. CURSE, the last book of his Blur Trilogy, does all that.
Daniel's “blurs” are never fully explained, but I didn't expect they would be. Paranormal really can't be defined. CURSE like BLUR and FURY is fast-paced with an action-packed storyline. In this book, we get to know Daniel and his friends better. Overall it's a good YA book, not the best in the series, but it does give closure.
CURSE is primarily a mystery with elements of the paranormal. The paranormal makes me give the storyline a pass in a lot of areas because, well, in a paranormal world things work differently than in the real world.
However, near the end, I had some trouble suspending my disbelief. The plot is ambitious, and James tries to give logical reasons for a few things I found far-fetched. I don't have any problem believing that teenagers will take off and do stupid, even dangerous things. I was once a teenager and remember realizing after the fact, "Hey, that was pretty stupid. Why'd I do it?"
My problem was getting past adults and parents, sending three teens, one blind, off to find kidnappers, who have threatened to kill someone and a police officer agreeing to let teens walk into possibly dangerous situations.
Young adults may not have issues with adults allowing teens to take life and death risks. I debated about giving a three-star rating, but it deserves a 3.5 rating.
Daniel's “blurs” are never fully explained, but I didn't expect they would be. Paranormal really can't be defined. CURSE like BLUR and FURY is fast-paced with an action-packed storyline. In this book, we get to know Daniel and his friends better. Overall it's a good YA book, not the best in the series, but it does give closure.
CURSE is primarily a mystery with elements of the paranormal. The paranormal makes me give the storyline a pass in a lot of areas because, well, in a paranormal world things work differently than in the real world.
However, near the end, I had some trouble suspending my disbelief. The plot is ambitious, and James tries to give logical reasons for a few things I found far-fetched. I don't have any problem believing that teenagers will take off and do stupid, even dangerous things. I was once a teenager and remember realizing after the fact, "Hey, that was pretty stupid. Why'd I do it?"
My problem was getting past adults and parents, sending three teens, one blind, off to find kidnappers, who have threatened to kill someone and a police officer agreeing to let teens walk into possibly dangerous situations.
Young adults may not have issues with adults allowing teens to take life and death risks. I debated about giving a three-star rating, but it deserves a 3.5 rating.
March 14, 2017
Curse is the third and of course final book in the Blur Trilogy by Steven James. I was hooked on the first two books, reading them back to back. I enjoyed the third book too, but not quite as much.
Picking up where book two left off, Daniel is working to find out why exactly he has mysterious hallucinations, called blurs. After a dry spell without them and thinking everything has gone back to normal for good, shortly before getting ready to go to basketball camp out of state he has another one and ends up hurting his arm. Daniel ends up playing it cool to his parents and acting like everything is fine so he can still go to camp, much to their disapproval. While he is allowed to go on a road trip with his friends to camp, unfortunately Daniel doesn't quite make it there. A senator's daughter has been kidnapped and him and some other teenagers with abilities like his need to team up and save her from a scientist with a skewed sense of justice.
Having being hooked on the first two books and reading through them really quickly, Curse wasn't quite as favorable for me. It was exciting, but didn't completely suck me in sometimes, plus I didn't always care for the writing. I also felt that it was pointless for the book to jump to another character for a mere sentence before switching back to whatever character(s) the story was being told from in that moment. My final gripe with Curse is that the subplot relating to Daniel's blurs almost seems secondary and unnecessary for this third book. In the first two books in the trilogy they were what the plot revolved around so it was crucial, but this time, not so much. While Daniel's blurs were incorporated in a partially important way and used to save the senator's daughter in this story, the rest of the book relating to his blurs seemed like filler and a waste of reading time. On the plus side, I did enjoy the ending. There are some unanswered questions still, but some things are letter left unsaid.
If this was the first book in the series, I'd feel pretty "meh" about it, but because this is the ending and the first two were so great I felt that Curse was a mostly enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy.
Picking up where book two left off, Daniel is working to find out why exactly he has mysterious hallucinations, called blurs. After a dry spell without them and thinking everything has gone back to normal for good, shortly before getting ready to go to basketball camp out of state he has another one and ends up hurting his arm. Daniel ends up playing it cool to his parents and acting like everything is fine so he can still go to camp, much to their disapproval. While he is allowed to go on a road trip with his friends to camp, unfortunately Daniel doesn't quite make it there. A senator's daughter has been kidnapped and him and some other teenagers with abilities like his need to team up and save her from a scientist with a skewed sense of justice.
