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aliceboule's review against another edition
4.0
Altogether it was a fun twist on the whole supernatural/superhero plot: Justine intills her fear of medical danger into others- no magic or bad ass assassin skills; no just good old fear.
Crane's idea was refreshing and provided a caboomboom story that gave me a pause from all the usual- meet boy * danger * sexual attraction * great battle *conflict with love interests * sex *sex *sex * final battle *happy ending sex
In fact in Mind Games the sex is barely there and is basically an undercurrent in the book- sexual tensionnn
I was delighted to read this book and cannot wait to read the following.
BEWARE if you are one to judge a book by its cover: this cover has absolutely nothing to do with the actual content of this book. Nothing whatsoeverr. (Justine never actually fights anything)
Crane's idea was refreshing and provided a caboomboom story that gave me a pause from all the usual- meet boy * danger * sexual attraction * great battle *conflict with love interests * sex *sex *sex * final battle *happy ending sex
In fact in Mind Games the sex is barely there and is basically an undercurrent in the book- sexual tensionnn
I was delighted to read this book and cannot wait to read the following.
BEWARE if you are one to judge a book by its cover: this cover has absolutely nothing to do with the actual content of this book. Nothing whatsoeverr. (Justine never actually fights anything)
mellhay's review against another edition
4.0
Justine our main character has vein star syndrome, or so she thinks. She's a hypochondriac. While Justine is having dinner with her boyfriend of two months, who seems to handle the hypochondria pretty well. The restaurant they are in was a spur of the moment place because she saw a man go inside who hustled her father for all his money, causing her father to go broke when she was younger. Justine being a strong, upstanding citizen walks up and confronts the young couple he is with, telling of his habits with stealing money. The restaurant owner stops to the table and Justine returns to her table to prevent any problems. Later when she is paying the bill, the restaurant owner saves her from this mans' torments. At this time the restaurateur offers to help Justine with her other personal problem, of hypochondria.
Justine goes back to the restaurateur out of curiosity as she knows her friends all go through stages then leave because of her health obsession, and not wanting to loss her current boyfriend Cubby. Once Justine makes this visit she finds herself with a whole new view of the world she lives in. We get a better insite into the Highcaps , who have mental powers to do things such as telepathy, and many other things. And there are energy barriers, and Disillusionists who try to help recondition evil people by breaking them down to rock bottom so they can build up in a better way.
I have to admit I was very curious about this story, and a little weary with the hypochondria angle. I was afraid it would be over done. To me it was NO where near being over done. Yes, Justine had her moments where she was overboard on her worries, but this hit home the worries she really has and the condition she lives with. These episodes helped give contrast to when she wasn't worried or living in fear. Then her anxiety moments became a tall-tail for when she needed to zing someone. I loved the idea of using mental worries to help or hurt us, to help break someone down to understand what they take advantage of and abuse in others and have them grow from this broken state to a better person in the end. These are a great weapon, to manipulate with.
There were only two times I was concerned the section was going to turn technical and doctory on me. When the characters started talking of Disillusioning people I was afraid I would get lost in a lot of technical terms, but didn't. It never went over my head in speech or terms and was very easy to understand, or as we say in lame-mans terms.
I found the book to be a quick, easy read. I had a hard time when I had to put the book down, as I didn't want to. I felt I really connected with these characters from the word go. It had me hooked to see what Justine, Packard, and the other characters where going to do. And yes, there is that sexual tension between Justine and Packard. I enjoyed the secondary characters just as much as the main characters. There is loads of room for these characters to grow in future books.
The world here, is falling apart. I started to see there were gray areas in what caused this world to be the way it is, and even in fixing it. There really are two sides to every story. And sometimes you need the bad to balance the good.
Justine goes back to the restaurateur out of curiosity as she knows her friends all go through stages then leave because of her health obsession, and not wanting to loss her current boyfriend Cubby. Once Justine makes this visit she finds herself with a whole new view of the world she lives in. We get a better insite into the Highcaps , who have mental powers to do things such as telepathy, and many other things. And there are energy barriers, and Disillusionists who try to help recondition evil people by breaking them down to rock bottom so they can build up in a better way.
