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Transition
Two years ago, The Pulse—a sudden shift in Earth's electromagnetic field—caused a global blackout and wiped a minute from mankind’s collective memory. This event introduced superhuman powers to our world. But the worst was yet to come.
Now two teenagers are caught in the chaos of a changing world:
Christina Chung, an antisocial misfit whose force fields are fueled by the social bonds she broke during the event of her transition.
Former coke addict Sarina Baumann, whose reality-altering power forces her to abandon everything she holds dear.
The two girls find themselves entangled with the renegade hero Radiant and the authorities that made him. The three must find a way—and a place—to be the heroes they're destined to become. But sometimes, even the heroes fall...
Transition is the first book in the Anathema series, which contains some harsh language and graphic violence.
Now two teenagers are caught in the chaos of a changing world:
Christina Chung, an antisocial misfit whose force fields are fueled by the social bonds she broke during the event of her transition.
Former coke addict Sarina Baumann, whose reality-altering power forces her to abandon everything she holds dear.
The two girls find themselves entangled with the renegade hero Radiant and the authorities that made him. The three must find a way—and a place—to be the heroes they're destined to become. But sometimes, even the heroes fall...
Transition is the first book in the Anathema series, which contains some harsh language and graphic violence.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2016
3 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 7, 2016
It's often said that there are two sorts of superheros: Demigods struggling to live as ordinary people and ordinary people struggling to live up to great expectations. I'm happy to say Transition is composed of the latter. The book tells its story through three sequential novellas with overlapping characters and plot points. Without falling into a melodrama trap, Olivia Rising manages to portray her characters as relatable people with non-trivial issues. Chris lives in the shadow of her ivy-league sister. Sabrina struggles to start life over after escaping a drug-riddled past. Radiant deals with obligations to family and self. The problems they face are not easy to solve and when they do tackle challenges, the solution is derived from cleverness and ingenuity rather than plot contrivance. Her superheros' powers are specific but versatile and her supervillains are superbly frightening. Sleepwalker in particular with his zombiesqe crowd of followers and weather-like movements was someone I found very interesting.
That said, there are a few shortcomings. While each novella does provide a solid introduction to its characters and their problems, the book as a whole does not provide an overall arc or conclusion. If A Song of Ice and Fire's main plot is the struggle for the throne of Westeros, I can't say what the Anathema series' equivalent is. Without divulging plot spoilers, there is one event which drives most events in the book, but neither the event nor its principal character are given major significant pagespace. The book instead shows reactions to the event through the eyes and mind of one particular character.
Overall, I enjoyed Transition. I think Chris/Mascot tells the strongest story and would be interested in reading more of her story. Just be aware that this is not a standalone book and you will need to read the rest of the series. It'll be a long ride, but it should be a good one.
Reviewer's Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy by the author
That said, there are a few shortcomings. While each novella does provide a solid introduction to its characters and their problems, the book as a whole does not provide an overall arc or conclusion. If A Song of Ice and Fire's main plot is the struggle for the throne of Westeros, I can't say what the Anathema series' equivalent is. Without divulging plot spoilers, there is one event which drives most events in the book, but neither the event nor its principal character are given major significant pagespace. The book instead shows reactions to the event through the eyes and mind of one particular character.
Overall, I enjoyed Transition. I think Chris/Mascot tells the strongest story and would be interested in reading more of her story. Just be aware that this is not a standalone book and you will need to read the rest of the series. It'll be a long ride, but it should be a good one.
Reviewer's Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy by the author
May 28, 2016
Two years ago, a phenomenon known as the Pulse occurred, giving superpowers to seemingly random humans, who are referred to as Evolved. The story follows two newly Evolved teenage girls, Chris and Sarina, and Andrey, an older Evolved, as they try to cope with their new lives while both remaining true to themselves and avoiding being killed by the international government. This is made harder by the fact that refusing to join one of the official Hero teams means forfeiting your rights as a human being, and, as events in the story show, simply being too powerful is enough to put you on their kill list.
