Blackout by Robison Wells

Series: Blackout (bk. 1)

Genera: Near-Future Dystopian Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: terrorists, viruses, superpowers, abilities, war, military, Utah

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 424 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “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 Review: This book was so cool! It’s like X-men and Gone by Michael Grant and Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I don’t understand why people gave it bad reviews. It’s written in 3^rd person and some head jumping occurs, which is different from Robison’s previous books, which are written in 1^st person.

We only get the perspective of four characters: Aubrey, Jack, Laura, and Alec. They’re all pretty different from each other. They seem well developed, especially Aubrey. The characters all have different superpowers, and they’re not invincible. Aubrey can become invisible by affecting the minds around her to see that she not there (like a mind-control illusion). Jack’s ability is revealed over 100 pages in, but it’s mainly about enhanced senses. Laura is super strong and Alec can implant memories. Other superpowers included photographic memory, pheromone control, blasting fire, and controlling rock. The military called the teens with abilities Lambdas. The teens are quarantined and tested for a virus, and if they have it, the military categorizes their abilities, decided how useful they are. Aubrey becomes and spy, which I thought was pretty cool.

This book took what we think of as terrorism to a whole new level. Teens with superpowers destroying important places and killing people. We really did learn why they were doing it yet. I’m sure we’ll learn the big picture in the next book. I want to know how did the virus come to be and who’s the master mind behind this anarchy. They get their mark by some kind of code in a blog called SusieMusie.

There’s a part of the book when they mention that Chicago was destroyed. Why do you have to go and destroy my city in this book, Robison? My brother lives down there. And Chicago is not the 3^rd largest city. It is important though. Most of this book was set in Utah. Utah’s not really the 1^st place you’d think a book like this should be set. I really enjoyed the setting though. Mountains and desert and the Salt Lake City area. I love imagining these kinds of places.

Blackout was a complete thrill ride. It could be easily read in a day, despite its length. I literally didn’t want to put it down once I got really into it. I can’t wait for the sequel. I recommend this book to fans of X-Men and superhero stuff, the shows like Agents of SHEILD and Tomorrow People, and book series like: Variant by Robison Wells, Gone by Michael Grant, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, No Easy Way Out by Dayna Loretz, Quarantine by Lex Thomas, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi and sci-fi YA in general.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover. It’s very minimal. It looks like an explosion of rocks and gravel. The title looks awesome against it. Under the cover jacket, there’s a gold embossed texture that mimics the cover.