Monday, January 10, 2011

Review: The Mind Readers

THE MIND READERS
Lori Brighton
Paranormal Young Adult
e-book
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY
Cameron can read minds. She doesn't understand how or why, she just knows both she and grandmother have the same ability. People must never know about it though. They won't understand. The incident in Michigan proved that.

Cameron is going through her day to day routine, tolerating her popular but extremely shallow best friend while knowing exactly what she's thinking at all times. The murder of a classmate changes everything for Cameron though, and brings her into contact with Lewis, a handsome outsider who knows of Cameron's ability.

As she spends more time with Lewis, she realizes he shares her gift, and wants to introduce her to his mentor Aaron who he claims can help Cameron understand and focus her ability in a way her grandmother has denied her all these years. Unable to resist learning more and finding others like her, Cameron leaves her grandmother behind and enters a world far more dangerous and infinitely more complicated than she could ever have imagined.

MY THOUGHTS
The Mind Readers introduces us to the limitless possibilities of the human mind and all the unfathomable potential lying dormant there, just waiting to be tapped and put to uses beyond our wildest imaginings. No longer confined by the parameters of rational understanding and believability, the characters in this world find themselves capable of not only reading thoughts, but also related abilities such as telekinesis and emotional influence, making us pause to wonder if just maybe people with similar gifts might actually be among us. Though we sit in awe at Cameron's abilities, secretly pondering what we ourselves might be able to accomplish should such a gift be plausible, we are also exposed to the guilt that accompanies this exceptional power, and the burden Cameron bears knowing the thoughts, motivations, and dark secrets of everyone within a mild radius of where she's standing. We join Cameron as she ultimately must weed through the cacophony of everyone else's opinions and judgments and find not only herself, but her place in the world.

The influence of others is a constant barrage for Cameron, as her grandmother constantly attempts to stifle her gift while Lewis encourages her to not just accept her ability, but also expand it, focus it, and use it to its full potential. Despite the unavoidable influx of unwanted information from those around her, she does a beautiful job of maintaining her autonomy, managing to formulate her own thoughts and opinions through all the noise. Though she does have the frustrating tendency to run from her problems as opposed to facing them head on, this reaction is understandable given the context and the desire she must have to be alone in her own head. She maintains a wariness when presented with the opportunity to control her gift, never fully letting her guard down though it slips now and then with Lewis, almost as though our voice is one of the many she can hear as we encourage her to be vigilant with her suspicions, and we are able to smile in satisfaction when she seems to heed our warnings.

Because this story is written from Cameron's point of view, we are limited by her interpretation of the events and find ourselves as thoroughly confused at times as she is. We want so desperately to believe Aaron and Lewis have nothing but the most honorable of intentions, but a niggling sense of unease remains prevalent, prickling us in caution when they try to convince us of their story. This constant indecisiveness and suspicion on both Cameron's part, and therefore ours as well, adds realism to the events as were we in Cameron's shoes ourselves we wouldn't have the gift of any absolute truths granted to us through the benefit of another person's perspective, we'd be only left with our own instincts, questions, and observations as she is. We know no more than she does, and find ourselves lost in the churning sea of conflicting information and questionable allegiances, struggling to understand while still hesitant to fully believe what we're told.

Though the confusion does seem to be intentional, a little more information toward the end of the story would have been welcome. We are given a lot of the how's of Cameron's gift as we watch her training with Lewis and Aaron, but we are denied the most of the why's of their battle with the enemy. The end is left wide open, and if you're the type of person who wants to walk away from a story fully informed, you may be frustrated by your lack of knowledge. Overall, this is a very interesting read with strong characterization, though it's lacking just a few valuable pieces of information to help it stand alone without the need for a sequel.

Rating: 3.5/5

30 comments:

  1. I just finished this one myself and I loved it! I hope there is a sequel!

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  2. Great review Jenny! I really want to give this book a try, the premise sounds interesting. But I am a little afraid of the ending. I like mine wrapped up nicely.

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  3. A most impressive review. I have not seen much of this title, but your review is so amazing I am very anxious to read this.

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  4. Great Review Jenny! I've been seeing this one around and it def looks interesting... might wait ans see if there will be a sequel before picking it up hehe

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  5. Nice review Jenny! The synopsis sounds great. And the cover looks cool :)

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  6. This sounds like a pretty good read. I've seen a couple of reviews around lately. I like books that are strong on characterisation!

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  7. Fantastic review. This book probably is not up my alley but it does sound interesting.

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  8. This is an awesome review! I am definitely intrigued now and think I may have to check this out. And since I'm from Michigan, I am really interested to see what incident occured there :)

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  9. Great, thorough review, Jenny! I enjoyed this for what it was, but I didn't think it was exceptional, by any means. I felt a little lost in Cam's head at times, and I felt things could have been fleshed out more. I love comparing notes on books! :)

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  10. Great review! I just finished reading the book and enjoyed it.However like you said, the unresolved questions irked me quite a bit too.