This first book mostly serves as an introduction of the main three characters, and it does a great job of explaining the world and setting the scene for what will come next. One of my favorite things so far is Olivia's realistic interpretation of the international governments' likely reaction to the appearance of superpowers--that is, monitor the hell out of those with them and leave crime-fighting to the police; only reluctantly allowing them to intervene when a criminal also has superpowers. I also like how the narration style in each of the characters' arcs is slightly different; it feels more like characters are narrating their own stories.
If you're looking for a more modern superhero story and don't need the promise of a happy ending, this is a good one to add to your list.
This first book mostly serves as an introduction of the main three characters, and it does a great job of explaining the world and setting the scene for what will come next. One of my favorite things so far is Olivia's realistic interpretation of the international governments' likely reaction to the appearance of superpowers--that is, monitor the hell out of those with them and leave crime-fighting to the police; only reluctantly allowing them to intervene when a criminal also has superpowers. I also like how the narration style in each of the characters' arcs is slightly different; it feels more like characters are narrating their own stories.
If you're looking for a more modern superhero story and don't need the promise of a happy ending, this is a good one to add to your list.
June 4, 2016
Olivia Rising tells her tale three years after the pulse that brought super powers to Earth. Her version of super powers don’t really fit the comic versions, especially because some of the evolved surge, broadening and widening the strength of their power. When the only healer, Shanti, a woman of India who is adored like Mother Theresa, surges, her power affects not just an individual, but all people from a mile around her. The Covenant decides she is too dangerous and sends Radiant, who can fly at the speed of light and shoot out laser beams, to kill her. Riots ensue and Radiant feels he has to quit the Covenant. Christina Chung goes through transition at the same time with the ability to create shields, super-speed, and sense potential disasters. But already still recovering from the death of her baby brother while she was baby sitting, her manifested powers aren’t enough to save the life of her older sister. Sarina Baumann found dancing after being adopted into a family that helped wean her off drugs. Her first dance competition shows her transition allows her to make miricles. Transition (ebook from Amazon) is only the introduction to a four part series that promises to be very powerful. Review printed by Philadelphia Weekly Press
July 30, 2016
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
DNF @ 49%
I thought I could push through with this one but man was I bored. There were three sections (I made it through one and a half) but the story was the exact same to me. It didn't feel necessary to have two female protagonists go through similar things and react the same way. And sure, maybe they have different outcomes, but I don't care enough to find out because I am literally bored to tears. I liked Shanti but I didn't like Chris and I wasn't partial to Sarina either.
I had an inkling I wouldn't like this one when Chris, our first protagonist, decided she wasn't like other girls and was only friends with boys because girls only care about makeup and fashion and she didn't like that. Please burn it with fire. I am SO SICK of this idea. And sure, maybe she felt that way, but it is up to authors and people in the industry to change this tone and this idea into something different that lifts up other girls and women in general rather than tearing them down. Then when we meet Sarina, Kat (one of the other dancers in her hip hop troupe) hates her because Kat's boyfriend thinks Sarina is attractive. Again, I get that this definitely happens, but can we please have the tone of these types of interactions done in a better way so that girls who find themselves in this situation don't feel like they have to defend themselves. Let's hate on the skeevy boyfriends who tell their girlfriends that they find other girls attractive. Fuck those guys.
The world building bothered me in two different ways that intersected. The first being that the world wasn't extremely consistent and the rules and laws and all that jazz were, to be honest, stupid. Evolved have to wear costumes. Evolved have to either join their nations "hero" groups or give up their rights, but don't worry someone will explain that to you. Evolved have to wear arm bands to signify they are "dangerous" (don't even get me started on this one). There was so much wrong with this world that I couldn't handle it.
And on top of this, we are told how to feel about the world. An Evolved called "Preacher" thinks maybe God has left and given different parts of his powers to the Evolved (which he calls Godkin) and one of the main characters, Chris, immediately dismisses this as "wacko." Now, I am not religious at all, but why are we being told this is wacko when there is nothing to prove to the contrary. Why can't she just think "well that can't be true because of this scientific reason" rather than dismissing religion and faith. And with Sarina, at one point she info dumps so much information but it is so skewed for her opinion on it rather than facts that I feel like I'm not quite sure what the actual information about the Pulse and the Evolved are and what is just made up by the characters.