I have to admit I was very curious about this story, and a little weary with the hypochondria angle. I was afraid it would be over done. To me it was NO where near being over done. Yes, Justine had her moments where she was overboard on her worries, but this hit home the worries she really has and the condition she lives with. These episodes helped give contrast to when she wasn't worried or living in fear. Then her anxiety moments became a tall-tail for when she needed to zing someone. I loved the idea of using mental worries to help or hurt us, to help break someone down to understand what they take advantage of and abuse in others and have them grow from this broken state to a better person in the end. These are a great weapon, to manipulate with.
There were only two times I was concerned the section was going to turn technical and doctory on me. When the characters started talking of Disillusioning people I was afraid I would get lost in a lot of technical terms, but didn't. It never went over my head in speech or terms and was very easy to understand, or as we say in lame-mans terms.
I found the book to be a quick, easy read. I had a hard time when I had to put the book down, as I didn't want to. I felt I really connected with these characters from the word go. It had me hooked to see what Justine, Packard, and the other characters where going to do. And yes, there is that sexual tension between Justine and Packard. I enjoyed the secondary characters just as much as the main characters. There is loads of room for these characters to grow in future books.
The world here, is falling apart. I started to see there were gray areas in what caused this world to be the way it is, and even in fixing it. There really are two sides to every story. And sometimes you need the bad to balance the good.
serru's review against another edition
3.0
I think urban fantasy is just not my genre. This book has rave reviews from even the pickiest UF readers, and while the premise is intriguing and the plot is fast-paced with many twists, I just wasn't super into it. I liked it, but not enough to make me want to keep reading the series.
jeremybost's review against another edition
Too much romance. MC kinda wimpy I think.
porgs's review against another edition
4.0
Very unpredictable with some intense romance. It asks some questions about human morality, particularly “When does good become bad?” My only qualm was that it was written in first person POV, ugh
vikingwolf's review against another edition
Oh I was gutted about this book! It sounded so good, it was different from the other urban fantasy books that I had read, it had interesting quirks, was well written-then it jumped straight into the genre cliche of love triangle and ruined itself. I was so disappointed after such a great start.
Lets start with those positives. I really liked Justine as an MC. Her obsession with this imaginery bursting blood vessel made her very interesting and entertaining in a twisted way. She is convinced, wrongly, that she is about to die at and second. A slight headache causes her to freak out because the end is nigh, and it makes a normal life impossible. I really liked this idea and I was curious to see where the author was going to take this. It is nice for the MC to have flaws especially something intriguing like hypochondria. I liked the idea of the crime fighting team and the way that they used their 'disabilities' to take on the human filth in the city. They find peace of mind from their conditions by turning it against these criminals and using it to destroy them. This was pretty cool. It was such a different concept that I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen.
I'm never keen on books that are slow to get moving but in this case I could forgive it because it was a bit different. I could forgive the whiny side of Justine because I have experience with anxiety conditions and know how people can react with those issues weighing them down. So far so good!
And then came the love triangle nonsense which destroyed the book for me. Why does it always have to go this way? Why can the female MC not get through a story without loving every new man she meets? It is not what happens in reality and with such a strong story developing, it is not needed! So the story gets dead slow as we delve into her love life and we get less of what engaged me with the book in the first place. Justine goes from intriguing to pathetic hormonal girl from a bad YA novel and I start finding her annoying. I found Packard to be slimy, not charming, manipulative, not kind and there was as much chemistry between them as planks of wood. I always felt he was a dangerous guy who only cared about his own interests and this is not a guy that I want as a romantic hero. Otto wasn't any better and having her leaping into bed with him was so stupid and pointless that I got mad at the author.
Justine stops being the MC I like when you realise that she's going to be cheating on the poor boyfriend who has somehow stood by her in spite of all her crazy behaviours and episodes. What thanks does he get? Our heroine thinking about which of the line up of men she plans to jump into bed with, not caring about loyal boyfriend. Great, potential whore alert. In fact is it a love triangle or love square? Plus she starts treating other people badly and becoming a bit of a cow. That feels like betrayal when you liked her at the start. Her whiny and selfish traits get worse as the book progresses. The bloody boyfriend is the one I have sympathy for. Run for the hills boy!
This book had such amazing potential and if it had stuck to being about Justine's ability, it could have been a great urban fantasy. Instead the love trianle and hormonal crap plunged it into poor paranormal romance territory and I lost all interest in it. What a damn pity!
