Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Edelweiss for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
I didn’t know what I was expecting with this book. It sounded like a fun read and I wanted to see where the story would go. Also, I really like psychics. I’ve always wanted to go to one and see what it’s like to have someone do a reading, but I’ve never been able to. I thought this book would be enough to stave off my eagerness to meet a psychic! Here is my review:
Summary (Goodreads): Teddy Cannon isn’t your typical twenty-something woman. She’s resourceful. She’s bright. She’s scrappy. She can also read people with uncanny precision. What she doesn’t realize: she’s actually psychic.
When a series of bad decisions leads Teddy to a run-in with the police, a mysterious stranger intervenes. He invites her to apply to the School for Psychics, a facility hidden off the coast of San Francisco where students are trained like Delta Force operatives: it’s competitive, cutthroat, and highly secretive. They’ll learn telepathy, telekinesis, investigative skills, and SWAT tactics. And if students survive their training, they go on to serve at the highest levels of government, using their skills to protect America, and the world.
In class, Teddy befriends Lucas, a rebel without a cause who can start and manipulate fire; Jillian, a hipster who can mediate communication between animals and humans; and Molly, a hacker who can apprehend the emotional state of another individual. But just as Teddy feels like she’s found where she might belong, strange things begin to happen: break-ins, missing students, and more. It leads Teddy to accept a dangerous mission that will ultimately cause her to question everything—her teachers, her friends, her family, and even herself.
Review: This book definitely was not what I expected.
This was a story that I had thought was more geared towards new adults, considering that the main character is in her 20s. But it became quite clear that this novel is staying firmly in the YA genre. This was a bit of a problem for me because I was excited for an adult character who is realizing that she has something special going on with her. Instead, the voice and behaviour of the MC and the other characters in the story were more juvenile, and leaned towards the YA crowd. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I felt cheated out of a new experience.
My other major problem with this book is that it is pretty much like every other teen fiction novel out there. You have an MC who is special and she goes to a special school with other special people. As she learns to use her special powers/skills, she discovers that there is a secret – and she decides to uncover it. There wasn’t much to this book that I haven’t seen before. We have the characters going to classes, taking tests, becoming friends, flirting. Even the decisions that they take are predictable.
Now, this isn’t a bad novel by any means. If it had been clear that this novel was for a YA audience, I probably would have enjoyed it more. This novel had a very interesting premise what with the use of psychics in the government. However, this wasn’t explored as much as I would have liked and it lacked originality. For those reasons, I’m giving this a 2/5 stars.
Happy reading ~
I have seen this book as well. I figured the same that you had, the book would delve more into the psychic government etc, within the realm of the main character’s life. When a book is portrayed in one genre and we feel it is another, I agree it may take away from our enjoyment. Thank you for your opinions on this book!
It really isn’t at all like what we had both imagined, which made me really sad. But this is a very readable book so I got through it quite quickly! Glad you liked my review 😀
I’m so ashamed because I first read that it was about PHYSICS and I was getting so excited because finally!! A science fiction book with physics!! I only have myself to blame. Kind of glad you didn’t like the book because if you did, then I’ll have to read it as well and be reminded of how non-physics the book is hahaha. (Also, I agree that the trope of someone being special and going to special places is so overused these days).
Hahahahahah it’s an easy mistake to make. I always read physics as psychics LOL. I found this book to be really easy to read but it was just so meh, seen this before…