In all honesty, I just stopped caring and couldn't make myself get through the rest of this section to get to the next. And I don't really care what happens. I was told this is akin to a V.E. Schwab book (which is OBVIOUSLY what sold me) but that is not the case. This is more of a case of been there, done that way too many times with nothing new added to the canon. I really don't recommend reading it.
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DNF @ 49%
I thought I could push through with this one but man was I bored. There were three sections (I made it through one and a half) but the story was the exact same to me. It didn't feel necessary to have two female protagonists go through similar things and react the same way. And sure, maybe they have different outcomes, but I don't care enough to find out because I am literally bored to tears. I liked Shanti but I didn't like Chris and I wasn't partial to Sarina either.
I had an inkling I wouldn't like this one when Chris, our first protagonist, decided she wasn't like other girls and was only friends with boys because girls only care about makeup and fashion and she didn't like that. Please burn it with fire. I am SO SICK of this idea. And sure, maybe she felt that way, but it is up to authors and people in the industry to change this tone and this idea into something different that lifts up other girls and women in general rather than tearing them down. Then when we meet Sarina, Kat (one of the other dancers in her hip hop troupe) hates her because Kat's boyfriend thinks Sarina is attractive. Again, I get that this definitely happens, but can we please have the tone of these types of interactions done in a better way so that girls who find themselves in this situation don't feel like they have to defend themselves. Let's hate on the skeevy boyfriends who tell their girlfriends that they find other girls attractive. Fuck those guys.
The world building bothered me in two different ways that intersected. The first being that the world wasn't extremely consistent and the rules and laws and all that jazz were, to be honest, stupid. Evolved have to wear costumes. Evolved have to either join their nations "hero" groups or give up their rights, but don't worry someone will explain that to you. Evolved have to wear arm bands to signify they are "dangerous" (don't even get me started on this one). There was so much wrong with this world that I couldn't handle it.
And on top of this, we are told how to feel about the world. An Evolved called "Preacher" thinks maybe God has left and given different parts of his powers to the Evolved (which he calls Godkin) and one of the main characters, Chris, immediately dismisses this as "wacko." Now, I am not religious at all, but why are we being told this is wacko when there is nothing to prove to the contrary. Why can't she just think "well that can't be true because of this scientific reason" rather than dismissing religion and faith. And with Sarina, at one point she info dumps so much information but it is so skewed for her opinion on it rather than facts that I feel like I'm not quite sure what the actual information about the Pulse and the Evolved are and what is just made up by the characters.
In all honesty, I just stopped caring and couldn't make myself get through the rest of this section to get to the next. And I don't really care what happens. I was told this is akin to a V.E. Schwab book (which is OBVIOUSLY what sold me) but that is not the case. This is more of a case of been there, done that way too many times with nothing new added to the canon. I really don't recommend reading it.
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July 26, 2016
There's not really too much I can say about this book. I enjoyed the first part with Christina a lot, but I found Sarina's part to be fairly boring. I was pretty "meh" about Radiant's part. I would have much preferred the story stick with Christina, but we don't always get what we want. The writing was very good, as was the pacing, though it was a little slow for my taste. Overall, it was a pretty good book. I might pick up the second one, but haven't fully decided on that just yet.
July 1, 2016
This book was given me by Rebecca Hamilton in exchange for a fair and honest review
It's a shame I can't give this book more than four stars but at times I was totally lost as the plot jumped around. From starting with one lead player we were introduced to two more and in between I struggled to "keep up" with everyone and thing that was being brought into the story. Really well written with clever dialogue I'm sure this would be a great read for supernatural / sci-do fans
It's a shame I can't give this book more than four stars but at times I was totally lost as the plot jumped around. From starting with one lead player we were introduced to two more and in between I struggled to "keep up" with everyone and thing that was being brought into the story. Really well written with clever dialogue I'm sure this would be a great read for supernatural / sci-do fans
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews