Genetically Enhanced Superhumans or We Call Them Specials

~The Specials~
By Kel Pollard
Amazon

When three very different high school students are rushed to the school nurse's office with severe headaches, they realize they have something very special in common...

Kory can move things with his mind.
Heather can hear people's thoughts.
David can freeze time.

How did the powers develop? What caused them? Are they dangerous? Rogue scientist Dr. Walter Strong seems to have all the answers, but the three teenagers are wary when he tries to warn them about Ascentia, a secret organization whose sole purpose is to capture and control them by any means necessary. It is only when members of Ascentia's Specials Recovery Unit attack their homes and abduct their loved ones that Kory, Heather and David are left with no choice but to trust Dr. Strong, and to risk their lives to save the people they care about most.


Chosen at random from my extensive library of free Kindle e-books I've acquired over the years, this one looked to be an interesting YA stand-alone. Three teens suddenly find themselves with super powers and an evil secret organization bearing down on them—sounds like some campy fun, right?

I don't want to be mean to this book. I know it was self-published, so this author had way, waaay fewer resources to work with than those I normally read. On top of that, according to his author bio this was his first foray into writing "after reading hundreds of books throughout [...] high school and college," so we're talking about a debut novel which, even in the best cases, typically still have some kinks to work out. That being said, this book had a lot that still needed work.

The characters were fine, albeit a little to similar to each other. Kory seemed like your standard middle-of-the-road student: not a genius but passing; not a jock but athletic; not a slacker but definitely into video games. He did have a line that came across overly snarky, where a teacher was concerned about him falling asleep in class and he replies with:

“So you lovely ladies have nothing else better to do with your lives than sit around and discuss my grades?” [p. 7]

So we have a student who gives his teacher zero respect, is automatically suspicious of anyone showing any concern about him, and who doesn't consider the motivations and feelings of others. Or he's just cranky after getting caught falling asleep in class. Either way, kind of an asshole. And besides being curious and excited when his powers show up, there's not much else to describe him.

Speaking of assholes, next up is Heather. As the only girl of the main cast, I was especially disheartened that Heather was the epitome of the cheerleader stereotype. Well, not just a cheerleader, but co-captain of the squad, and also an elite athlete in multiple sports, holding "the school record on the girls’ basketball team, the swim team, the gymnastics team, the volleyball team, and the softball team." [p. 10] (Not to mention that it's impossible to be a cheerleader and play in sports that run at the same time, let alone in sports that run at the same time as each other.) Oh, did I mention she's also running for class president? I don't hold her ambition against her, but when a person seems to revel in accruing as many enemies as possible—even to the point of enjoying when her little brother gets grounded after she antagonized him—it doesn't make much sense to run in a popularity contest.

But it turns out to be a moot point when her mind-reading powers kick in and she has a meltdown on stage in front of the entire student body. Yet even that doesn't persuade me to like her, as she still insists on playing the vain, narcissistic, brat for the majority of the rest of the book. She sees her powers as nothing but a curse, never wants to work at controlling them, and only really comes around to being a sympathetic character after their homes are attacked near the 50% mark. And then, at the 75% mark, she retcons some of her narcissism by suddenly revealing that she did, in fact, pay attention to other people at school, and did know about a crush a guy had on her.

Which brings me to the third main character, David, the super-genius with a smart mouth. He seemed the nicest of the bunch, not only with classmates (though arguably mostly with Heather) but also his family. Being the brain of the group, he's also the one who goes about testing their powers, making plans, and taking charge with most things. When a new player enters the situation, the doctor who claims to know everything, David is suspicious at first, but ultimately quick to trust. He's also bi-racial and bilingual, having a Mexican-American mom who taught him "perfect Spanish."

