Is this another coming-of-age fantasy about a super-powered teen, his friends and rivals?

[Favour AN]

I agree with you. Its just the same with the rest. A boy gets older then suddenly discovers he had powers he has never had. Then some people suddenly want to his kind and starts hunting them. Nothing new, just the same old story.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I agree with you. A school student has trouble socializing and ends up being a loner. He has a disturbed family background, and has a poor life overall. Suddenly, some mystical being/object/weapon comes in his contact and boom! We have a superhero! Classic Spiderman.

I agree. Usually in this sort of stories the ones who get the supernatural powers at a later stages are the ones who get bullied and cornered. So the reader sympathize towards then and look forward to see how he counteract using his powers. That is what Rion did too. Though he did nothing to his bullies which can be too obvious, he used his abilities to prevent others from getting bullied, though he did it in a secret manner and amused himself.

[Amy Luman]

I think that it’s true. All of these books are basically the same. The characters have different names and there are also different superpowers in the different books, but they have teens with social problems. They all also have the same basic ending. Things are always resolved with a (relatively) happy ending.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Yeah @sushan, I've been thinking the same thing. I've just finished reading opaque. So they seem similar.Especially these guys don't know their father and in school no friends they won't feel it's their origin.They search for the dark world and find their parents, the clairvoyants must be the story.. But no worries authors I still love reading this kind of sci-fi novel.

You pointed out a common point that I missed, the super powered protagonist not knowing about his father, and his mother refusing to discuss the subject. This one too is commonly seen in this sort of stories as many of these powers have a patriarchal lineage. And I have to agree that though unique things were rare, the author has developed this story in to a pretty much interesting piece of work.

[MayorE]

Unfortunately, I agree with you. When I saw the book, I already had the image of what was going to happen I.e a young boy suddenly get superpowers, Associates himself with others, etc but a twist was added when his mother was brought in so I commend the author for trying to add a twist and I hope other authors try to make their stories different. We are tired of the conventional.

[Christine Onyango 1]

I agree with you. This book has the cliché version of a superhero being hunted down for his powers and he has a responsibility of "saving the world". We have heard of this in many other narratives before. However, this book has its unique qualities; how the author introduces the characters and describes each scene in a very intriguing manner. Even though we already know how the book ends, the details and the plot twists make the reader glued to the book to be a part of the journey, even if the destination is certain.

[Suzer6440 xyz]

To me, this was quite common in the sense of being a fantasy book mixed with super powers of teenaged persons. I do think bringing the situation with the mom and the moving around so frequently definately added greatness to the book. Although we have seen some similarities in other books, I appreciated the twist that it gave combining the friends, secrets and trust and loved it right from the beginning

[Sushan Ekanayake]

It's a common storyline that we have seen quite frequently in past young adult novels, but it is the type of storyline that is popular and sought after. I think the author does a good job of keeping this genre fresh with some new ideas and twists in this book. So yes, while it's similar to other books of this genre, it's a common fantasy for young people, particular introverts, to find they have a superpower, some way to make them special and set apart from their peers.

I have to agree with you. Howevermuch common this storyline is, the readers still request it. So the authors create various stories on top of the same core. Brady Moore added some racism and discrimination issues to show the usefulness of Rion's abilities in a more enhanced way. But when we dig deep the core is still the same.

[Joyful17]

Yes, I agree that this is another coming of age, sci-fi story. It follows the general pattern of teenage characters and possession of super-powers. Howeverr, it was very well developed.

[Dimi1]

Ok, it seems to follow the particular classic recipe. But it's the recipe of success. It's not strange that, even if heavily done in the recent past, such books manage to thrive. An extra point is that Rion's story involves family (mother) so it's a twist that adds to the classic recipe.

[Kirsi Cultrera]

I would have to agree with you. The author used the features that are familiar from other coming-of-age stories, and the plot was mostly quite simple and ordinary. However, as others have already pointed out, the relationship of Rion and his mother was the spice of this story. It was very complex indeed, and without it, the whole story would have looked quite different. To conclude, this is another coming-of-age story, but because of these extra spices, it is not boring at all.

[Oye Timothy]

I think this is a common concept used mostly by sci-fi books and, even movies. It's always been some groups of people having superpowers and some other groups trying to subdue them and their superpowers.

[Emily_Jen]

You hardly see unique stories these days, though. However, I think the author has done well in building some characters in a unique way. Ruin is an interesting fellow, but I don't think anything new has been added to the sci-fi genre.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Sadly, I think I have to agree with you. If this story would have been more unique, I probably could have forgiven more of its faults. As it stands, the book just felt very flat to me, something I've seen before and seems to be heading in the same direction as all the others. I want to be hopeful that the next book will be a little more colorful, so we'll see!

I would not put this book to a that much low level. Though the core of the book is similar the story cannot be taken as flat. Yes, there are many areas to be improved, and the plot felt like forced, and the characters do not bond with the readers. Yet we must give the author credit for the creation of this story since the very story is not a copy from somewhere else but a unique creation of this author.

[Khushboo Barwar]

Can totally relate! After reading the official review, I thought that this book will offer more than just coming-of-age plot but I was disappointed when I read this. Even though the author tried to make the plot interesting with adding the emotional aspects to it, it came out to be just the same sci-fi plot. Every sci-fi has to have a teenager who doesn’t know he has superpowers—suddenly a dreadful event happen—he meet all others like him which he had no idea of—they set out to fight the bad guys, REALLY?