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A review by mferber
Minder by Kate Kaynak
5.0
This young-adult supernatural romance novel was written by a friend of mine, so I'm not entirely objective; on the other hand, I don't normally go in for young-adult supernatural romance novels, so I wouldn't likely have read it otherwise. But it's a really good read, and people in the audience it's written for especially should absolutely devour it.
This is the first book in a series about a teenager who learns she has special powers, placing it squarely in a subgenre that I couldn't get enough of when I was a kid. The teenager is 16-year-old Maddie Dunn from New Jersey, and the power is telepathy, with various fringe benefits that aren't all nice. As soon as she discovers her ability, in the surprisingly dark scene that opens the book, she's whisked off to Ganzfield, a secret school and training ground for teenagers like her (yes, there's an obvious debt here to the Xavier Institute from "X-Men," but it's a conscious debt and one the characters even comment on). There she meets other students with their own various powers. We meet especially the pyrokinetics, or "sparks," and the ominous "charms," who can compel people to do things against their will. (The sparks and the charms take on a pleasantly familiar sort of Gryffindor/Slytherin dynamic.) "Minders" such as Maddie herself are very rare, making Maddie somewhat special even at Ganzfield.
That's the setup. Friendships and enmities are made; an intense romance is had; dark pasts and hidden agendas are hinted at; some bad things happen and derring-do ensues. There's a lot of room here to be developed in the remaining installments. It's a good ride: a lot of fun, and just disturbing enough when it needs to be. Looking forward to the next part already.
This is the first book in a series about a teenager who learns she has special powers, placing it squarely in a subgenre that I couldn't get enough of when I was a kid. The teenager is 16-year-old Maddie Dunn from New Jersey, and the power is telepathy, with various fringe benefits that aren't all nice. As soon as she discovers her ability, in the surprisingly dark scene that opens the book, she's whisked off to Ganzfield, a secret school and training ground for teenagers like her (yes, there's an obvious debt here to the Xavier Institute from "X-Men," but it's a conscious debt and one the characters even comment on). There she meets other students with their own various powers. We meet especially the pyrokinetics, or "sparks," and the ominous "charms," who can compel people to do things against their will. (The sparks and the charms take on a pleasantly familiar sort of Gryffindor/Slytherin dynamic.) "Minders" such as Maddie herself are very rare, making Maddie somewhat special even at Ganzfield.
That's the setup. Friendships and enmities are made; an intense romance is had; dark pasts and hidden agendas are hinted at; some bad things happen and derring-do ensues. There's a lot of room here to be developed in the remaining installments. It's a good ride: a lot of fun, and just disturbing enough when it needs to be. Looking forward to the next part already.