James Moore (1)

This is the story of a group of teenagers who aren’t exactly normal human beings – in fact, although they do not know it, they were the failed tests in a science experiment to create sleeper agents. And instead of being destroyed, they were adopted out to unknowing parents when they were young children.

One of the doppelgangers of one of the teenagers – Subject Seven – wasn’t a failure like the others, and he managed to escape from the facility where he was created, and it has show more become his mission to take down the group that created him. In order to accomplish his vengeance, he wakes the other remaining doppelgangers that are in the real world.

The normal human portion of the sleeper agents start having blackouts, waking up with horrible results – in jail, or covered in (someone else’s) blood, or even having found to be in possession of thousands of stolen dollars. Soon they are growing to learn what they really are, and discover that they are in the middle of a battle for their lives.

The Response
Okay. So, this book reminded me of two things. First, obviously, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In so many ways. The whole dual personality thing where the one personality is all normal teenager, but the other personality acting on repressed (or not so repressed) violent urges.

It also very much reminded me of Dollhouse. And I don’t know which personality was more like the actives in Dollhouse, but the coming to awareness of what they are was certainly very similar to what Echo was going through. Also, the whole time I couldn’t help but wonder how Mellie would have reacted if, in the first season, she had learned that she was a sleeper agent. Hmm.

One thing I really liked about this story was the fact that it started being told from the perspective of Subject Seven, and he wasn’t exactly a good guy in this story. Well, then again, maybe he is, considering he’s a science experiment and is trying to take down an evil corporation that could, if they succeed, have sleeper agents all over the world… and then all sorts of chaos would ensue. Actually, I quite loved the fact that everything is so morally ambiguous. Who ARE the bad guys? The evil corporation? Or their creations who enjoy killing other people?

Needless to say, this book has kept me thinking after I finished it, which is pretty awesome, eh?

The only thing that I really didn’t like about it was the fact that it started off a little slow, but once it got going, boy did it get going.

The Bottom Line
Very enjoyable! Will probably continue with this series, as it ended on a huge cliffhanger (and that’s the worst thing in the world) and I really do want to know what happens to all of the teens. show less

Perhaps I'm naive but I was surprised how graphically violent Subject Seven is. I assumed that a book labeled as Young Adult would not rival books marketed to adults in content and description. The main characters are teens, but other than that, I would not consider this a novel for young teens - teens that are almost adults are another matter.

The story itself was interesting. I found the multi-personality aspect unique, and after a few pages, I got into the groove of the narrative flashing show more from one personality to another. I wasn't able to love the book, for the fact that I didn't really like any character. Whether I was reading an alter ego narrative, or a "real" person narrative, I just couldn't root for anyone, and that makes it tough to care what's happening.

That said, I did care, sort of, because the story is super fast-paced and I was interested to find out what would happen in the end. Of course, this book is in the sequel-obsessed YA genre, and that means I won't know what actually happens at the end until the sequel(s) are released to wrap it all up for me. show less

Purchased this book because I thought the cover looked intriguing, and knew it would attract male readers. Unfortunately, the book takes forever to get into, isn't well written, and is much too violent for my tastes. I'm probably not even going to forward it to my high school... just going to toss it in the trash. Seven is a ten year old boy who has been raised to be a killing machine. It isn't really clear why there is a duplicate of him who gets to have a life, because the book makes it show more sound like there is just one body, and the body changes depending on what is needed, but Seven escapes and eventually rounds up all the other experiments who were considered failures. The book had great potential, but I just didn't enjoy it and found it too confusing. show less

Talk about the creepy crawlies. The Were-Spiders are the creepiest of the lot. Being able to split into thousands of little spiders and overwelm an opponent.

The Nagah were cold blooded but the Ananasi are down right alien. They have some interesting views on life and death and what thier duty is in the scheme of things. If you really want to shake things up in a Werewolf the Apocalypse game, adding in a werespider or 2 would undoubtedly have an intersting affect.

Shaped in the form of the show more Weaver they try to take over the duties ignored by the Incarna by providing balance to all and being in balance in all aspects of thier life. show less