| Title | : | Death Whispers (Death, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | 414 |
| Publication | : | First published March 30, 2011 |
When teens receive a government-sanctioned pharmaceutical cocktail during school, paranormal abilities begin manifesting... making the teens more powerful than the adults.
After Caleb discovers he has the rare, Affinity for the Dead, he must do whatever it takes to hide it from a super-secret government agency whose goal is exploitation.
Caleb seeks refuge in his new girlfriend, Jade, until he realizes that she needs as much protection from her family, as he does from the government.
Suddenly, Caleb finds that hiding his ability while protecting Jade and his friends is a full time job; can he escape the government, protect Jade and lose the bullies that are making him miserable?
Death Whispers (Death, #1) Reviews
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Death Whispers
The Death Series, Book 1
By: Tamara Rose Blodgett
Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
This is a young adult/teen book but I am certain a lot older than that and I enjoyed it. It was quite interesting how all these teens had special abilities to do supernatural things from the injections from the government. A couple were necromancers. They were afraid to let the government know because the last one with great power was taken and used by the government. Great story, characters, fantasy, and world building.
The narrator was good and kept the story flowing well. -
I downloaded this ages ago on the iBook app and started it on a whim on my break at work a couple days ago and I’m so glad I did because I ended up thoroughly enjoying this story! While it is a bit young and cheesy at times, I ate it all up anyways. It was incredibly unique, I’ve never crossed a concept quite like it before and I loved it. The different abilities and the way they came about is incredibly interesting and I can’t wait to read more about it in the next book! The only tiny thing that detracted from my enjoyment and caused it to lose a star is that there were a couple characters that really grated on my nerves.
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Yes! Finally a story told from a male protagonist’s point of view! Ever since I read Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking Trilogy, I was on the hunt for another book like that. I thought Ness did a great job in his book, but Tamara Rose Blodgett did an even better one! I was literally blown away by her writing style and flawless storytelling. Tamara, are you really an Indie writer? It’s really hard to believe that!
Random rambling aside, let’s get down to the plot!
The protagonist of this book, a fourteen-year-old boy named Caleb Hart, discovers that he possesses a very rare paranormal power. He can raise and control the dead. This special power, called Cadaver Manipulation, might seem like a pretty cool and useful thing, but in reality it’s nothing but trouble. It’s a very unique quality, only one person before Caleb has been (un)lucky enough to have it and this person, well, let’s just say he didn’t end up well.
Caleb happens to be the son of the first scientist to map the human genome. When we meet him it’s year 2025, and the world sure has changed a lot. For one thing, the technology is super advanced now. People don’t use normal phones to communicate anymore, they “pulse” each other, which basically means that their phone devices were modified to pick up their thoughts and send them to whoever and wherever – instantly! (I personally think it was a totally brilliant idea!)
In eighth grade, all the kids must take the nationwide aptitude test to determine what kind of paranormal power they possess and how strong on the scale from 1 to 5 is it. Apparently puberty is the exact time when everyone has to get tested, because scientists have proven that that’s the time when the abilities come online. And what kind of abilities are we exactly talking about? There’s a wide range of paranormal powers you could have, from something as benign as Empath, Telepathy, Pyrokenesis, Astral-Projection to a more troublesome ones like AFTD. AFTD stands for Affinity for the Dead. This ability usually means that someone can communicate with the dead. However, in Caleb’s case, the ability manifests itself very strongly, not only can he hear the dead, but he can also animate them and control their actions. And like that wasn’t enough already, Caleb discovers that when someone/something is about to die, he can resurrect them. Although it sounds like a very useful ability, it might also be a very problematic one. Let’s not forget that we’re talking about a young teenager here. Caleb wants to go to school and hang out with his friends. Above all, he wants to be able to decide his own future. That, for sure, won’t be possible, if the government officials learn about his powers. No doubt he would be taken away from his family and forced to work for the government. It seems like the safest thing to do, is staying off the government's radar and ensuring that he won’t be discovered. But how to do that when the aptitude test is only a few days away?
I loved it! I genuinely loved it! Death Whispers in one of those “can’t-flip-the-pages-fast-enough” novels. The story flow is so natural and easy-breezy that your mind won’t even register the pages turning,. It’s as if you’re watching an episode of your favorite TV show or your best friend is telling you the most intriguing story ever! It gave me goose-bumps!
I can’t emphasize enough how wonderful the narrative voice is. The dialogs are so full of live and natural! Some authors seem to have a big problem with dialogs, they’re either too flat or way too overdone. For TR Blodgett writing from a 14-year-old-boy’s perspective seems to be as easy as breathing. Her writing is simplistic, easy to read and entertaining. I had so much fun devouring this book.
The characters are fantastic, too! They’re realistic, intriguing and vibrant, and it’s easy to get emotionally involved in their story. I especially liked Caleb’s parents, they reminded me of my parents in so many ways! My favorite characters, though, were the JJ’s – they were hilarious and I really liked how they supported Caleb.
Bottom line… I am a FAN!!!