And this is where the editing issues really came in. David's Spanish sections were straight out of Google Translate. It wasn't obvious at first—though they were a bit forced and clunky, I couldn't prove that the author wasn't fluent himself. Until the scene in Spanish class:

“Hola, estudiantes!” Senora Laura greeted us.
“Hola, Senora Laura,” the class responded.
“Como estan?” she asked.
“Bueno, y tu?”
“Muy bueno, estudiantes. Now, I need to take the roll.” [p. 111]

Now, anyone who has ever taken Spanish 101 can tell you that no Spanish teacher would ever allow their students to answer "how are you?" with "good," even though that's what we say in English. The proper response there is "well" or "bien". I know, extremely pedantic of me, but that only makes it all the more confusing of why Spanish was included at all. Why is David bilingual? It doesn't serve any purpose in the narrative of the story, nor does it inform his character at all. All I can figure is it was an arbitrary box that could be checked off to widen the book's appeal. Got a biracial main character? Check. Young Adult is big these days, so let's set it in high school. Check. Got a gamer? Yup. A snarky cheerleader? Double checkerrooney. How about a lady's man jock?

Surprise! There's actually a fourth main character! Clark comes into the story in chapter 13, about 60% through the book, and then suddenly gets narration duty for the last two chapters of the book (17 & 18). I mean, I don't begrudge the guy getting his fair share of narration after everyone else had a turn, I just didn't expect him to assume MC status after over 80% of the book was through. As such, we really don't get anywhere near as much characterization of him, so his chapters read more as general narration of the action scenes so the reader isn't limited when other characters are knocked unconscious or whatnot. So, yeah, I get the utility of it, it's just not really done out of the blue like that.

I feel it would have been much more effective to have had Clark narrate short sections throughout the entire book, giving glimpses into what was going on with the Specials organization behind the scenes before we ever meet him in the narrative. These would help flesh out the world, give the reader some excitement throughout the entire narrative, and then pay off at the end when all the characters finally come together. As it currently reads, we have kids experimenting with new super powers on their own, then suddenly there's a big bad secret organization that we've 1) never heard of, 2) has already recruited and trained other high school kids, and 3) apparently has their fingers in everything, everywhere, at all times... Surprise!

A lot of this exposition and the plot in general comes in the form of dialog. This book's dialog was passable, but I can't really call it good. There were just some lines that had me actually tilting my head. I shared that one line from Kory earlier, but I think this one from just before the climax is the best example to get my point across:

“I know that you have what it takes [...] to get everyone home safely.”
“But how do you know that, Doctor?” I asked, praying for a direct answer for once.
“Because, David, there comes a time in every boy’s life when he has to grow up and become a man. I believe tonight is that time for you.” [p. 167]

So, yeah. Nothing inherently wrong with the order, or grammar, or message, but...that's just not how real people talk. And I like my characters to at least try to act like real people sometimes.

I think my biggest issue with this book comes down to research, or rather lack thereof. Whether it was Heather's impossible athletic schedule, the Spanish teacher's tacit acceptance of incorrect speech, or what was possibly the most egregious failure to portray hospital procedural I've ever witnessed, I just couldn't give them a pass. I mean, a doctor coming out of surgery to talk to the family still dressed in bloody scrubs? How much research does it take to find that out? I'm sure watching any of the dozens of medical TV shows would immediately squash that idea. And I get not knowing all the ins and outs of high school, especially if you weren't involved with sports or cheerleading or whatever, but how is your 5-touchdown football game score at 32 points? (Yes, I know it's technically possible if you've missed 3 extra point kicks, but you couldn't have come up with something more plausible?)

Like I said, there's a lot here that needs revised in another draft or three. There are some good parts to it, like the overall premise, which got me interested in the first place, but the execution wasn't there. And if all that weren't enough, it turns out this wasn't even a stand alone story. Yeah, it couldn't even deliver on that promise. The story does end, it's not a literal cliffhanger or anything, but it's clear that this was setting up for a sequel/series, with the ending as a call for revenge. But with the lackluster response this has garnered in its 8 years of release, I don't see anything else on the way. Can't say I'm surprised, though I do hate to see any story go unfinished.

Overall, I can't really recommend anyone purchase this book. While not technically bad in the sense of typos, grammar, or problematic content, it suffers from unlikable characters, cheesy dialog, poor research, and a plot I've seen done better dozens of times. That said, the story was short, took me only about 4 hours to read, and it's available for free with Kindle Unlimited, so I guess this is something quick and easy to breeze through if you're looking for that sort of thing. I often recommend these types of books as case studies or inspiration joggers, which I guess I can do again. I think I just felt a bit let down that, despite the title, this one didn't give me anything special.