Blackout

Book Title: Blackout
Author: Robison Wells
Number of Pages: 432
Genres: YA Dystopia, Sci-fi, Thriller, Action-Adventure
Books like it: The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
Review: 4 stars

Brief Synopsis from Goodreads:

Laura and Alec are trained terrorists.

Jack and Aubrey are high school students.

There was no reason for them to ever meet.

But now, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible powers. And these four are about to find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all

My Summary:


A fast-paced thriller that had an X-men like plot that had a few holes.

    This book definitely reminded me of the X-men movies. Basic plot: A virus is spreading throughout the world that infects teenages with inhuman powers (i.e. shoot fire out of their hands, a perfect memory, invisibility.) Some teenagers infected with these powers remain quiet, while others, like Laura and Alec, use them to terrorize the country. While they are destroying dams, national monuments, and many more important things, America goes into a panic and starts rounding all the teenagers up  and testing them for the virus. If you test Negative, you go home. If you test Positive, the future may be dark.

Aubrey has a secret. She can vanish, or turn invisible, and she doesn't understand why. When soldiers come to her school dance trying to find kids like her, she knows she has to hide.
But even an invisible girl can't hide forever.

Jack is just a normal kid, afraid of the world that is crashing down around him. When he tests Positive for the virus, he doesn't understand. He can't do amazing things like all the other kids can. Digging deep within himself, Jack might find some dark secrets that he shouldn't be looking for.

Alec has a very out of the ordinary power. He can manipulate the minds of those around him and implant new memories into their brain about literally anything. (The thing I wish would have been explained in the book is how the heck does his power work? It could have been a cool concept for the author to explain.)

Laura has inhuman strength and speed, and she is a terrorist. (Along with Alec, she helps destroy the nation with her powers.) She seems quite indecisive about whose side she actually wants to be on.

So yes, this book has an epic plot, and it is a very interesting idea. The only problem for me was that the author did not explain some things in the book very well, like how the virus worked, why it only affected some people, and oh yes, WHERE THE HECK DID THE STUPID THING COME FROM? I really hope this is not a standalone because it had a very confusing ending. Another thing that upset me about this book is that it lacked action. I mean, it still had some action, but based off of the potential that the story had, it should have had a lot more. Most of the time the characters are at a military base, and they don't do much there, except have the soldiers treat them like dirt.

If you read this book, in random parts there will be a one page chapter about the life of some girl that we don't know. It's a status update, a blog post, whatever. It is really confusing and distracting, but it will be explained later, I promise.

Overall: I liked this book, and I really hope it continues in a series. It will satisfy those of you who love action, and disappoint those who like romance.