Having being hooked on the first two books and reading through them really quickly, Curse wasn't quite as favorable for me. It was exciting, but didn't completely suck me in sometimes, plus I didn't always care for the writing. I also felt that it was pointless for the book to jump to another character for a mere sentence before switching back to whatever character(s) the story was being told from in that moment. My final gripe with Curse is that the subplot relating to Daniel's blurs almost seems secondary and unnecessary for this third book. In the first two books in the trilogy they were what the plot revolved around so it was crucial, but this time, not so much. While Daniel's blurs were incorporated in a partially important way and used to save the senator's daughter in this story, the rest of the book relating to his blurs seemed like filler and a waste of reading time. On the plus side, I did enjoy the ending. There are some unanswered questions still, but some things are letter left unsaid.
If this was the first book in the series, I'd feel pretty "meh" about it, but because this is the ending and the first two were so great I felt that Curse was a mostly enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy.
August 29, 2022
Like the second book, this one builds very nicely on what has happened in the first one, as well as what took place in book two. This time, the action moves to Georgia and Tennessee, following the events in the first two taking place in Wisconsin. It begins with Daniel nearly getting killed when he has another 'blur', this time seeing a young boy about to be hit by a loaded logging truck. Instead of saving the child, he's hit by the truck and sustains a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder. Neither is sufficient to stop him from going to a basketball camp in Georgia. His parents are concerned, but agree to let him go as long as he takes his girlfriend, his best friend, Kyle plus his girlfriend, Mia.
Meanwhile, the evil doctor who was experimenting on prisoners in the second book, is busy trying to kidnap Daniel and three other teens who have similar powers. Add in a secret government plot, another creepy hospital, multiple close calls, and a surprise at the end and you have the perfect conclusion to a great trilogy.
Meanwhile, the evil doctor who was experimenting on prisoners in the second book, is busy trying to kidnap Daniel and three other teens who have similar powers. Add in a secret government plot, another creepy hospital, multiple close calls, and a surprise at the end and you have the perfect conclusion to a great trilogy.
August 18, 2017
Hm. I wasn't as impressed by this last book. Daniel's visions seem oddly unjointed to anything but himself. The actual mystery that is going on doesn't relate to his blurs at all. It was still an interesting read, but lacking what the first two had.
September 1, 2020
I liked the first two books. This one was tracking and then it's like all of a sudden I skipped a section of the book cause nothing made any sense. The story line (to me) didn't make sense and thee were characters all out of nowhere.
October 19, 2016
Great conclusion to a great series
Steven James ended this series with the kind of satisfying conclusion you don't normally find in a young adult trilogy. He introduced new characters and made you genuinely care about their well being while making you feel like they've been part of the story from book 1.
There definitely could be more to this story but if James never decides to return to this series that would be ok as it ended perfectly.
Steven James ended this series with the kind of satisfying conclusion you don't normally find in a young adult trilogy. He introduced new characters and made you genuinely care about their well being while making you feel like they've been part of the story from book 1.
There definitely could be more to this story but if James never decides to return to this series that would be ok as it ended perfectly.
July 22, 2017
mehhhh....
January 29, 2018
This series was the best best ever!!! I LOVE the characters and the story line! Throughout the whole series, it never ever got boring and I was always kept on my toes!!!! I definitely recommend it!
February 22, 2018
A fast-paced science fiction novel reminded me the high school time.
It was the first long novel in English that I've ever read.
It was the first long novel in English that I've ever read.
May 11, 2018
Good last book in the series.
December 15, 2018
Full review will come.
May 25, 2019
Neat sorry. Great conclusion to the trilogy.
August 12, 2019
This was the third and final book in the trilogy. Again, they categorized as being in the young adult genre but I still enjoyed all therr books
November 10, 2019
My brain is completely blown! I did not see that ending coming! The twist at the end was remarkable and completely threw me through a loop!
Highly recommend!!!!
Highly recommend!!!!
July 7, 2020
Better than the 2nd book for sure. Enjoyable series, but forgettable. Good, fun read, but not amazing.
July 15, 2020
Great story. I really think that the story line was left wide open for more books.
April 20, 2021
Loved this Trilogy! Fun journey!
August 3, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this series, definitely recommend it! No bad for YA.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews