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The Caretaker Trilogy #1

Ωκεανοί SOS

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…Βρίσκομαι συνέχεια κυνηγημένος από έναν ανώνυμο, απρόσωπο εχθρό. Δεν μπορώ να εμπιστευτώ κανέναν…
Η μητέρα του δεν είναι μητέρα του. Ο πατέρας του δεν είναι πατέρας του. Και αν δεν είχε σπάσει το σχολικό ρεκόρ εκείνο το βράδυ, ίσως τίποτα να μην είχε συμβεί. Το έσπασε, όμως, και εμφανίστηκε στις ειδήσεις. Και τώρα πια τον έχουν εντοπίσει. Ο Τζακ μπλέκεται σε ένα παιχνίδι επιβίωσης χωρίς έξοδο διαφυγής. Οι κανόνες είναι απλοί: Μην εμπιστεύεσαι κανέναν. Οι φίλοι σου μπορεί να αποδειχτούν εχθροί ανά πάσα στιγμή. Πίσω από κάθε στροφή παραφυλάει η προδοσία. Ύστερα από αιώνες ολόκληρους κακοποίησης, η Γη πεθαίνει και μόνον ο Τζακ μπορεί να αντιστρέψει την παρακμή της προτού φτάσει η Κρίσιμη Καμπή, όπου τίποτα δε θα είναι ξανά το ίδιο. Κυνηγημένος από εχθρούς με υπερφυσικές δυνάμεις, παλεύει να σώσει το μέλλον της Γης από το παρόν της και να λύσει το μυστήριο του δικού του ξεχωριστού προορισμού… Στο πρώτο βιβλίο της τριλογίας ΟΙ ΦΡΟΥΡΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΗΣ, ο Ντέιβιντ Κλας έχει πλάσει ένα συναρπαστικό κόσμο για να μεταφέρει σε όλους το μήνυμα ότι η Γη μας κινδυνεύει.

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

41 people are currently reading
673 people want to read

About the author

David Klass

37 books169 followers
David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including You Don’t Know Me, Dark Angel, and Firestorm (The Caretaker Trilogy). He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Walking Tall, starring The Rock, and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia. Klass grew up in a family that loved literature and theater—his parents were both college professors and writers—but he was a reluctant reader, preferring sports to books. But he started loving the adventure stories his parents would bring home from the library—particularly Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexandre Dumas. After his sister twice won a story contest in Seventeen magazine, Klass decided he would win it too, and when he was a senior in high school, he did, publishing his first story, “Ringtoss,” in the magazine. He studied at Yale University, where he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing. He taught English in Japan, and wrote his first novel, The Atami Dragons, about that experience. He now lives in New York with his wife and two children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidk...

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5 stars
320 (28%)
4 stars
361 (32%)
3 stars
277 (24%)
2 stars
102 (9%)
1 star
50 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
Profile Image for Marya.
1,460 reviews
May 12, 2008
A teen boy with a suspiciously English teacher vocabulary sets off with his Hot Babe Mentor and trusty telepathic dog on a quest that would be canon fodder for an episode of Penn & Teller's BullShit.

Besides Jack (our hero) speaking in whole pages of fragments, he also quotes romantic poets to himself and introduces million dollar words saying "Look that one up later, friends." Just a typical 18 year old jock, right? The dog and the Hot Babe Mentor aren't any more fleshed out as characters, either, which is why I recommend it to tween boys.

And then there is the plot. Jack is an eco warrior sent back in time to save the world from its unnatural use of science and technology. Got that? Cyborgs are bad technology (used only by the evil guys). Antigrav suits that let you fly are good technology (used by the good guys). Millions of years of humans genetically manipulating crops, domesticating animals, and creating technology to live better, healthier lives is unnatural. Women becoming shapeshifters and dogs becoming telepathic are natural (and I mentioned that both can with the aid of technology fly, right?).

This is where Penn & Teller would have a field day. The picture of pristine beauty of the stallion standing on the Outer Banks would not be possible without the direct interference of man. First of all, horses were domesticated to be built for humans, and secondly, they didn't exist in the Americas until the conquistadors brought them over. How is the development of the hero's telepathic dog any more natural than the development of the toy poodle? Does the author really think the toy poodle evolved that way to better cope with its environment?

As for technology, the author doesn't really point out what makes one good and another bad, other than who is using it. Why are cyborgs bad? What's so wrong with iron lungs, hip replacements, and the like? The antigrav suits the good guys use to fly around with weren't cooked up by hugging trees all day. What makes that technology good? Overall, a poor understanding of science and technology is shown, which dilutes the message of the book (well, and the ending where the deus ex machina saves the oceans without going into details).

If you want a nuanced look at characters and the impact of man on his environment in a young adult science fiction work, read the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. If you have a tween boy who needs to read lots of butt kickin', peacock struttin' adventure, pick up this one.
Profile Image for Emily Baldado.
1 review
November 1, 2008
Wow. I was expecting this book to get better with time, but the characters stayed two-dimensional and the sentence length stayed annoying. In fact, the only thing that changed was the plot, which only became more convoluted as the book dragged on. It was as if the writer suddenly realized how stupidly immature his book was being and decided to shove a lesson in conservation in there as a last-ditch effort to save the story. It didn't work.
Profile Image for Lyb.
258 reviews5 followers
November 4, 2023
3.5⭐

This book gives an incredible moral on ecology, I loved the message. It made me think a lot about the future of our planet, our future, what we must prevent from happening.

In addition to this message, the story is incredible, the universe is very close to our reality, which makes the implication even stronger. I was captivated by the story, and I can't wait to read the rest to discover the next adventures of Jack and his friends.
Profile Image for Venessa Stella.
144 reviews16 followers
May 5, 2022
Das Leben von Jack Danielson stellt sich als eine einzige Lüge heraus. Anstatt eines normalen High School Schülers soll er die Hoffnung der Zukunft sein.
Als Kind wurde er in unsere Zeit zurückgeschickt, um die Zerstörung der Welt wie wir sie kennen zu verhindern.

Es hat eine Weile gebraucht, bis ich wirklich in die Story eintauchen konnte. Die relativ kurzen Sätze waren dabei keine Hilfe. Darüber hinaus hat der Autor Wörter geputzt, die nicht dem alltäglichen Sprachgebrauch entsprechen.
Per se is das ja nichts schlechtes, aber die Wörter werden nicht erklärt. Stattdessen wird immer wieder geschrieben, dass man das Wort nachschlagen soll "aber nicht jetzt".

Das letzte Drittel des Buches hat mich dann sehr berührt. Die Thematik rund um die Zerstörung der Ozeane wurde aufgegriffen. Dem Leser wurde vor Augen geführt, welche schwerwiegenden Folgen dies haben könnte.
Profile Image for Lakedaemon.
38 reviews1 follower
December 12, 2007
I usually read a book half-way through before tossing it aside as unreadable (for me). This one got my minimum rule of 50 pages before I couldn't stand it. The author's 'stylistic' use of incomplete sentences drove me crazy. It didn't matter he 'explained' and 'excused' it at the first of the book by the main character saying this is the way he thinks.

Ugh.

Please, tense and action filled passages can be created using whole and proper sentences. Really. I've seen it before and even read some.

(Side note: It sure didn't help my opinion after deciding to set it aside that I read the back of the book and found a glowing review by the head Greenpeace dude. So not a selling point for me...)

Profile Image for Alexa Hamilton.
2,484 reviews24 followers
May 7, 2008
Think pace is determined by sentence length? So does David Klass and his earth-saving narrator, Jack Danielson, who has been sent back in time to save the planet by finding Firestorm, something prophesied to save the earth, only, of course, no one knows what it is. His telepathic dog Gisco is lovable and speaks in mostly full sentences. I would have liked this book better without the sentence fragments. But not much.
Profile Image for Marilyn.
1,318 reviews9 followers
October 7, 2008
I hated the sentence fragments. Hardly a "the" in the entire book: how pretentious! The story was ALL OVER THE PLACE, and I didn't care enough about the main character (especially his sense of humor) to try to keep up with it. What a drudge. Some talk of sex, so I'd give it to 9th graders and up but, really, I won't recommend it to anyone!
Profile Image for Alexandra.
21 reviews
January 10, 2009
one of my favorite books. it really shows the issues we as humans have created. It shows we need to do something to save the oceans before it's too late. oh and i love eko and jack together. i really hope they end up that way!
Profile Image for Andrew .
13 reviews
August 20, 2008
ah... this guy made a new wrighting style out short sentinces, which after u get used to it is ok. Despite serous plot gaps, anf lack of explanation, the book is ... entertaining to say the least.
Profile Image for Tyler Marchand.
1 review
October 30, 2008
So, I finished the book, and well, it was nothing that I expected it to be. There is no plot, all the characters just blow stuff up, and the idea of the book as a whole is hard to identify.
2 reviews
October 18, 2024
Summary: Firestorm by David Klass starts off by introducing the main character, Jack, a senior in high school that is from the future and has to train and protect himself to get firestorm so he can save the world and he’s the only one that can. To get to firestorm he has to go through gnorms: flying people that are coming after him to stop him from saving the world. The book begins with Jack at a restaurant and sees a person with gray eyes.

As Jack gets home he tells his dad what he saw. Instantly his dad started to tell him it's time to go and they left their house speeding off and were being chased by the people with gray eyes. Him and his dad get in a crash and Jack has to run off and his dad dies. His dad told him before he died to go to their boat and that's what he did. He drove off with the boat and sold the boat the next morning to get money. He is now in Manhattan.

As he is walking around in Manhattan, he gets some things from a vendor and notices this girl on the bench that he is sitting on. She looks at him and he looks back and they do this a few times and start to talk to each other. She says that he can stay at her apartment, and he agrees so he can get his clothes washed along with him taking a shower but that didn’t go as planned. As he walks into the apartment, he realizes it is actually a penthouse. He goes to the bathroom and takes a shower that he has been needing. He gets out of the shower and is greeted by the girl. The girl takes him to her room, and she is going to give him a massage. While he is getting it she tells him to raise his arms to the end of the bed and she handcuffs him to the bed. As he looks back it isn't the same person, she's a gnorm. He eventually gets out of the hand cuffs and runs off a little bruised up and finds a big mutt that can talk telepathically to him. The mutt and him are going on a ride to Philadelphia but before they get there, they jump off a train into a river and end up on shore and there is a biker gang. They give Jack an offer that if he wins a fight, he gets a bike. Well, he wins, and they go on a long ride, and they go to a barn in the middle of nowhere.

As he walks in the mutt locks him in and runs off. He thinks that the dog was bad but eventually we find out that he was always on his side. When he is in the barn, he fights a ninja girl, and it was to show that he can defend himself. Him and her train until he is ready to go on his own. Before he is ready to go, they get attacked by a gnorm and Jack runs off and ends up having to still fight them in the end.




Characters: Jack is the story’s main character and is from the future. He makes some friends on the way and is tricked as well. He first comes across this mutt that can telepathically talk to him named Gisco. Gisco helps him out a lot in the story along with tricking him to show that he can defend himself. That's where he finds a ninja girl named Eko. Eko is his trainer and is helping him to defend himself against these things called gnorms. Gnorms play a big role in the book, and that's to stop Jack


Personal Reflection: The best thing that mostly happened in the book was the action. Like the action was nonstop which made this book way more interesting and fun to read. Like with most books it takes a little for the book to get interesting but with this one it starts early which I like.


Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone that likes adventure and action books because that's what is mostly in this book. But the only thing I didn't like about this book is that it sometimes doesn't explain things well enough. Which could just be me but be aware.


