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Superhumans #1
Meteorite Strike
A meteorite has struck earth without warning, unleashing a deadly alien virus. Thousands fall victim... but not Sarah and Robert.
Instead they develop strange side effects - psychic abilities. And that makes them a target for HIDRA, a rogue international agency determined to turn them into lab rats, just like the other kids they've already captured - kids who can control fire, create storms and tear steel with their minds.
If they can work together, these kids might stand a chance against HIDRA...
Superpowers and conspiracy collide in this unmissable, action-packed sci-fi thriller.
Instead they develop strange side effects - psychic abilities. And that makes them a target for HIDRA, a rogue international agency determined to turn them into lab rats, just like the other kids they've already captured - kids who can control fire, create storms and tear steel with their minds.
If they can work together, these kids might stand a chance against HIDRA...
Superpowers and conspiracy collide in this unmissable, action-packed sci-fi thriller.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
A.G. Taylor
13 books4 followersAndrew Taylor was born in New Zealand and grew up in East Anglia. He studied English Literature at Sheffield University and then teaching at Cambridge. He has spent the last ten years working as a teacher in England, South Korea, Poland and Australia, where he now lives with his partner and their two dogs. Andrew’s first book, Meteorite Strike, recently won the Heart of Hawick Children’s Book Award and was also shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 11, 2016
Nice quick YA read.
January 28, 2014
A meteorite strikes the middle of Australia, creating an EMP blast and dust storm that wipe out all mechanical devices in the impact radius. That in itself is enough to cause some major problems, like killing the power to the plane our main characters are on. Sarah and Robert are moving to Australia to live with their estranged father after their mother has died. Sarah can't even bring herself to call Daniel anything but his first name. He does prove to come in handy though as he gets them out of the plane crash alive. The other survivors of the crash soon start to exhibit strange symptoms of fatigue and then almost everyone succumbs to sleep. Our characters quickly figure out the meteorite must have been carrying more than an EMP punch. Sarah, Robert and Daniel strike out into the Australian outback trying to make their way to a town. Before they get much of anywhere, though, they run into a military/science group called HIDRA who inform them they are under quarantine because of the sleep virus. What HIDRA doesn't tell them, but they soon figure out, is that kids resistant to the fall virus seem to develop strange abilities. HIDRA also isn't telling them that there is a serious power struggle going on between the scientists and military leaders on the base. Dr Rachel wants to find a cure to the virus and contain the spread, but Colonel Moss has seen the superhuman abilities kids can exhibit after being exposed to the virus and he wants to find a way to harness those abilities for superhuman soldiers, and he's willing to put the kids through just about anything to test what they can do. Daniel fights off the virus and Colonel Moss' attempts to get him out of the way as long as he can to give the kids a chance to escape, and Sarah finds herself the default leader of a group of strange kids who just might be able to get out from under Colonel Moss' clutches if they work together.
A kid-friendly introduction to the dystopia genre that has several elements that reminded me of the tv series Heroes. Oh, and the final standoff was very A-Team-esque (I could hear the music in the background as I read it). Sarah is your typical female dystopia lead, a teen girl who has suffered deep loss, has some serious angst and feels like she has the responsibility of everyone else on her shoulders. The rest of the kids display the typical array of super mental powers to make things fun. And the adults all seem to have secrets they are hiding. So it isn't really anything all that unique, except that it is fairly clean for a dystopia (helped by an astounding ability of characters to survive aircraft crashes and such...it almost gets to the "you must be part cartoon to survive that!" stage), but this makes it more approachable for the younger audiences who may not be ready to follow Katniss or Tris around.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. There is an emergency landing of a plane which results in some bumps and bruises, and some deaths off page when an engine explodes later. Several people get shot with dart guns, but they just fall asleep. A person's nose gets bloodied in a fist fight. A chopper crashes and one person is killed off page. One person is maybe killed by a tornado. Most people are knocked out in the battles rather than killed.
A kid-friendly introduction to the dystopia genre that has several elements that reminded me of the tv series Heroes. Oh, and the final standoff was very A-Team-esque (I could hear the music in the background as I read it). Sarah is your typical female dystopia lead, a teen girl who has suffered deep loss, has some serious angst and feels like she has the responsibility of everyone else on her shoulders. The rest of the kids display the typical array of super mental powers to make things fun. And the adults all seem to have secrets they are hiding. So it isn't really anything all that unique, except that it is fairly clean for a dystopia (helped by an astounding ability of characters to survive aircraft crashes and such...it almost gets to the "you must be part cartoon to survive that!" stage), but this makes it more approachable for the younger audiences who may not be ready to follow Katniss or Tris around.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. There is an emergency landing of a plane which results in some bumps and bruises, and some deaths off page when an engine explodes later. Several people get shot with dart guns, but they just fall asleep. A person's nose gets bloodied in a fist fight. A chopper crashes and one person is killed off page. One person is maybe killed by a tornado. Most people are knocked out in the battles rather than killed.
