Review: Blackout by Robison Wells

Title: Blackout

Author: Robison Wells

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publishing Date: October 1st, 2013

Pages: 432
Audio Length: 7 Hours and 52 Minutes

Genre: YA Dystopian SciFi
TW: N/A

Series: Blackout #1

Source: Audio

 

Laura and Alec are trained terrorists.
Jack and Aubrey are high school students.
There was no reason for them to ever meet.
But now, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible powers. And these four are about to find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

What made me pick this book up:
I found the book on Jenn's audible and I actually really liked the cover. That combined with the title made me think it's something I would really like. 

What did I like about the cover:
I love what looks like a virus spreading on the front. Also the colors. I love yellow.

What made me read this book:
I love anything involving a virus. But this isn't like a going to kill off the world virus. It's a virus that gives people powers.

What did I like the most:
I already talked about how I love anything with viruses. I especially like things that have unique viruses. A virus that causes things that don't happen in most other books. And this one definitely hits all the marks on that.

The story itself is so unique. I could think of only one other book that is like this, and that's The Darkest Minds. 
With this virus it causes people to have powers. Some good, some bad, some not so impressive, others that are completely deadly. So the fact that instead of killing everyone, it starts giving people powers.

The writing itself wasn't bad either. I didn't care for the world building so much, but I do feel like the writing was efficient. It wasn't badly written at all and I think that's part of what saved this book. 

What didn't I like:
I didn't connect with the characters at all. I felt like there was a lot of back and forth between a lot of characters and it kind of got confusing and I felt that I wasn't able to get to know or care for any of them.
I also felt like there wasn't a lot of character development. I didn't care if anything happened to them. I didn't get to know who they were, and I didn't feel like they grew at all. So they were kind of just like meh. 

I also would have really liked to see more of the powers. It felt like the MC powers didn't get talked about or shown nearly as much as it should have. The powers were cool, but I didn't think oh my goodness I just absolutely have to keep reading this to find out more. Or find out what happened. 

I think I thought it would be a little more full of action and a little bit more focused on the terrorists. 

This book was kind of all over the place with what was happening, it was like it wasn't focused on just one story. At times I felt like I was listening to two different, and sometimes even three different books. 

It was a little slow. It wasn't a long book but I felt like I was reading this for FOREVER. It felt like it was never going to end. 

I also didn't have any gasping moments like I would expect in a book like this. Honestly I didn't feel much at all when reading it.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
More of this series? No I have no desire to. I might check out another book by him, but I will probably wait a while before I even try. 

Overall I was just really disappointed with this, especially since Jenn rated it so high.

Robison has written fourteen novels, including three for the local market, six for the national market, one indie, three ghostwriting projects, and one co-writing gig. He's won lots of awards and stuff.