Looking forward to seeing where TR Blodgett takes us in the next installment. -
Its great as a reviewer when you have that chance and you find a diamond in the ruff. I believe strongly in reading Indie Authors and Self - published authors books, you can't imagine how many times I have read Amazing books from both ends. If we don't give the book a chance or author a chance these great books won't ever be discovered. So it pleases me to write my review for Death Whispers.
Death Whispers doesn't seems like its written by a unknown author, It has the quality of a big known author book. The characters are so well written, What makes then even better is how real they are when you read about them. Death Whispers is written from a 14 year old's POV, Tamara did a fantastic job capturing this boy's voice. The writing is simple with a very easy flow of words that you ends up devouring as you read. Even the humor in Death Whispers is contagious. This is a great book for any age and if your a dystopian fan too.
Death Whispers follow Caleb, he is a boy that possess a rare form of paranormal power. In the year 2025 all teenagers get tested to see what powers they possess. It turns out Caleb has one of the most rarest of them all. He is a Cadaver Manipulator. Basically he can raise and control dead people. Now you might think Caleb must feel super happy about this, well no not really. Seems that having this special power attracts all the wrong attention. Caleb sees himself working harder at keeping his power a secret from certain people. Throw in all this paranormal activity plus the year 2025 and all its advanced technologies, you have a Great dystopian novel.
review link:
http://www.onceuponatwilight.com/2011... -
I had a few reservations about this one, but it ended up being a pretty good book. Written in a first person format of a young boy named Caleb Hart. The book starts out with Caleb finding out that he has an "Affinity of The Dead" when he starts hearing the thoughts of the frogs that they're dissecting in biology class.
I'll give you a little back history here, the book is set in the future(year 2025), and scientists have mapped the human genome. In doing so they found out that most humans are capable of having special "abilities" (empathic, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, that sort of thing). One such ability is Affinity of the Dead, AFTD for short. This power allows the person to interact with the dead, such as sense where bodies are buried, or feel what a person felt before they died, some can even raise corpses from the grave. AFTD is a very rare ability and we eventually find out that Caleb has the potential to be really powerful. Because powerful AFTD's are so rare the government have a keen interest in them, and now Caleb has to use his powers to protect his friends as well as himself.
All in all it was a pretty fun read, plenty of exciting scenes with good character dialog. The characters are well written, and the world building isn't bad. I did notice that the story arch seemed a little weak, I didn't really feel a build up before the finale, it just sort of happened at the end of the book after watching Caleb deal with one problem after another that goes along with having AFTD. -
This was better then I expected and I really enjoyed it. The world built was interesting and very believable. There were a few parts that I felt would have made the characters give more then a reaction but after reading the whole book it seems that this world is used to usual things so it fits. I'm very interested to see what will happen next and how the kids abilities will develop and what it will mean for everyone involved.
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Two things stand out the most with this story for me. The first is that it’s extremely "Young Adult" as in immature, childish characters. The second is that in spite of that the supernatural plot line was highly entertaining.
Let me try to break this down a little, first you should know the characters are ages 13-14 + adult figures. There is a talking dog. Well not exactly a talking dog, rather that the author gives voice to the dog’s internal thoughts, "the boy child, sent me those human good sounds (words) telling me…". I almost deleted this book off my kindle and moved on when we got to that part, but by that point I had already invested a fair amount of reading time into the book, so I pushed forward cringing every time the dog's internal dialog occurred.
The teenage angst and first time true love between a 13-14 year old, was like nails on a chalk board for me.
Now here is why I kept reading the book: this book contains a well-thought-out dystopian, supernatural world. Set in a future that is "realistic" for a fictional work. There are plenty of action packed scenes with supernatural youths including, psychics, astral projection, talking to the dead, necromancy, fire-starters and more.
When it came time to deciding between giving this book three stars (average read) and four stars (better than average read), I found myself sitting on the fence. The strong story line (which I enjoyed) was about equal to the teen dramatics (which I disliked) in my mind.
The final deciding factor boiled down to the homophobic slang, which although not constant throughout the story, happened with such ease and no commentary to correct it that I was personally offended by the homophobic teasing. Even if, or rather "Because" this is a young adult book such behavior is not acceptable, especially when the teen’s parents correct them on cursing in general, but not the homophobic teasing.
Here is an example Location 6006
"We’re cool," he said giving me the guy clap on the back. Not the kind guys did to let you know they could kick your ass. The ones they did when they wanted to hug you but that was totally not okay, no-homo, right?
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In the end it was the offensive lines like that plus the consistent typos that pushed this book down to three solid stars, an average read.
So do I recommend this book? Yes, but only with the cautionary comments above. -
Let me start off by saying thank you to Tamara for the e-copy of Death Whispers. I actually had the book on my TBR list prior to winning it, so I was super excited to read it.
The story is set in the not too distant future when pubescent kids may or may not develop a paranormal ability, all thanks to government intervention. Sound fun? Not so much. When Caleb discovers he has one of the rarest abilities, all hell breaks loose. Turns out Caleb has Affinity For The Dead (AFTD), which means he has a connection with the dead, and as the highest rating AFTD, he can actually raise and control them. The government wants Caleb to "work" for them, and will stop at nothing to get a hold of him. Thankfully he has a great support system who have some powers of their own to back him up.
As a mom of a 14-year-old son, I completely understand the whole teenage boy thing. It made me laugh at points because it would reminded me of my son and his friends when they were a little younger. My favorite character was Jonesy. I think almost every group of friends has a Jonesy-ish type... the ones who are unfiltered and comes up with crazy ideas.
The Pulse technology in the book was a nice touch. Imagine not needing to actually write or type; just touch and think. Even better, not having your phone call eavesdropped on because you can think the conversation. I'm always interested in how authors who write books that take place in the future, how creative they get and make it their own.
Overall, it was a good book and a nice start for an Indie writer. The second book in the series, Death Speaks, will be release August 15th. -
9/15/2011
1st Reading
It was a great book, but seemed to have lots of grammatical errors, and that REALLY bugged me. But I'm just very weird that way. Other than that, it was a great book, and I can't wait to get the second book in the series!
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1/9/2014
2nd Reading:
I found the grammer improved, figured id mention that first since im weird like that.
the story itself is a fun read that sucks you into the lives of an amazing group of friends. occasionally, the teens seem to be written older than 8th graders... but as we meet them in the final weeks of that grade, im able to remind myself they are -so close- to becoming Freshmen in High School... if they survive that long.
About to jump into the next book, looking forward to the next part of the ride! -
Death Whispers turned out much better than I was thinking. The idea of using the mapped genome to activate paranormal powers in children is a nice hook for the story. The kids seemed pretty realistic and were aware of their own limitations as kids. They still got in trouble but things with this level of weirdness of course it will happen. The middle school crushes and beginning relationship interests is done well. Though I must say Onyx the dog is one of my favorites. I loved how the author uses his perspective and thinking patterns. I will soon be reading the second book and I would strongly recommend it!
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This book is so unique! I loved it.It was well written and lacked annoying typos, misspellings and general sloppy errors that I usually find in young adult novels (ebooks and hard copy books from large publishers alike). It is well written and I enjoyed that it was from the perspective of a young "man". I love Jonesy. He kept cracking me up! He is definately a boy after my own heart. Of course in real life I would probably hate him (I just don't like teenagers). But in this book they are not only ok they are entertaining and great! I cannot wait to read what happens next!!
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dnf at 7%.I gave it a shot. but really - rolling eyes here - this starts in first person present tense, 'I am Caleb Hart' jumps to past tense jumps back to present, then past again.... There was far too much 'what I did in school today with my friends' (boring and pointless) and then we have the incident with the dog, which was totally inexplicable. The dialogue was clunky, the characters 2-dimensional and in the end I gave up. I couldn't really make sense of what was happening.
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Death Whispers is a lot more fun than I was expecting. As a YA Urban Fantasy, there were so many directions it could have gone. In my opinion, there was as much X-men as there was Ghost Whisperer, and more X-Files than The Walking Dead. I plan to read the sequel(s) as well.
So, two thumbs up for Tamara Rose Blodgett and Death Whispers! -
I was very disappointed with this book. Really disappointed. Based on the blurb, it sounds like a really good plot. Basically, a boy (Caleb Hart) develops the ability to raise bodies from the dead. During the novel, we also find that he has other cadaver related talents. Other teenagers have various other abilities; astral projection, fire related, empathy related, etc. However, the actual novel was a very poor follow through for the plot.
It basically starts off with a vague explanation of how these abilities and their knowledge of them came to be. A boy (prior to Caleb) was found to have exceptional AFTD (Affinity For The Dead) abilities. He was then kidnapped by the government (something everyone fears since then) and then force to do their bidding. So, anyway, Caleb finds that he has this AFTD. To stop bullies making fun of him, he takes them to a graveyard to show off his new abilities. For some really stupid reason. I don't know why he did it. It was really stupid of him. Basically he was just showing off and then they held his secret over him. Now he's really worried about the government finding out his secret, especially because it's a lot worse than he'd thought; he could actually bring a very dead body back to life.
It doesn't stop there. Throughout the novel, despite being afraid that the government is going to get him, he keeps on telling people. He tells his parents, he tells his new girlfriend, he tells a police officer, he tells a bunch of complete strangers to him, etc. It's ridiculous. He even then decides to show off his abilities to his parents (his father's idea) by bringing back his long dead great-grandmother (on his mother's side). It's all a pretty stupid thing to do. This is also where those prior mentioned complete strangers (one also being an AFTD) come across him having brought back his dead great grandmother. They fight to get control of her and he ends up needing Tiff's (the other AFTD) help to get the dead body back in the ground. All throughout the book, he (and other people he's told) keep on expressing worry that the government is going to take notice. Yet he keeps on performing these ridiculous feats just to show off. He might not think it's just to show off, but that's certainly what it seems like to me.
Basically, soon after he finds out he's an AFTD, he also gets a new girlfriend. Jade LaClerc. He's been eying her off for a long time. But suddenly she takes notice of him as soon as he becomes interesting to her. It seems kind of tacky. I think their whole relationship is somewhat poorly written. Mind you, the relationships he has with everyone feel forced. With his parents, it seems like the author is trying to be overly cool, but of course he thinks they're lame. With his friends, they're all using various slang and lingo. Much of the time, it just seems like the author is using such poor language just to be offensive because much of the time, they also use a lot of derogatory terms and other offensive comments. It doesn't fit properly with the plot so it all looks out of place. Much of the story is written in Caleb's mind and he thinks a lot of stupid things. Much of the grammar and sentence structure is poor. One would think that being in the future, they would actually teach kids basic grammar. Sadly no. It's tacky and forced. Not to mention, much of the text includes current pop culture references, playing it off as if Caleb is so "old school" and he's better because he actually reads Stephen King (name dropping), has a wind up watch and an old bike (hand me downs). He keeps on trying to make it seem cool, as if he's better than everyone else (even showing off these things to his friends), but it just seems sad.
Going on with that point, the futuristic (not really that far ahead of us in time) aspects are kind of lame and poorly explained. The author first introduces the "Pulse" as if we should all know what they are. It turns out they're just glorified mobile phones that people use a bit like texting. Other pulse related items also have little imagination, being that they're all just basic items we have nowadays, only that they use Pulse technology instead. They basically have television and games connected to the Pulse. They also have the Pulse connected to their house, landline phone (or Pulse, now) and various other things in everyday life. I would have thought that being in the future, there would be much neater things, even though it's not that far ahead in time.
I might go back to that point later. For now, I'll go on about the government stuff. So, basically, he's worried they're after him. He's worried about all the police now in his life. A little bit in the future, he's also going to be going through the AP test where it will be decided what school all these students will go to next. It will also be where these children will be "found out" by the government and what sort of abilities they have (not all of them do). Yet, weirdly enough, the majority of his friends do have abilities, even the bunch he's now gained from the start of the story (which doesn't even make much sense to me, either). So, after doing the test, he's found out as a 2 point AFTD (on a scale from 1-5. Or 6 as they later assume). He'd taken a medication his dad had given him to make sure he didn't test as a full 5, as we all assume he is. The government knows he's a 5, anyway, because they've been keeping an eye on him for a while. Later, he finds out that the government had been sort of tapping his phones and his home. They know he's a high level AFTD because of the information they've gained from this and watching him closely. They end up trying to kidnap him... Because of the awful things said about the government (gossip), we're meant to assume that it's all bad and he'll be made to do bad things with them. They didn't need to try and kidnap him. They could have just had him arrested or maybe "taken him into custody" or something "legal". They're the government and the way the author was making it seem, they could have just turned up anywhere and legally take him. Yet, they try and kidnap him within a large group of teenagers and were planning on taking him away with a helicopter. They didn't need to go to that much effort, even if they were kidnapping him. They could have taken him at any time in the past few weeks- at home, school, shopping, in the graveyard, etc. They could have waited until he was alone. However, for some really unexplainable reason, they decided to wait until he was surrounded by a group of people, other paranormals. It doesn't make sense. Yet, I think for some reason, the author was trying to make it seem cool; the government coming to take him with a helicopter sounds cooler than just trying to gag him and drive him off in a dark van. It was a useless scene.
Much of the novel was useless, though. A lot of the book is about teenage things. It seems as if the author takes us through a heap of useless things during Caleb's day. We wake up, we get dressed (going through dirty cloths to find the few that smell the least), eat breakfast (he always eats more than his father), we go to school and spend ages in class with him (talking about useless things), having lunch (he hates vegetables and is continually shock that it's all Jade eats), etc, etc, etc. It's really annoying. I'm all for including details in novels, but this was so ridiculous. This was absurd with detail and just went on forever.
It's very condescending, even going so far to explain minor words (that people really ought to already know), yet doesn't explain things more important to the novel (like what Pulses really are, but instead we need to figure it out ourselves). If teenagers are really like this, than this is really sad- not to mention that it will be really sad if teenagers (and adults) become this stupid; that's an awful thought for the future of the human race. The characters are extremely unlikeable to me (trying too hard to be cool, using swearing just because and even showing major bouts of stupidity). The futuristic society doesn't show many decent changes, instead it seems to be a little bit of propoganda. The plot idea was good, but really badly performed. I think the bad performance was predominantly a mix of the bad writing and the author just kept on going with every stupid idea that popped into their head, even if it didn't pan out into anything useful to the plot (oh, I'm going to pretend it's Friday the 13th coming up so they can go to a haunted house... for no reason).
Usually I'm generous with rating books I didn't like. One star is more than generous in this case. I will probably not continue to read this series. I got this as part of a three book pack from Amazon (the first three books in this series) for free. If I had actually paid for it, I would have been really upset. As it is, I'm just pretty disappointed with this book. Really, really disappointed. That's just all my opinion, though. -
Death Whispers is set in the year 2025 when all teens are given a vaccine that causes almost all of the students to develop paranormal abilities. Caleb Hart a fifteen year old boy learns that he has an Affinity for the Dead the rarest ability of all. Caleb must hide the fact that he has this ability from the government. Hiding his ability from the government and others as well is not as easy as it may seem. If the government finds out that his Affinity for the Dead is off the scale then they would take Caleb and he would have to live in their labs so that they could study him and they would also make him work for them.
Affinity for the Dead means that Caleb can raise the dead and make them do what he wants them to do. He is their master. He also has the ability to put them back in their graves but sometimes he needs help from his girlfriend Jade and her paranormal ability. All of Caleb's friends have paranormal abilities as well. They have different abilities than Caleb and their powers are not as strong. Caleb is very smart for his age; he tries very hard to take care of Jade. Jade's father is an alcoholic and likes to use Jade as a punching bag. Jade was taken out of her father's home and sent to live with her Aunt. Caleb also watches out for all of his friends even the J's, John and Jonesy. The J's are like most teens that like to take risks and is always looking for something new to get into. They are very comical too. Always saying things to make you laugh.
Caleb and his friends are always being chased and running away from bullies. I never really seen anything that they had did to these bullies. You know anything that would give them a reason to chase them down and want to beat them up but I guess that is why they are called bullies. Caleb and the guys made themselves a real cool hideout. Somewhere they could go to hide from the bullies and hopefully a safe place to hide from the government also.
I really loved reading Death Whispers with all the action and twist and turns. I loved the twist on the walking dead. I mean these guys could talk well it wasn't like they could hold a conversation or anything. But they could say words though. The dead didn't walk around and kill people all the time although they could if Caleb gave the command. This was one great book. If you like reading about the walking dead then I think you would really love Death Whispers. I can't wait to read more about Caleb, the J's, Jade and all of the characters in the Death Series. -
I really like this novel. I especially love that the main character is male, as more often than not, lead roles in YA literature are female (why is that?). I’ve been looking for something along these lines to promote reading among my male student for a while, and thankfully, I’ve now found it. With a main character that can raise corpses, how can you go wrong?
It is obvious that Blodgett spent a lot of time writing Death Whispers, perfecting the scientific and technological aspects of this futuristic dystopian novel. I was reminded of one of my favorite TV shows, Heroes, as I read. While many young adults will come into their special power during puberty, not all will choose to use their powers for good. And, with many new powers coming to light each year, the government, of course, is going to be on the lookout for any powers that may be politically important. One main difference, though, is that all young adults know that they may manifest these powers, and they are, therefore, subjected to a mandatory AP test to determine their placements in high school—which I think is a really ingenious idea that Blodgett incorporated into the novel, as it creates suspense in the terms that “big brother is watching you.”
As the synopsis states, Caleb has a very rare talent, as do a few of his friends, and it was really fun to follow the characters as they discover their different abilities and learn to control and hide them, especially as the ever looming government could easily swoop in at any moment. What I really love about these powers, especially Caleb’s, is that Blodgett doesn’t sugarcoat them. For instance, the corpses don’t come back as they were in life, but rather in their various stages of decompose, including the smell. It was really interesting to read about this, and Blodgett writes in such a way that the reader can easily visualize it (though thankfully not smell it!)...
To read my full review:
http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/20... -
I tend to stay away from YA books that involve high schoolers because I find them to be immature and silly. This book, so not the case. I grabbed this book as a freebie a couple of years ago and am so glad I did. The author just 'gets it' with describing teenage life. It felt as if it could really happen.
As it turns out, the human genome has been fully mapped out & with it, paranormal 'markers' have been discovered. As a result, our government has decided to inoculate the children to bring out these paranormal abilities, that just so happen to manifest during puberty. We all know how puberty works. Some are early bloomers, some are on time, while others are late bloomers. Having paranormal abilities is no different. However, the government has taken notice to certain people, let's say with certain paranormal abilities, and use them for nefarious reasons, for their ill intent. It's happened before this generation and they are not keen on that idea. I mean who would be? Your freedoms stripped, having no say in how you want to live your life. Not a life at all. So these kids, with their newly discovered abilities, are trying to gain control over them and try to live their lives like normal teens. This is just the beginning of their story... -
I wasnt sure about this book at first since the main character is a guy, and I am used to reading book that have female leads. But I was suprisingly astounded. I really loved this book. The kids in it crack me up, and the parents, well most of them, are great. On a few parts I am sitting here saying wtf are these boys thinking doing that, and then I realize well they are boys, and thats what boys do. Im starting on the 2nd book in the series right now.
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I don't know where to start! I LOVED this book! I felt like I was a fly on the wall listening to these kids talk unguarded...(fascinating vocabularies, by the way!) Even though the story takes place in the future, there were so many references to today's times and the semi-recent past, that it was all totally believable! Loved the characters, young teens at that in-between stage coming from so many different lifestyles. Great read!!!