Real World Connection: This book connects with a big real-world problem right now: global warming. Firestorm is global warming in the book, and it is shown multiple times with the very strong hurricane, (Hurricanes get stronger with how warm the water is.) and even the name “Firestorm” kind of gives away that the book is about global warming and how Jack is trying to fix it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1 review1 follower
January 4, 2018
So the book I read was Firestorm. Firestorm is a book about a teenager named Jack who is a scholar and athlete at his local high school. He is treated like a god by his peers but he doesn't know that his whole life is gonna come crashing down just after his high school football team wins the state championship. What Jack does not know is that he has been shielded his entire life by his parents because they know what Jack can do. But when his team wins the championship everyone that wants Jack dead knows where he is and how to find him.
Now with Firestorm, I liked a lot of stuff about it but the one thing I like the most was the character development. The reader can tell David Klass put so much time into making sure you liked and felt sympathy for each and every person in the story. Like Jack`s parents, the reader only knows them for a few short chapters but the reader feels like he or she knows them personally. It's like that for every character. Another person I liked was Eko, a girl who claimed to know Jacks parents. When she makes her first appearance in the book she immediately seems like she can fight against and win against anyone. This is just one of my favorite things about Firestorm.
Now Firestorm is a book anyone should read. I believe Firestorms message was to tell the reader that the world will change for the worse if we don't protect it. Firestorm does a good job at that because it shows the reader the devastation and the salvation of the plant because of us humans using the natural resources. One critique I do have about the book is that I feel the characters were a bit underdeveloped. Like Eko she had such a pivotal role in the story and we never got to see or hear about her past or anything that happened to get her this far. I would definitely do more with the characters.
Now don't get me wrong everyone should read Firestorm it is a great book but everyone will have their own problems with it. Some problems stick out more than others. But the problem I felt that had to be the worst was the ending. Everything that has happened in the book until the ending was fine even exciting. But the ending was not exciting it was boring and expected. Before something happened the reader automatically knew it was going to happen so there was no surprise. So if there was one thing I would change about Firestorm is the ending. I would rewrite it and then make sure it fits with the rest of the story. But other than the ending I have no other big things to talk about. Everyone should read Firestorm It is a fun time.
2 reviews
May 6, 2021

Spoilers ahead.