Lets start with those positives. I really liked Justine as an MC. Her obsession with this imaginery bursting blood vessel made her very interesting and entertaining in a twisted way. She is convinced, wrongly, that she is about to die at and second. A slight headache causes her to freak out because the end is nigh, and it makes a normal life impossible. I really liked this idea and I was curious to see where the author was going to take this. It is nice for the MC to have flaws especially something intriguing like hypochondria. I liked the idea of the crime fighting team and the way that they used their 'disabilities' to take on the human filth in the city. They find peace of mind from their conditions by turning it against these criminals and using it to destroy them. This was pretty cool. It was such a different concept that I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen.
I'm never keen on books that are slow to get moving but in this case I could forgive it because it was a bit different. I could forgive the whiny side of Justine because I have experience with anxiety conditions and know how people can react with those issues weighing them down. So far so good!
And then came the love triangle nonsense which destroyed the book for me. Why does it always have to go this way? Why can the female MC not get through a story without loving every new man she meets? It is not what happens in reality and with such a strong story developing, it is not needed! So the story gets dead slow as we delve into her love life and we get less of what engaged me with the book in the first place. Justine goes from intriguing to pathetic hormonal girl from a bad YA novel and I start finding her annoying. I found Packard to be slimy, not charming, manipulative, not kind and there was as much chemistry between them as planks of wood. I always felt he was a dangerous guy who only cared about his own interests and this is not a guy that I want as a romantic hero. Otto wasn't any better and having her leaping into bed with him was so stupid and pointless that I got mad at the author.
Justine stops being the MC I like when you realise that she's going to be cheating on the poor boyfriend who has somehow stood by her in spite of all her crazy behaviours and episodes. What thanks does he get? Our heroine thinking about which of the line up of men she plans to jump into bed with, not caring about loyal boyfriend. Great, potential whore alert. In fact is it a love triangle or love square? Plus she starts treating other people badly and becoming a bit of a cow. That feels like betrayal when you liked her at the start. Her whiny and selfish traits get worse as the book progresses. The bloody boyfriend is the one I have sympathy for. Run for the hills boy!
This book had such amazing potential and if it had stuck to being about Justine's ability, it could have been a great urban fantasy. Instead the love trianle and hormonal crap plunged it into poor paranormal romance territory and I lost all interest in it. What a damn pity!
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
Plot:
The blurb does say it as it is.
My thoughts:
I can say one thing, and that is original. What a great use of powers and magic. So strange, so freaky.
Justine, oh she is nice, a crazy hypochondriac, but that is not her fault. Though of course in real life I am sure we would not make it as friend, at least not before her zing. When she got zinged she no longer have to constantly worry that she is gonna die from something. But then pre-Justine is fun to read about too.
The crew, nice crew, but who cares about the crew when there is a boss, and oh what a boss. I liked Packard from the start, then I had my doubts and then I went all rawr! There is also police chief Otto, who I kind of admired from a distance and had theories about.
Oh the magic, Justine gives the bad guys they are after all her own dark thoughts about illness. She is free and they are doomed. There are no big action scenes instead they infiltrate the lives of these people, try to be friends with them and then go into attack mode time after time. How to describe in the end, it is not kick-ass UF, it is mental warfare UF. And I like it.
Hard book to put down, and it even made me giggle.
My final thoughts and recommendation.
I hear book 2 has a big cliffhanger, scary! This one ended good with things to come, but nothing that I went crazy over. I of course really want to know what happens, but I I am kind of scared of that cliffhanger now, perhaps I should wait until book 3 is out...if I can make it, cos come on, the thing Packard said at the end, damn, I want to read more!
Ok where was I, yes I do recommend this series. It is certainly original, and so far there are only people with magical abilities around.
Reason for reading:
People said it was good
Cover:
very UF
The blurb does say it as it is.
My thoughts:
I can say one thing, and that is original. What a great use of powers and magic. So strange, so freaky.
Justine, oh she is nice, a crazy hypochondriac, but that is not her fault. Though of course in real life I am sure we would not make it as friend, at least not before her zing. When she got zinged she no longer have to constantly worry that she is gonna die from something. But then pre-Justine is fun to read about too.
The crew, nice crew, but who cares about the crew when there is a boss, and oh what a boss. I liked Packard from the start, then I had my doubts and then I went all rawr! There is also police chief Otto, who I kind of admired from a distance and had theories about.
Oh the magic, Justine gives the bad guys they are after all her own dark thoughts about illness. She is free and they are doomed. There are no big action scenes instead they infiltrate the lives of these people, try to be friends with them and then go into attack mode time after time. How to describe in the end, it is not kick-ass UF, it is mental warfare UF. And I like it.
Hard book to put down, and it even made me giggle.
My final thoughts and recommendation.
I hear book 2 has a big cliffhanger, scary! This one ended good with things to come, but nothing that I went crazy over. I of course really want to know what happens, but I I am kind of scared of that cliffhanger now, perhaps I should wait until book 3 is out...if I can make it, cos come on, the thing Packard said at the end, damn, I want to read more!
Ok where was I, yes I do recommend this series. It is certainly original, and so far there are only people with magical abilities around.
Reason for reading:
People said it was good
Cover:
very UF
joyousreads132's review against another edition
1.0
I think I have about 30-40 pages left. I'm officially stopping. One word that comes to mind as I was reading: UNCONVINCING. A lot of aspects of this book wasn't able to get me to like Justine. I couldn't feel any emotions that the characters were feeling. I don't feel Packard's desperation to get out of his prison; I didn't feel Justine's loss over her relationship with Cubby and most of all, I just didn't get it. Maybe it's because I'm too simple minded for this sci-fi but I think I wasted my time reading most of this book.
The most irritating of all, how could Justine have sex with Otto?
I just don't get it.
The most irritating of all, how could Justine have sex with Otto?
I just don't get it.
xvicesx's review against another edition
4.0
I find it hard to name what I liked and didn't like in Mind Games. It somewhat reminded me of [b:Blood Bound|12096557|Blood Bound (Unbound, #1)|Rachel Vincent|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311397659s/12096557.jpg|15080228] in the power-play aspect, the secret power aspect and the shockingly plausible aspect. So, again, I found myself in a rather terrifying world, clinging to the ration of a nearly insane woman. I must admit, I kind of liked Liv from Blood Bound more than Justine but, despite the similar theme, I know I shouldn't be comparing those two simply because they hardly have anything in common.
Mind Games really was a mind game from beginning to end, terrifyingly taking you through a variety of human desires and emotions, some of which we may not be willing to face. In more than one way, it was an amazing book, revealing friendship, illusion, fears and coping mechanisms in ways that I never thought they could be revealed.
Then again, I somewhat wished for a bit more romance, maybe even a bit more friendship and a bit less of an apocalyptic view on life...
The sad fact remains that they are all messed up people and you can't help but have some of that rubbed off by the time you're finished with the book. You'll find yourself thinking for a while about just how messed up the world in itself is and just how despicable that is and how it's angering and depressing at the same time cause you can't do squat to stop it. You can't save the world. Nobody can. And as Shelby would put it, there's no real happiness. Just illusions... Makes you sad in so many ways. I guess that's what I didn't really like: having to look the truth square in the face like that...
But maybe it's just me and I've that kind of view on life myself, I don't know... Mind Games is a good book. A great book, even, and it's wonderful with those who've time to do some thinking but just as good for anybody else. Beware of the anxiety that you might feel in the end, though.
Mind Games really was a mind game from beginning to end, terrifyingly taking you through a variety of human desires and emotions, some of which we may not be willing to face. In more than one way, it was an amazing book, revealing friendship, illusion, fears and coping mechanisms in ways that I never thought they could be revealed.
Then again, I somewhat wished for a bit more romance
Spoiler
, a bit more of the angst that we know is there due to her attraction to both Henji and PackardThe sad fact remains that they are all messed up people and you can't help but have some of that rubbed off by the time you're finished with the book. You'll find yourself thinking for a while about just how messed up the world in itself is and just how despicable that is and how it's angering and depressing at the same time cause you can't do squat to stop it. You can't save the world. Nobody can. And as Shelby would put it, there's no real happiness. Just illusions... Makes you sad in so many ways. I guess that's what I didn't really like: having to look the truth square in the face like that...
But maybe it's just me and I've that kind of view on life myself, I don't know... Mind Games is a good book. A great book, even, and it's wonderful with those who've time to do some thinking but just as good for anybody else. Beware of the anxiety that you might feel in the end, though.
laden_bookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
Something different in the urban fantasy realm with some interesting twists. I stayed up wicked late and only got 4 hours of sleep because I wanted to finish that badly. Definitely liked it, will definitely look for more.