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EXCELLENT!!! What an incredible book. Tamara Rose Blodgett captures the essence of teen boy relationships and combines it perfectly with a fantastical paranormal tale.
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The new cover for this was bothering me...
Death Whispers
Three Trials
...Now I know why. -
DNFed at 42%. I can't trudge through it any longer, not without booze, and I guess this is a sure sign I shouldn't go on.
I wanted to like this story so, so badly. You can't imagine. Necromancy is exactly the kind of magic (or, more generally, power) that fascinates me, for all the possibilities it offers and questions it raises, and from the blurb, I thought I would love this story. Even the acronym for Caleb's ability (AFTD - Affinity For The Dead) got my attention.
But I just can't, for the following reasons:
Juvenile prose, for starters. Granted, the narrator is supposed to be 13-14, However, the jumbled thoughts, run-on sentences and limited vocabulary still made it hard to go through the story. Some sentences were also really weird:"Mom liked to notice me growing by saying my eyeballs were "taller" than whatever random day she had noticed before."
Huh?
Too much useless dialogue and everyday life scenes. Those needed serious trimming. I don't demand action and only action, but I really don't need to know about every breakfast food, teenage thought, phone (sorry, pulse) conversation, and so on. There's a fine line to tread between "characters who're still schooled yet are never seen in class/doing homework" and "detailing every school day". Here, it was just too much of the latter. On top of it, Caleb's observations weren't particularly interesting.
Annoying characters, especially Jonesy. Jonesy wasn't funny nor clever. He was just the kind of moronic teenage boy who's probably going to earn a Darwin Award someday. From the start, I just couldn't stand him. With such friends, who still needs enemies?
And then, then: Too Stupid To Live characters. The whole lot, adults included.
The premise seems to be about Caleb not wanting to end up like the one guy who had exactly the same abilities as him (basically, this would mean being stripped of all his freedom and human rights, and be used as a government tool). So why, why does he have to blab about it to everyone, and show off his power? In the most idiotic ways possible?
He faints in biology class due to "hearing" all the dead frogs. However, he doesn't want the two school bullies to think he's a sissy. What does he do? Take them to the local cemetery and raises some random bloke from his grave.
The guys are bullies. They never miss an opportunity to taunt him. Worst people ever to show off to.
He raises a dead dog in the middle of the street. With plenty of witnesses around."A cop's interest in our lives couldn't be a good thing, whatever angle you look from."
Oh, really?
Then why did you tell said cop about his being AFTD?"Garcia looked at Mom thoughtfully. [...] I decided to man-up, I wasn't little anymore.
I broke the silence. "I have Affinity for The Dead.""
A cop. Not a bad guy overall, but still, someone whose duty involves reporting people like Caleb:"If I find out you're a Cadaver-Manipulator, we are lawfully bound to report that to the proper authorities."
And it's not only Caleb. It's everyone.
Jonesy doesn't seem to grasp the basic concept of "talking about Caleb's abilities could mean the government finding out". Of course, he flaps his mouth in front of Caleb's parents and the cop:"Jonesy piped in, "I still wanna know what happened to the dog.""
(Caleb did a mental facepalm; so did I.)
The two bullies? They don't rat Caleb out. Seriously, if I had been a villain, and disliked some guy like they seemed to dislike him, I'd have used that golden opportunity to get rid of him.
His parents: they're supposed to be the growns-up. His father's the one who mapped up the whole human genome, thus paving the way to the tests and injection that would later awaken latent abilities in teenagers. Like Parker (the first AFTD). Like Caleb. I expected much more from them. They didn't deliver.
Example: they want to test his abilities. The best course of action they devise is to take him to the cemetery to talk to his great-grandmother, and potentially, raise her from her grave (by the time it happens, they already suspect he's not just the basic AFTD kid who can merely see and talk to ghosts)."Mom began, 'We've thought about it and decided that after this whole mess is over,' her smile said the mess wasn't my fault [...]"
I'm sorry to break the news to you, Caleb, but yes, it is. It is your fault. At this point, you're too stupid to be left running free, because who knows what harm you could do, considering the dumb ideas you and your pals could still come up with?
A wonder he hasn't been discovered/ratted out already. I won't find out on my own, though. I'm giving up.
-
*50 Book Challenge 2012, Book 38*
_Death Whispers_ by
After the bad taste left by my last foray into books provided for free on Amazon I surprised myself by jumping right into another one instead of a work or author already tried and true. I'm glad I did.
The most basic premise is this: imagine a world where government backed mapping of the human genome in 2010 leads to a vaccine all children receive that has the added bonus of giving most children a superhuman power during puberty. Now fast forward to 2025 where that world is a reality and our main protagonist, the son of one of the scientists responsible for this discovery, is in the 8th grade and discovering he has necromancy, one of the rarest, and apparently most mistrusted/dangerous/government-watchdogged powers a kid could develop (in fifteen years, the only other person known to develop this power, called "Affinity For the Dead" is taken by the government when his powers surface--leading to a lot of paranoia on our protagonist's part).
