Title: The Thought Readers
Series: Mind Dimensions (Book 1) Author: Dima Zales Genre: Modern / Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Superpowers Synopsis: Everyone thinks I’m a genius. Everyone is wrong. Sure, I finished Harvard at eighteen and now make crazy money at a hedge fund. But that’s not because I’m unusually smart or hard-working. It’s because I cheat. You see, I have a unique ability. I can go outside time into my own personal version of reality—the place I call “the Quiet”—where I can explore my surroundings while the rest of the world stands still. I thought I was the only one who could do this—until I met her. My name is Darren, and this is how I became entangled with all the Russians and learned that I’m a Reader. |
Review
I really enjoyed this whole series a whole lot. I just want to start with that before getting into the nitty-gritty of the review.
Anyway, The Thought Readers by Dima Zales is the first book in the Mind Dimension series. This is one of a style of books I've taken to calling "Powers Books", centering around a main character in modern day who finds out they have powers of some kind. From my limited experience of this sub-genre, this particular book and series don't stand out a whole lot. The powers the characters have aren't particularly unusual compared to what you might expect, the plots are pretty predictable, and most of the 'twists' can be seen coming from a few chapters ahead if you're paying attention. The characters are perfectly serviceable and likeable, but don't really make the book stand out among other decent authors though.
So why did I enjoy this book, or actually this whole series so freakin much? Why did I bother to go through all four books over the course of a couple weeks? It's a little hard to explain, so bear with me.
One of the things I enjoy about reading this style of story is getting to ask questions like "What would I have done?". See, in Sci Fi and Fantasy settings, it's sometimes hard to put yourself in the character's shoes... But in a modern setting, where they see and deal with so many of the same things you see on a daily basis, it's much easier, and makes you ask "What if I had been in their shoes?" "What would I have done?" "What would I do?". However, there's a flip side as well. The more you can see yourself in the main characters shoes, the more you wind up shouting at the book saying "No you idiot, you have POWERS, you can solve this problem in TWO SECONDS FLAT if you just thought about it for a second! GAH!"
And those two situations are where this book really shined for me. It's still not perfect mind you, but I don't think I've ever read a book, or watched a movie that had some character with special powers, where they really seemed to act like a person would act when they had those powers. It may sound weird, but I've never been so excited to see a main character exhibit selfish jerk-like qualities, because when reading the book I have to think "Yeah, most people would probably just instinctively do that if they knew they could get away with it". It's also refreshing to see the main characters get into a tight spot, and be thinking "Do *THIS* with your powers!" and have the character either have the exact same thought, or an even better one. On top of all that, Dima Zales goes into surprising detail with exactly how the powers in these books work, as the main character is told, and as he asks questions, and most enjoyably, as he keeps testing crazy ideas to see if maybe they might work. I read these books at a pretty quick pace, which worked out very nicely for me as most of my questions about how something worked, and "Hang on, could someone do *this* or *that*?" were answered around the time I was thinking about it (and often answered with the response "Absolutely! I thought you figured that out already. Hang on, that's not all!").
In the end, you end up with a story about a character with what appears on the surface to be a relatively simple power, but it's extremely satisfying to see a book where the characters in the book really seem to think about all the ways a seemingly simple power, can be exploited to the hilt.
I had a lot of fun with these books, and would reccommend them to anyone who has shouted "USE YOUR FREAKIN SUPERPOWERS" at their book, or TV screen in the past. It does get a bit bogged down with the mechanics of the world, so if you don't enjoy that kind of thing, it might not be for you, but I sure enjoyed it.
I can't really give this book above 4 stars for the issues I mentioned above, but I'm glad to have found these books.
Anyway, The Thought Readers by Dima Zales is the first book in the Mind Dimension series. This is one of a style of books I've taken to calling "Powers Books", centering around a main character in modern day who finds out they have powers of some kind. From my limited experience of this sub-genre, this particular book and series don't stand out a whole lot. The powers the characters have aren't particularly unusual compared to what you might expect, the plots are pretty predictable, and most of the 'twists' can be seen coming from a few chapters ahead if you're paying attention. The characters are perfectly serviceable and likeable, but don't really make the book stand out among other decent authors though.
So why did I enjoy this book, or actually this whole series so freakin much? Why did I bother to go through all four books over the course of a couple weeks? It's a little hard to explain, so bear with me.
One of the things I enjoy about reading this style of story is getting to ask questions like "What would I have done?". See, in Sci Fi and Fantasy settings, it's sometimes hard to put yourself in the character's shoes... But in a modern setting, where they see and deal with so many of the same things you see on a daily basis, it's much easier, and makes you ask "What if I had been in their shoes?" "What would I have done?" "What would I do?". However, there's a flip side as well. The more you can see yourself in the main characters shoes, the more you wind up shouting at the book saying "No you idiot, you have POWERS, you can solve this problem in TWO SECONDS FLAT if you just thought about it for a second! GAH!"
And those two situations are where this book really shined for me. It's still not perfect mind you, but I don't think I've ever read a book, or watched a movie that had some character with special powers, where they really seemed to act like a person would act when they had those powers. It may sound weird, but I've never been so excited to see a main character exhibit selfish jerk-like qualities, because when reading the book I have to think "Yeah, most people would probably just instinctively do that if they knew they could get away with it". It's also refreshing to see the main characters get into a tight spot, and be thinking "Do *THIS* with your powers!" and have the character either have the exact same thought, or an even better one. On top of all that, Dima Zales goes into surprising detail with exactly how the powers in these books work, as the main character is told, and as he asks questions, and most enjoyably, as he keeps testing crazy ideas to see if maybe they might work. I read these books at a pretty quick pace, which worked out very nicely for me as most of my questions about how something worked, and "Hang on, could someone do *this* or *that*?" were answered around the time I was thinking about it (and often answered with the response "Absolutely! I thought you figured that out already. Hang on, that's not all!").
In the end, you end up with a story about a character with what appears on the surface to be a relatively simple power, but it's extremely satisfying to see a book where the characters in the book really seem to think about all the ways a seemingly simple power, can be exploited to the hilt.
I had a lot of fun with these books, and would reccommend them to anyone who has shouted "USE YOUR FREAKIN SUPERPOWERS" at their book, or TV screen in the past. It does get a bit bogged down with the mechanics of the world, so if you don't enjoy that kind of thing, it might not be for you, but I sure enjoyed it.
I can't really give this book above 4 stars for the issues I mentioned above, but I'm glad to have found these books.
Special Awards: (Things the book did very right)
|
Audible Review
The Mind Dimensions Audiobook narrarated by Roberto Scarlato was enjoyable, but the narrarator was a bit bland to be honest. In a weird sort of way, his voice actually worked to the books benefit in some places, throwing a careful considered overtone onto a stressful situation, while the main character would take a moment to make the same mental adjustment. However, he's just not at the same caliber of many of the voice actors I've heard for many other books. Roberto does a fine job, and that's about it. 3 Stars
|