September 15, 2015
I was actually a little disappointed with this book. From the blurb on the back I was expecting to love it and it would definitely want to read the set. But it just did not work out that way!
It started off great, with Sarah and Robert on the plane from London to Melbourne with their father Daniel who was taking custody of them after the death of their mother. As they hit Australia a meteorite strikes and the plane goes down in a massive dust storm created from the meteorite strike.
With Daniel's help they get off the plane before it explodes and later find that the other survivors from the crash are falling into a sleep they can't seem to be waken from.
This part was brilliantly done, it started off as a brilliant disaster apocalypse novel.
However, the remaining two thirds of the book were a let down for me after the kids were captured by HIDRA and the development of their powers etc.
I guess I was hoping for more of a worldwide alien virus disaster apocalypse and ended up with a group of kids with superpowers!
If that is your ticket then you will love it. However, for me I felt it was not going in the direction I wanted to so have decided not to continue the set.
I plumped on 3 stars. I finished it and it was okay and written well, but left me disappointed so can't really justify more. If I had decided to continue I might have given it 4 so 3.
It started off great, with Sarah and Robert on the plane from London to Melbourne with their father Daniel who was taking custody of them after the death of their mother. As they hit Australia a meteorite strikes and the plane goes down in a massive dust storm created from the meteorite strike.
With Daniel's help they get off the plane before it explodes and later find that the other survivors from the crash are falling into a sleep they can't seem to be waken from.
This part was brilliantly done, it started off as a brilliant disaster apocalypse novel.
However, the remaining two thirds of the book were a let down for me after the kids were captured by HIDRA and the development of their powers etc.
I guess I was hoping for more of a worldwide alien virus disaster apocalypse and ended up with a group of kids with superpowers!
If that is your ticket then you will love it. However, for me I felt it was not going in the direction I wanted to so have decided not to continue the set.
I plumped on 3 stars. I finished it and it was okay and written well, but left me disappointed so can't really justify more. If I had decided to continue I might have given it 4 so 3.
June 1, 2025
Maybe it would be 4 stars if not for the awful polish translation. I know it's not the author's fault but I just don't know how diffrent I would feel about it without this google-translate like translation, lol. Would it be better? or the same? idk.
+ Secand half was really fun and quick, characters are well build, I like children and adults equaly. Sara was annoying at first but it just mean that she has a strong character and it turned out true. And it was very easy to imagine everything, which is not always so obvious.
+First half was pretty slow and I know it's hard to change that when you r just introducing the world to us, but I had to force myself to read it. I continued mostly because I bought this book like 10 years ago and had it in my house haha
+ Secand half was really fun and quick, characters are well build, I like children and adults equaly. Sara was annoying at first but it just mean that she has a strong character and it turned out true. And it was very easy to imagine everything, which is not always so obvious.
+First half was pretty slow and I know it's hard to change that when you r just introducing the world to us, but I had to force myself to read it. I continued mostly because I bought this book like 10 years ago and had it in my house haha
August 2, 2023
I enjoyed this book and Silver age of comics feeling the author was going for (IMO). I think the folks who gave disappointed reviews were expecting a different book - the fault of the publicist not the author
Looking forward to reading #2
Looking forward to reading #2
January 2, 2022
So i love it and i was crying when she said dad o my gods it was heart breaking
May 13, 2025
Wzięłam tę książkę z biblioteki i… styl prosty, akcja szybka, fajna książka. Trochę taki X-MEN, ale z klimatem Australijskim
April 11, 2013
It was ok, the beginning was kind of shaky and throughout the whole book I occasionally had to fight off the feeling of boredom but other than that it was alright. The only character that annoyed me was her little brother Robert but that was just because he whined and whinged wayy too much.
July 21, 2025
3.5 || For me this was a good find. I love stories about kids or young adult and I love fantasy and sci-fi so this was a gem. I finished it in less than a week and is devastated when the second book is not available in my country.
A good read.
A good read.
March 31, 2011
really really good
March 4, 2021
Full review at yabookreads.com
Early April 2011!
Early April 2011!
January 18, 2013
pocetak je bio dobar,posle sam se smorio..
August 27, 2012
Very simple and so very short. Does not feel like a complete book. Really feel like a book for (young) teens.
Want to Read
October 27, 2012i dont know what it is about because i cant read the dumb thing if any one knows how please help me
April 26, 2013
GOOD!!!!! GREAT!!!!!
June 13, 2014
This is a very good book so far! Already have the sequel!
October 13, 2016
Good Book. Grabs your attention.
November 17, 2016
Sci-fi for 8-12 year olds
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews