Henry Melton

I couldn't put this book down and yet something didn't sit right with me. Maybe it's the casual telepathy that the family has. My rational brain tells me that this is a fantasy story and that it is ok for them to be telepathic, but the part of me that has recently read a lot of James Randi and skeptical articles gets squeamish at the meeting of the ordinary with actual supernatural abilities. That border, the one between an ordinary believable world, a fantastical extraterrestrial world, and show more extraordinary ability is where this book lives. The author and the characters find that seam in the world and slowly pick at it and probe it until it is ripped wide open. I believe it is good to read things that make me uncomfortable as it helps me to examine myself as well as the story. Maybe you will find the same things I did or maybe not. Either way it is an engaging and interesting story. show less

An adventurous look at particle physics from a YA point of view, this book is a fast read that succeeded in fooling me about who the ultimate bad guy would turn out to be. The protagonist was sympathetic, and so were most other characters, though the carnies were given a bit of gloss on some levels. The engineering/scientific approach the protag uses to experiment with her condition and figure out how to cope with it were well-thought out and some of them were outright funny. The dark matter show more involved, however, did not really fit anything known about the stuff, and amounted on several occasions to handwavium. I did enjoy the Tinkerbell act and the way it was used to conceal the heroine's 'superhuman' abilities. show less

I picked this book up out of curiosity at a science fiction convention, and started reading it at the seller's table. When I came back up for air at the start of Chapter 3, I bought it! It's a fun, action-packed romp with some serious themes underneath.

Deena is an intelligent young woman, handicapped by an overprotective helicopter mom and her own insecurities. When she accidentally becomes a host body for a nanite swarm, the only person she can trust is her quiet but equally-smart show more classmate Luther. But Luther has secrets of his own, and Deena has to make some serious ethical decisions as well as developing her own self-reliance. One thing I especially liked is that she doesn't sit around waiting to be rescued; once she has learned something about the capabilities the nanites give her, she figures out how to use those abilities as a weapon against the bad guys.

I would recommend this book for both boys and girls in the 12-15 age range, and for readers of any age who like well-written science fiction. show less

GOLDEN GIRL is an engaging, entertaining and enjoyable young adult sci-fi novel.Debra is tasked with changing the future and saving millions of people from death. She winds up bouncing through time, changing history and at one point even disappearing from history itself (or does she?). There’s also a pretty neat use of the internet and what can only be Youtube involved.At 267 pages, GOLDEN GIRL is a decent sized book. The pacing is kept steady with no lags in action or information, and the show more writing drew me in right away. Characterization was wonderful; Debra goes through major growth throughout the novel due to her time traveling and the burden that’s placed on her shoulders. As for plot? It was wicked. I was kept guessing at moments about what would happen next, and there’s one point in the story that involved Debra’s mother that made me freak out loud. As soon as the scene began I had a feeling about what was coming, and I was completely right – it was crazy. The time traveling is also a pretty imaginative explanation.Of course, with time travel comes the immediate wonder about a paradox and how it can be avoided. The idea of a paradox (if Debra is brought to the future and told to change it, and she does, doesn’t that mean there was never any reason for her to be pulled into the future and so she wouldn’t have changed it, and…I could go on. You see my dilemma?) is not really touched on in great detail, and there were some instances I was a little conflicted about time lines. The concept may be a bit hard for a younger reader to understand if they’re not so well versed in abstract thinking (or sci-fi), but overall it was handled really, really well.Debra’s solution to changing the future is hard and sad for a lot of people, including her, and though the book technically has a happy ending, I found it more bittersweet. It was a perfect ending for the book, though, it fit the storyline and overall feel of the novel. This is a great book for not only teens and pre-teens but adults as well, and crosses genre lines. Even if you’re not a huge fan of sci-fi, GOLDEN GIRL is worth the read. show less