Is this another coming-of-age fantasy about a super-powered teen, his friends and rivals?
- Ngozi Onyibor
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Re: Is this another coming-of-age fantasy about a super-powered teen, his friends and rivals?
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I agree. X-Men was the first thing that came to my mind too. I won't go to the extent of saying that this is the bad version of X-Men, but this clearly resembles that. This is less in action and also there is no deep story. Brady Moore could have done a far better job by adding some unique stuff for this book, atleast by introducing some new powers as the mentioned ones are already seen in many sci-fi fantasies.mohamed benziane wrote: ↑03 Sep 2021, 16:16 I think it most definitely is, i hate books that have almost the exact same consent and story of other well know and published books, this one for instance is practically the bad version of the X-Men series, authors need to come up with something new and exciting, it's ok to have the same concept, like teens with super powers but you need to add the spice to make it stand out
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I am not sure about this. If we take X-Men, all of them are born with those powers and that is why they try to hide from the rest of the world. And some realize them later and accidentally. I do not see any difference in that aspect related to Rion. He too born with the abilities and used them in full power only when he had to, and that is what makes him a hero, not merely having super powers, but using them for the betterment of the others.Booklover547 wrote: ↑03 Sep 2021, 16:35 He didn’t suddenly get powers in high school, he suddenly was forced to use them. The focus shifts to the reason why, which sets this apart from the sci fi genre.
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The blessed ones with super powers (clairvoyants) had a rival group, as usual as all the other super powered ones we see in many other fantasies. But in addition to them we see the struggle for power and domination within the subgroups of clairvoyants. And it is shown how some became predators that hunt their own people, and those who became prey had to merely hide from the unknown rival group as well as their own kind.Ndive Mzamo wrote: ↑04 Sep 2021, 09:10 Yes. After separation Rion finds other Clairvoyants. They all on Psyriin, an agency with unknown agenda.This is all about mingle power with other adolescent.
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But do we see much of a mother-son relationship? I did not see there relationship even as a one in between close friends. Rion's mother was too busy and too tired when she was back at home. Their conversations were limited to few words, and the emotional support is really scarce. We can put that in a way that when you are blessed with one thing, you have to sacrifice some other things. Both of them did not want to share thier secrets because they actually were not aware about other's personal life.Devalsodha wrote: ↑04 Sep 2021, 12:34 I agree that the concept of the story is common like fantasy, teen with super power etc. But yes the author added a spice by mixing up mother son relationship along with the Science fiction.
Rion's character and his style to tackle his setbacks is interesting too.
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Though I agree with you for a certain extent, I won't go to the length of saying this a redundant book. Yes, the author has used a common recipe, but the rest of the story is unique (or atleast not a copy or an adaptation). Rion was a totally new character with different character qualities, and most importantly he is a black kid, which we do not see much in young adult sci-fi fantasy. So I think there are credits that the author earned with his book though he used a common core as the base for it.Reader-247 wrote: ↑04 Sep 2021, 14:50 I think this book has used the recipe for trending commonalities fron teen and/or young adult hits, it gives X-men-esque vibes. Super powers, good versus evil, teen drama, all over uttilized, all quite redundant.
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I agree. For the particular sci-fi category per se it actually added nothing new. I think that is not because this book was bad, but the category was heavily done in the past and there is nothing left to be added. But we have to appreciate the author discussing some other topics like mother-son relationship in a commercialized society, importance of connections, racism and gender discrimination, etc.Black Jewel wrote: ↑04 Sep 2021, 20:14 I lean heavily towards this being just another sci-fi/fantasy coming of age story that has been so heavily done in the past. This concept has been heavily done, and I don't really feel that Rion's story added anything truly new to this category.
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