What we end up with is a YA novel about this kid and his friends dealing with first loves, friendships, burgeoning abilities, independence, abuse, trust, etc.
For most of the novel, I wasn't sold on why AFTD was a more dangerous or scary power than something with much more overt aggressive applications like pyromancy, weather control, etc. but it wasn't a distraction not being sold on it. I enjoyed the characters; I enjoyed their voices; I enjoyed their stories. This is a book I would read again. This is a book I'd suggest for others.
Not that I don't have quibbles:
Our protagonist's two best friends, "The J's." They're great characters, but I never felt like I got enough of a description of them physically to really picture them as I read along.
While they were thankfully sparse, the parts that drift into the reanimated dog's perspective were more distracting.
I thought the end was too easy, which makes sense on top of my only real quibble: the book ultimately doesn't confront and solve any of the kids' main issues. It superbly sets up storylines to come (I'm really looking forward to exploring the serial killer story responsible for all the child-ghosts that I see is at least part of book two, which I just bought) but didn't itself really have the most satisfying climax. Without spoiling specifics, it felt like we had a large, well-written lead-up towards a major confrontation between the X-Men and Magneto and instead we got a well-written lead-up to the minor first contact between the X-Men and Magneto. Now we know a real confrontation is inevitable, but what we got wasn't as big or as scary as it was built up to be. Even still, it doesn't diminish the over-all product for me, I just wanted it to be more and I hope book two is more satisfying when it comes to executing the pay-off for the things it builds up.
I give this first outing a solid B+. Comic book and paranormal lit fans are going to enjoy this. -
The first thing that stood out to me about Death Whispers is that it's told from a male point of view! It was very interesting and different to be in the mind of a teenage boy. Even though I myself have never been a teenage boy, I thought the author did a great job capturing the teen boy essence, complete with smelly socks and an insatiable appetite! But Caleb isn't a normal teenage boy, even among those who develop paranormal abilities. He has a rare ability to raise the dead!
I loved the setup of scientists finally unlocking the human genome and discovering latent supernatural/paranormal abilities coded there. These abilities now manifest at puberty due to some kind of shot all kids get, and Caleb has got the rarest of the rare of abilities. One that he must hide, or else the government may take him away to use his abilities for "political" purposes. Of course, Caleb is a bit careless with his power as the book moves along. Using zombies to fight off bullies and help build a hideout is not the smartest of moves. The zombie-gopher army was pretty awesome though!
One thing that I didn't like about this book was that it took place in "our world." Everything related to the paranormal abilities, and AP testing, came about because of President Obama's health care reform. It was only mentioned once, but I would have preferred this to have been set in a fictional government. I did like how some of today's stuff was considered old school (Hinder, phone numbers, books, etc). It's something I often think about, since technology and trends are always evolving. I thought those aspect were added in nicely.
This may be random, but I absolutely loved Caleb's mom! She's a cookie baking environmentalist, and doesn't let Caleb get away with using "gay" and "retard" as derogatory terms. You go, Alicia Hart!
While this book for some reason seemed longer than its 354 pages (there was a lot going on), I really enjoyed it. I loved how the different paranormal abilities were categorized and ranked based on strength. Watching Caleb discover all he can do was fun, exciting, and sometimes a little scary (Great Grandma!!!). There were themes of how much the government should be involved in our lives, and that great power needs to be used responsibly!
Read more of my reviews at
Pinkindle Reads & Reviews. -
Stories with male leads aren’t normally my thing, and I wasn’t sure how far I’d get when I first started reading. But I was hooked by the end of the first page, and starting with a past event and then transitioning back to the present was what did it. It made me feel like the world inside Death Whispers had existed long before I’d opened the book, but at the same time I didn’t feel like I was struggling to catch up. Caleb’s memory of a disastrous day in Biology was the perfect place to start. It both gave valuable background information and set the stage for future events at the same time.
Since the story is set in the future there’s some pretty cool new technology involved that made the techie in me sit up and take notice. It took me a little while to catch on to some of the new gadgets, but the fact they were gradually introduced and explained in the story made it easy. Also, most of the new technology were very logical evolutions of existing technologies, which made it easier to follow along with.
The relationship between Caleb and Jade seemed very genuine. Tamara didn’t over dramatize the nerves or the fist steps of their relationship. She just set let it progress naturally which resulted in a connection between the two that seemed as real as that between any couple in any hallway of any high school in the U.S.
For me the best part by far was trying to connect the dots and figure out what was going on with all the other teen aged characters. Caleb was focused on the development of his own paranormal powers, but at the same time there were little bread crumbs being dropped about the other characters paranormal powers. Trying to figure out what the powers were before Caleb found out was a lot of fun for me.