The premise held such promise but this book fell short. The idea of future generations trying to correct past generations mistakes is interesting but the writing style and the main character, who seems too stereotypical, really distracts from the over all themes and enjoyability of the story.
If the story had fully fleshed out sentences, didn't preach a pretentious vocabulary giving the main character an almost split personality (one personality of teenage boy trying to get with any woman in the room and the other intellectual overachiever) the plot might have felt more cohesive and the flow a bit better. The main character felt a bit untouchable at times (think if superman had no weakness to kryptonite) and this made him unbelievable. Personally I like it when characters are dropped into impossible situations and have to figure a way out (super powers or not).
Fortunately the ecological themes and the climate activism did a lot to save this book for me. The time travel aspect was a new spin for me on the subject of climate change and mass extinction events. The serious and sometimes difficult subject matter of climate change was handled well. More could have been done but it was dealt with in a manner that fit the story. The secondary characters also were enjoyable to read. Often they felt more fleshed out and had better reactions then the main character.
Overall if you're looking for a book that deals with climate activism and a fully fleshed out main character, I'm sure there are better reads then this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2 reviews2 followers
February 12, 2021
Firestorm by David Klass is a sci-fi novel about high school senior Jack Danielson. He thought he was just a normal guy living in a normal town. The football team beat their archrival, Jack beat a new league record, and he had an amazing girlfriend. Everything was going good for him. Then one night everything changed. Suddenly Jack, his mom, and his dad were being chased by dark mysterious shapes on motorcycles. His parents died in the accident, in order to protect him. He then traveled to Manhattan. In the city, he met a friendly dog from the future named gisco. Gisco helped Jack realize that he is the key to saving the future. Jack’s purpose was to find Firestorm and figure out what it is.
I would recommend Firestorm to a person who is interested in the concepts of time travel and the negative effects of pollution and trawling. This book contains a bit of romance, a lot of science fiction, and action. The plot of this book was really interesting, however the vocabulary used is a bit advanced. So at times it was hard to understand. I would give this book 3.5 stars.
This book served as a door to a world where the possibilities of time travel exist. It also shows the realities of what could possibly happen if we don’t take care of the environment. This sci-fi novel is the type of thing we used to dream about as children, but it’s in a more advanced fashion . Firestorm has a lot of fiction but also has a certain theme involving the environment, specifically the ocean.
1 review
May 17, 2019
Imagine being chased by inhumane creatures with your "dad" and then when you came to a stop, your "dad" kills himself right in front of you. This happened within the first five pages of this book. Personally, I don't like reading books, but when I was reading this book, I was intrigued and interested as to what was going to happened next. There was a lot of suspense and mystery to where you wanted to know what's going to happen next. This book has a bit of language and inappropriate parts, but the overall composition and composure of the book is great. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends who love reading and who like science fiction. This is a science fiction book but has a bit of other genres in it as well. It had a bit of comedic writing and different elements were added in this book. It'll say a certain vocabulary that no one would know and after that it would say, "look that one up my friend, but not right now." I am assuming they did this to keep the story going and moving along. The author also had repetition to emphasize some points. The character were interesting as well. They weren't normal, basic characters. To the people who love science fiction and futuristic times, then I will definitely recommend this book to you.
20 reviews2 followers
February 1, 2018
It was a great book when I saw the cover I thought it was going to be about sharks but when I started reading it got pretty interesting so I continued reading it. I like the books about the future and what could happen later on in the world. I also like Syfy stuff and there was a lot in this book Idk if there is a second book to this but if there is I would definitely read it. The ending was kinda disappointing though that's why I want to see if there is a second book. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like Syfy, adventure, comedy,and who don't mind a little strong language
3 reviews
April 2, 2018
This is a good book about what people around the world have done to Earth. Jack travels around the world to try to make the present become better than the past by helping the Earth. This book is good and easy to understand at times. A great book for teenagers because is helps inform them about the effects of what we have done to this Earth.
1 review
September 5, 2022
The book overall was just okay. It was good at first but then kind of went downhill from there. There was also way too much filler. And at times I just wanted the book to get to the point. And the characters are very one sided and don't have much depth put into them. It also could be very confusing to understand. So in my opinion this book was mediocre.
Profile Image for Adeline.
8 reviews
November 14, 2023
Absolutely loved this book and this entire series. Was recommended by my roommate at the time, never forgot about these after all these years. It made a great impression on me despite how many books I read.
958 reviews12 followers
December 12, 2017
Good main character, a football star who finds he is from the future and has a telepathic dog, but after the cool idea wears off, it gets very repetitive.
Profile Image for Annabeller.
4 reviews
December 8, 2023
Everyone saying that this is a read for a waaaaaaay younger audience did not lie. I think I read this in middle school when I had just started reading independently- loved it! It made me feel like I was reading a “grown up” book, I had a lot of fun reading it, & I guess I was able to look past the authors writing style, or simply just didn’t notice. Sadly I really couldn’t do it this time after choosing to revisit it at 22 years old. Mind you, I was very excited to read this again since this was one of the books that jumpstarted my whole reading-obsession :( with all that said, I’m giving it 3 stars since I probably would’ve given it the all 5 back then. It’s just not for me anymore but that’s okay. I would’ve given 2 stars if it wasn’t for the nostalgia.

Edit: couldn’t do it, ended up leaving it @ 2 stars
33 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2017
El único problema que he tenido con este libro es que Eko me cae bien o mal dependiendo del día con el que me levante, pero no creo que eso sea motivo para quitarle una estrella.
Un libro encantador, con un ritmo descontrolado en el que casi no paran de ocurrir cosas y lleno de acción. Me encanta el humor de Jack y Gisco, espero que no cambie. Adoro a Jack.
3 reviews
October 6, 2016
Firestorm was a great book. The book is about a “normal kid” named, Jack Danielson. Jack is living an ordinary life when all of the sudden he’s being tracked down by people from the future. The book tells the story of a teenager having to save the world from the face of evil. Jack has to stop the dark army from polluting the Earth and killing everyone on it. It was very simple to understand and a great read. Each page made you want to read more. Not a single page was a boring page. I strongly recommend you read this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews

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