Book Title: Exposure
Author: Kathy Reichs & Brendan Reichs
Series: Virals #4
Date Started: May 2nd 2014
Date Completed: May 4th 2014
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: Five stars
Review:
Exposure was a new level of the Virals novels for me, and I enjoyed the development of the plot and characters, as well as the adventure they had in both this book, and their continuing story in the series.
After the shuddering events of the last few months, the Virals pack is split; Ben expelled from Tory's trust after his part in the Gamemaster's scheme. But when their powers start to become unpredictable and dangerous, and they're thrown into solving the disappearance of two school students, Tory and her friends are forced to rejoin and overlook their disputes to keep their abilities hidden.
Reichs' writing has always been great, though the scientific explanations can get a little confusing at times. However, this really adds to the story and the realism throughout - and can be fascinating. I also love all the geeky references and sarcastic comments that brought out the characters.
The story started off with a little too much about the previous book, especially when it impacted on the plot with all the court sessions. It ended up not really impacting this story, so dragged out the beginning a little bit for me - though I do understand it would have been hard to develop some parts of the story without it.
On the other hand, when things kicked off, I thought there was a really good balance between the mystery, sic-fi and relationship sides to the story. Even though I would have liked a little more action, the combination of all the troubles the group was going through really made the characters sort out their priorities and showed a few sides to them we haven't experienced before.
I also enjoyed the new relationships that have finally emerged. Right from the beginning, Reichs includes some realistic emotions from loads of characters about what happened in the past book and how they're dealing with that - the conflicts Tory was facing particularly stood out to me. And, after a long time coming, we finally get a adorable little romance. Though the down side of this is that the 'everyone is in love with Tory' element was unrealistic and irritating at times.
But that ending I was not expecting and the whole Virals universe is going to be turned upside down for the next book and I can't wait.
I love the characters of this series, even though they sometimes don't understand the gravity of the situations they get into. They're definitely the kind of people I would be friends with in real life, which helps me care what happens to them very quickly.
Tory is a completely awesome heroine, who won't let anyone push her around and entirely owns the fact that she leads the group and is often the one the boys turn to when they're in a sticky situation. Although her age of fourteen might be slightly unrealistic when thinking about her advanced intellect, Tory accepts the balance of the girly situations her dad's girlfriend pushes her into, and the forensic science she's so passionate about. She's just an amazing character.
Ben has always been my favourite out of the Virals, and I grew to love him even more in this book. Even after his past mistakes, Ben tries his hardest to make amends, even though he hides it pretty well to keep up his reputation.
I'm probably most like Hi overall, so I always love his sarcastic comments and obsession of geeky things. And then Shelton is the computer genius that the group couldn't live without, as well as the sweetheart.
I really liked the development of Chance in this book. It's been coming from a long time, but now he's actually put his foot down and won't let Tory and the group slip away from his suspicions. He can really be scary, and I think poses a real threat to the group. I'm also really impressed by how far his character has come to now be in this position, as well.
The pacing was spot-on, as usual. We're thrown in pretty much from the start, and something important happens in every single chapter from then on: whether it's cleverly explained plot details, action scenes or sarcastic comments thrown at Tory's stubbornness, there's always something going on and driving the plot forward steadily.
I would recommend Exposure to any fans of mystery, as there really isn't enough in the Young Adult market at the moment. The great thing about the Virals books is that each one is enjoyable on their own without feeling forced to read the series, though they work really well together and things are starting to play off previous events more and more. It's got great characters, awesome action and funny references throughout the whole thing.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17999135-exposure
Exposure was a new level of the Virals novels for me, and I enjoyed the development of the plot and characters, as well as the adventure they had in both this book, and their continuing story in the series.
After the shuddering events of the last few months, the Virals pack is split; Ben expelled from Tory's trust after his part in the Gamemaster's scheme. But when their powers start to become unpredictable and dangerous, and they're thrown into solving the disappearance of two school students, Tory and her friends are forced to rejoin and overlook their disputes to keep their abilities hidden.
Reichs' writing has always been great, though the scientific explanations can get a little confusing at times. However, this really adds to the story and the realism throughout - and can be fascinating. I also love all the geeky references and sarcastic comments that brought out the characters.
The story started off with a little too much about the previous book, especially when it impacted on the plot with all the court sessions. It ended up not really impacting this story, so dragged out the beginning a little bit for me - though I do understand it would have been hard to develop some parts of the story without it.
On the other hand, when things kicked off, I thought there was a really good balance between the mystery, sic-fi and relationship sides to the story. Even though I would have liked a little more action, the combination of all the troubles the group was going through really made the characters sort out their priorities and showed a few sides to them we haven't experienced before.
I also enjoyed the new relationships that have finally emerged. Right from the beginning, Reichs includes some realistic emotions from loads of characters about what happened in the past book and how they're dealing with that - the conflicts Tory was facing particularly stood out to me. And, after a long time coming, we finally get a adorable little romance. Though the down side of this is that the 'everyone is in love with Tory' element was unrealistic and irritating at times.
But that ending I was not expecting and the whole Virals universe is going to be turned upside down for the next book and I can't wait.
I love the characters of this series, even though they sometimes don't understand the gravity of the situations they get into. They're definitely the kind of people I would be friends with in real life, which helps me care what happens to them very quickly.
Tory is a completely awesome heroine, who won't let anyone push her around and entirely owns the fact that she leads the group and is often the one the boys turn to when they're in a sticky situation. Although her age of fourteen might be slightly unrealistic when thinking about her advanced intellect, Tory accepts the balance of the girly situations her dad's girlfriend pushes her into, and the forensic science she's so passionate about. She's just an amazing character.
Ben has always been my favourite out of the Virals, and I grew to love him even more in this book. Even after his past mistakes, Ben tries his hardest to make amends, even though he hides it pretty well to keep up his reputation.
I'm probably most like Hi overall, so I always love his sarcastic comments and obsession of geeky things. And then Shelton is the computer genius that the group couldn't live without, as well as the sweetheart.
I really liked the development of Chance in this book. It's been coming from a long time, but now he's actually put his foot down and won't let Tory and the group slip away from his suspicions. He can really be scary, and I think poses a real threat to the group. I'm also really impressed by how far his character has come to now be in this position, as well.
The pacing was spot-on, as usual. We're thrown in pretty much from the start, and something important happens in every single chapter from then on: whether it's cleverly explained plot details, action scenes or sarcastic comments thrown at Tory's stubbornness, there's always something going on and driving the plot forward steadily.
I would recommend Exposure to any fans of mystery, as there really isn't enough in the Young Adult market at the moment. The great thing about the Virals books is that each one is enjoyable on their own without feeling forced to read the series, though they work really well together and things are starting to play off previous events more and more. It's got great characters, awesome action and funny references throughout the whole thing.
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17999135-exposure
No comments:
Post a Comment