Death Whispers was an excellent debut from Tamara Rose Blodgett that I recommend to teen and adult readers alike, but you'd better pick up your copy soon so that you're up to date when Death Speaks, the second novel in the Death Series, comes out this summer. -
In Death Whispers by Tamara Rose Blodgett the human genome project has been finished and some amazing things were discovered. Human beings have the ability to harness paranormal powers! With this discovery the government becomes much more involved in everyone's lives as certain injections to help trigger these powers become mandatory. There are various types of power, but the rarest of all is affinity for the dead (AFTD). Caleb is a normal eighth grade boy, hanging out with his friends trying to find the courage to talk to the girl he likes. That all changes in biology one day when the frogs they are dissecting begin speaking to him and he passes out. Still wanting to be normal he tries to hide his powers, but the specialized testing to determine the gifted kids will soon out him to the world.
The story of this book was fantastic. The thought that because his power is so rare and powerful that the government was going to snatch him away from his life and make him a virtual slave to their will provided a lot of motivation for Caleb's family to try to find a way to hide his talent. Even the fact that Caleb could be taken away from everything he knows however doesn't change that fact that Caleb is an eighth grade kid who just discovered he has some amazing abilities. He gets himself and some of his friends into trouble in a way that is totally believable for a kid to do.
The only real issue I had was the story being told through Caleb's eyes. He was well written and the dialogue pretty realistic for a kid his age, but there were times it got a little old. The system of powers and the sorting of them was ingenious. It is relatively simple so you don't need three glossaries to cross reference everything and understand, but it is a very complete system. This is a series that I will follow to find out how Caleb harnesses his powers and to learn more about the other abilities as well. Very well done especially for a first time author.
Copy provided for review. -
Reviewed for Free Book Dude for Aug. 27 2012
5 Stars!
I totally enjoyed this book and plan to immediately move on to the other books in the series. Author Tamara Rose Blodgett constructs an intricate framework in which her characters interact. Attuned to the adolescent patois, attitudes, and emotions, she skillfully draws both her young characters (most in eight grade and at or near puberty-a crucial factor in the plot) and the adults: parents, educators, school administrators, law enforcement personnel, and government bureaucrats). Each is well-tuned and comprehensible-many are likeable. Even the “villains” are well-rounded.
In this milieu, the Human Genome was successfully mapped in 2010, and not just the predilections for cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s were discovered. Paranormal talents also seem to be genetically-based, and beginning in 2015, a government-mandated program inoculated every child entering kindergarten. At or near puberty, these talents become apparent, and adolescents are tested in their 13th year, then shuffled into different high school according to their talents. The rare talents, such as pyrokinesis and “Affinity for the Dead,” are especially singled out, because of their potential for military activation.
Caleb Hart is the only child of the scientist who mapped the Human Genome-and his talent is off-scale for “AFTD.” He knows he has to modulate it, if possible to conceal it, or the secret government agencies will step in and hide him. But it’s hard to hide, when the bullies are everywhere he goes, he’s just got a new girlfriend to whom he’s devoted, and he has to protect friends, old and new. Come along for a roller-coaster ride in “Death Whispers”-I guarantee you’re gonna love it. -
I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started this book, apart from it being YA. What I got was a cool paranormal story set in the futuristic 2025 with awesome attention to detail from extreme recycling, to Pulses, the mobile phones of the future. TRB has the most amazing imagination!
In the future, the teenage population not only have to deal with puberty but the possible onset of paranormal powers like Empath, Pyrokenesis, Telepathy and Affinity for the Dead(AFTD-corpse raising) just to name a few. We follow 15 year old Caleb Hart, coping with his blooming taboo power of AFTD where he's discovering he can raise zombies to do his bidding.
One of the best things about this book is the teenage dialogue! It took me back to my teenage years. TRB nailed the attitude, mind set, humour, the teenage banter and interaction. Her ability to write as a 15yr old boy is beyond cool. I particularly loved the relationship between Caleb and his parents. I hope my boys and I can share similar.
The only trouble I had with the book was my lack of knowledge of the American language. Yes I'm Aussie and yes I speak English as do Americans, but like us with our famous Aussie slang, there is a whole different vocab of words that I had no idea what they were! Luckily kindle dictionary was up for the challenge! In saying this, I loved that it was written this way, and not in a generic way, if that makes sense! I've learnt a whole heap of new words and terms and it just made the story all the more awesome.
Death Whispers was a great read and I couldn't wait to go on to the next book, Death Speaks and all of the others in the series. The storyline is brilliant and the characters quickly wormed their way into my heart!
Definitely a must read! -
So after a long break from reading/blogging/fun in general (worst decision ever), I finally finished Death Whispers by Tamara Rose Blodgett. And yes my friends, it was amazing. I don't usually go for books with male protags, but I lurved this one. It was definitely a fun read ... a little creepy (The kids have a thing for cemeteries), but fun. I don't want to give too much away, but it's basically about a group of kids who manifest powers after a government sanctioned vaccine or something. Their lives are pretty much determined for them depending on the talent they develop--Affinity for the dead, Empathy, Psychic Null, