Shifter - Kim Curran

Scott is hanging out with his friends at an abandoned church.  To prove he is cool Scott decides to climb to the Pylon.  The Pylon used to supply electricity to the church and is supposedly turned off.  As Scott climbs it looks like he will make it and then his world goes black.  He is lying face up on the concrete outside the Pylon.  Aubrey is standing over him asking if he is a shifter.  He doesn't know what she's talking about.  Aubrey then takes him to a casino and explains he has the power to undo choices and create a new reality around him.  She tells Scott about the government agency in charge of the shifters called ARES.  She also tells him about the SLF, who thinks shifters should be allowed to do what they want and not be governed by rules.  When ARES shows up unannounced they head back to Aubrey's place.  As Scott falls asleep on her couch he thinks about choices he's made and wakes up on concrete.  He has shifted to a reality where his sister Katie was killed in a car accident.  He finds Aubrey in this reality and then ARES shows up looking for him.  They agree to help him undo the shift he's done as long as he agrees to join ARES.  Scott shifts again and everything goes back to the way it should be.  He explains to his parents that a special government program wants him in it.  He calls ARES and says he'll join.  He tells Aubrey he's joining ARES, and then tells his parents it is a fast track IT program.  The next day he heads to ARES headquarters to begin his training.  After the first day he is told he's one of the most powerful shifters to come through ARES.  Over the next few months his training continues.  One day on the way to the Tube he picks up a penny.  This decision leads him to be on the Tube when a bomb goes off.  He shifts to where he is on  the platform and not on the Tube when it explodes.  As Scott is recovering in the hospital the news is saying it was a suicide bomber.  ARES thinks the SLF are involved somehow.  As ARES tries to piece together what happened, Scott thinks there is more behind this than ARES is letting on. 

I enjoyed this book.  It was a fun read and reminded me of Fair Coin by E.C. Myers, which is also about different realities and choices that shape those realities.  This book is a really good story to start this series.  The second book in the series is called Control which came out in August of 2013.  There will be a third book called Delete, and the only information on the author's website says it is coming soon.  I look forward to reading the rest of the series. 

T.B.
12/19/13

Fair Coin - E.C. Myers

Ephraim comes home from school one day and finds his mother near death after taking pills with alcohol.  Apparently his mom thought that a bus accident victim at the hospital was Ephraim.  It turns out it was Ephraim, but an Ephraim from a different reality.  He sneaks into the morgue to check out the body.  He finds his wallet, library card, and a coin on the other Ephraim.  This coin can grant wishes, and he wishes that his mom would be a better mom.  The next morning his mom is cooking breakfast and there is no sign of pill bottles or alcohol.  He keeps this information to himself not even sharing it with his best friend Nathan.  His next wish is to have the girl who he has had a crush on notice him.  The wish kind of works and she does notice him, but not in the way he wanted it.  He finally tells Nathan and they agree to both touch the coin when either of them makes a wish.  This way they both benefit from it.  After several more wishes Ephraim lands in a reality where Nathan is popular and not his best friend.  He runs into an older version of Nathan who tells him that each time they make a wish and flip the coin they travel to an alternate reality.  There is also a controller which controls which reality they go into and records coordinates of the different realities.  The coin by itself just bumps you into the closest reality to the one you are in.  This younger version of Nathan is only out for greed and money.  He also wants to stop the older Nathan from ever getting the coin and controller back. Ephraim decides to make sure this younger version of Nathan is stopped any way possible.  The only way for Ephraim to get back to his own reality is to have the coin and controller, which Nathan has, and he's not going to give them up without a fight. 

I do love alternate reality books.  They really do make you think about choices the characters have made, or will make and how they affect the story.  Will thoses choices make them a better person, or are they making a choice for their own selfish gains?  Fair Coin can get a little confusing with all the different realities that are visited, but everything sorts its self out in the end.  There is a sequal coming out in October 2012 called Quantum Coin. 

T.B. 8/31/12

My Favorite Band Does Not Exist - Robert Jeschonek

Idea Deity is on the run from his controlling parents. They make him study so much that he creates a fake band called Youforia for his own amusement. Reacher is the leader of the supposed made up band Youforia. Reacher is trying to discover who is posting the personal information of the band online, while Idea is trying to figure out who is posing as his made up band Youforia. The connection between the two is Eurydice/Eunice. Eurydice is Reacher's girlfriend and fellow band mate. Idea encounters Eunice on his way to Maysfield for Youforia's debut concert. As they travel to Maysfield, Idea and Reacher are reading a book called Fireskull's Revenant, which is about Johnny Without and Lord Fireskull, two mortal enemies. They receive a prophecy that unless they join forces they will perish. This plays into the main plot and is foreshadowing what will come with Idea and Reacher. Eurydice/Eunice takes Idea and Reacher to the same diner where she convinces them that they are both real just in two separate realities. They agree to work together, and are taken into the characters of Johnny Without and Lord Fireskull to unite and defeat The Secret King.

I enjoyed the book. It was a bit slow to get going, but after 100 pages or so it picked up. I liked how the book within the book started to parallel the main story. It foreshadowed what was to come, but didn't give the story away. I was not expecting what happened at the end. It was a nice twist to pull together the different plot lines in the book.

T.B. 12/9/11