Deceptive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Series: Illusive (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Near-Future/Dystopian Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: crime, criminals, thieves, abilities, superpowers, government agencies

Setting: Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, present tense, rotating between Ciere, Devon and Daniel

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 420 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.00

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “Don't miss this thrilling, high-stakes sequel to Illusive.

You don’t belong with us. These are the words that echo through the minds of all immune Americans—those suffering the so-called adverse effects of an experimental vaccine, including perfect recall, body manipulation, telepathy, precognition, levitation, mind-control, and the ability to change one’s appearance at will.

When immune individuals begin to disappear—in great numbers, but seemingly at random—fear and tension mount, and unrest begins to brew across the country. Through separate channels, super-powered teenagers Ciere, Daniel, and Devon find themselves on the case; super criminals and government agents working side-by-side. It’s an effort that will ultimately define them all—for better or for worse.”

My Review:  Deceptive is a good sequel, but not a perfect sequel. It’s not as good as the first book. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much because I couldn’t remember certain things from the first book. I kind of good Devon and Daniel mixed up and didn’t know who’s Ciere’s love interest was, or if there was one. It took a while to get into the story. What I loved about the previous book (the awesome super powers) was less prominent. It’s still an interesting story, but just not as exciting.

I love the world building and the different abilities. There’s only seven different possibly powers for an immune to have: perfect recall, body manipulation, telepathy, precognition, levitation, mind-control, and illusions. There’s no other abilities. Ciere is an illusionist, Devon an eidos/perfect recall, and Alan is too. Daniel is an eludure, and can hear thing (preminitions/intuition). Alan and Ciere have a little romance, but most of the book lack romance. It’s mostly a sci-fi crime thriller.

You may enjoy the Illusive series if you enjoy books about super powered teens or supervillains like: Steelheart by Brander Sanderson, Black Out by Robison Wells, Transparent by Natalie Whipple, V is for Villan by Peter Moore, Powerless by Tera Lynn Child and Tracy Deebs, The Curse Workers Series (White Cat) by Holly Black, The Broken Hearted by Amelia Kahaney, Mind Games by Kiersten White, or books about thieves like The Heist Society by Ally Carter. Also, if you liked X-men and other superhero comics and movies and TV.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover more than the 1^st book’s. The colors are interesting. It’s a gradient overlay. The title looks like sky-scrapers and Ciere is standing on it.

Black Heart by Holly Black

Series: Curse Workers (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Alternate History

Subjects: curses, magic, supernatural, criminals

Setting: New Jersey and New York

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Cassel Sharpe

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 296 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Summary/ product description: “Cassel comes from a shady, magical family of con artists and grifters. He doesn't fit in at home or at school, so he's used to feeling like an outsider. He's also used to feeling guilty; he killed his best friend, Lila, years ago.

But when Cassel begins to have strange dreams about a white cat, and people around him are losing their memories, he starts to wonder what really happened to Lila. In his search for answers, he discovers a wicked plot for power that seems certain to succeed. But Cassel has other ideas and a plan to con the conmen.”

My Review:  I finally got around to finishing the Curse Workers trilogy. This is the final book, which came out in April 2012. I waited over 2 years. Red Glove, the second book, I read about 3 years ago. I haven’t forgotten the characters, but I couldn’t remember everything that happened. I still enjoyed this final book and will miss Cassel’s narration.

Holly Black is an amazing YA writer. I read all her Modern Faerie Tales book, and Curse Workers series. She’s great at creating interesting, unique characters. Cassel is unique because he’s a criminal with heart. He’s a con artist with charisma and guilt (so not a sociopath or psychopath). He’s also a transformation worker, which means he can change people and things into other things. He only found out his power recently. His brother Barron is a memory worker, so he had taken Cassel’s memory of his powers.

Lila Zacharov is Cassel’s on-off-girlfriend. She was forced into love by Cassel’s mother, a emotion worker. Lila loves Cassel for real, but Cassel still thinks it’s not real. He feels guilty about turning her into a white cat and being made to believe that he had killed her. Daneca and Sam are Cassel’s friends who like each other, but aren’t really dating. Daneca has a secret boyfriend. In the previous books we see that she’s into Worker’s rights and protesting.

My favorite thing about this book series has been the word building. It’s Alternate History Paranormal because it’s set in a world where there people with a gene that makes them able to curse or help someone with their power by touching them with their hands. Everyone wears gloves in public because they don’t want to be worked/cursed by someone. This series echoes the theme of racism of African Americans with Curse Workers as the minorities and has a touch of politics alongside its crime fantasy. And there are modern (magical) mobsters, in New Jersey.

Governor Patton of New Jersey is against workers and tries to pass a law about not allowing workers in government positions. Cassel is recruited by a special government organization to assassinate Patton by turning him into something. Barron is part of this organization, but he’s kind of a double agent. There’s a girl name Mina at his school that’s supposedly being blackmailed and want his help. Cassel doesn’t know whom to trust. Everyone wants his power or something from him.

If you have not read the Curse Workers series, then you should check it out. I recently read V for Villain by Peter Moore. It was similar, but this doesn’t have superheroes. Transparent by Natalie Whipple is about a crime boss’s daughter that has a special power. Half Bad by Sally Green had a similar protagonist, though set in the UK. White Cat, Red Glove and Black Heart by Holly Black are the 3 books in the Curse Workers trilogy. They are worth read for fans of paranormal YA.

Cover Art Review: I love the new cover with the dots and almost Art Deco style. I loved the original covers too, but these are great.

Scan by Walter Jury & Sarah Fine

Series: Scan (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Sci-fi Thriller

Subjects: aliens, adventure, science, secret societies, conspiracies 

Setting: New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Tate Archer

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 329 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Penguin: Putnam Children’s

Summary/ product description: “Tate and his father don’t exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best—at everything. Tate finally learns what he’s being prepared for when he steals one of his dad’s odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans.

All Tate knows--like how to make weapons out of oranges and lighter fluid--may not be enough to save him as he’s plunged into a secret inter-species conflict that’s been going on for centuries. Aided only by his girlfriend and his estranged mother, with powerful enemies closing in on all sides, Tate races to puzzle out the secret behind his father’s invention and why so many are willing to kill for it. A riveting, fast-paced adventure, Scan is a clever alien thriller with muscle and heart.”

My Review: Aliens. They walk among us. They look just like us. They’re everywhere, and most of them think they’re human. Aliens invaded centuries ago and breed with the human population. The aliens are known as H2. There’s nothing to really differentiate them from us, but Tate discovered a piece of technology in his father’s lab that can. Tate wasn’t aware that humans were an endangered species or that aliens even existed.

I really liked the main character. Tate’s father has been training him in chemistry, languages and martial arts his whole life. Tate can make an explosive out of pretty much anything. He’s a genius and the author uses so much science terminology in the narration. I’m not sure how much of it’s for real, because there’s a lot of things you shouldn’t try to combine at home or you can burn your skin or pass out. I like that Tate’s like a teenage McGuiver, but with chemistry.

. It was kind of like The 5^th Wave because the aliens were hard to tell apart from the humans. This book isn’t dystopian in the traditional sense. It’s just that it’s like a parallel world in which we’re descended from aliens and there’s very few purely human people left. I find the more-aliens-than-humans thing improbable. If the aliens came 400 years ago and already 2/3 of the population are H2, then there had to be a lot of aliens breeding with people and they’d have to have prior knowledge to even get people to breed with them. Maybe 1000 years, but 400 year is not enough time for this population change. Maybe the black plague helped. The author doesn’t go deep into the history. We just know there are 50 purely human lineages that have a secret society.

This book was fun and action-packed. It’s a fast and easy read. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi.  Fans of The 5^th Wave, Icons and I Am Number Four will enjoy Scan. Also if you liked Invasion, Obsidian or any alien books. It’s a book about aliens, but it’s different from the ones I mentioned. It’s more about conspiracies. Hope you enjoy it too!

Cover Art Review: I like the red laser rays and the Earth under it. The space ship is hard to make out. The title is metallic.