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  11. Looksie - I wrote and asked if there was a sequel as soon as I finished it and she said she was working on it, so here's hoping:)

    Nic - I do too, so that was the main thing that bothered me. I don't mind a couple of questions, but this one left some fairly substantial plot holes.

    Jan - Thank you!

    Larissa - It's a very interesting read, I'm hoping they'll be a second book:)

    Savy - I'm a huge fan of the cover, love the blue:)

    Leanna - I'm huge on characterization and I enjoyed Cameron!

    Felicia - Thank you:)

    Tara - Thanks! I loved it right up until the end and then I was a bit upset about being left with so many questions.

    Melissa - I felt a little lost too, but for the most part I think I was supposed to feel that way, but I agree on certain things being fleshed out a bit more.

    Misha - Thanks! I like answers when I'm reading, it doesn't have to be spelled out for me, but a little more information would have been nice:)

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  12. First off? The cover is gorgeous! Second, they caught me with the tagline, "A young adult paranormal romance"... Despite the 3.5 stars I think I am going to have to check it out! Thanks for the great review!
    :)

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  13. Thanks for the review, Jenny. I have this one on my queue to review too.

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  14. I got this one for review a few days ago. It sounds interesting, but I'm really not a fan of not knowing what's going on and books that are open ended.

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  15. Avery - It's worth a read for sure, there's a good story in there, it was just the end for me that caused problems:)

    Rummanah - Looking forward to seeing what you think of it!

    Adriana - This ending will probably be problematic for you, but I'm hoping a sequel will clear up some of the questions that are left:)

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  16. I have this for review, and I really want to read it! I've heard mixed reviews on it, but I'm glad to hear you think the story is good. I'll be reading it soon! Great review :)

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  17. Your review is very helpful. II wasn't sure if this book was for me, and now with your review and lower rating I think I'll be holding off.

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  18. I love the cover...the colors, the font. Nice review, I got this for review too so I'll probably start it soon.

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  19. I know Melissa reviewed this one too, and I really like the premise but I want my endings to not be too open-ended. So, I think I'll hold off this one for now.

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  20. Miss Cindy - It was good! I just get frustrated with open endings, so that was the only drawback for me.

    Small - Glad it was informative for you!

    Jenny - I love the cover as well, it would definitely catch my eye on a shelf! Looking forward to your thoughts on it.

    Zahida - If you don't like open endings, probably this one isn't for you:)

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  21. Hmm... I have this one on my tbr. I don't know if I'll like the ending too. Still... strong characters. Yep... you have me curious. Will have to pick it up soon. :) Thanks for the stunning review. I love the way you write.

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  22. Awesome as always Jenny! I hadn't even heard of this one prior to reading your review. It is kind of frustrating that you don't get more info to wrap up the story. I'm a sucker for good backstory and character driven novels.

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  23. Nice review :)
    I felt the same thing about the end. I do want to know what is going on there

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  24. This sounds like such a good book. How the heck have I not heard of it yet? o_O I'd want to read it mostly because of the infinite possibilities of the human mind. I want to see how that is explored more in the novel. :) Great review as always, Jenny! ♥

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  25. Melissa - Thank you very much:) I'll be interested to see what you think of it:)

    Carissa - Thanks! Just a little more information at the end and I would have been a happy camper.

    Blodeuedd - Me too, I just had so many questions once I got to the last page!

    Kristina - It's such an interesting idea - reading minds. I'm not sure it's a "gift" I'd want though, especially after reading what Cameron goes through on a daily basis.

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  26. Interesting premise, great characters. It's mainly the ending that has be concerned, like you mentioned, but so long as there is a sequel, then hopefully that could make up for the lacking information.

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  27. Well that is unfortunate because the premise sounds good, but I know the lack of information would have left me very frustrated.

    Still, lovely review. You have such a way with words. *brain lix*

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  28. Aylee - She mentioned a sequel though no date as to when it might be released.

    Kristin - Thanks!

    Missie - *snort* Your comments are hilarious:)

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  29. Hmmm...this sounds fascinating. I love the idea of mind reading (maybe that's why I'm such a big Edward fan). But I hate books that leave you in the dark. Paranormals either seem to bombard you with information or give you none, with the latter being more prevalent. Usually books told from the POV of a person with supernatural powers explain things better than when it's told from the POV of a regular human thrown into that world. Too bad this one doesn't seem to be that way.

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  30. While this sounds really interesting, I am the kind of reader who likes to end a book understanding everything or at least knowing that there will be a sequel to explain more. I'm not going to write this one off... but I'm going to hold out on adding it to the TBR list for now.

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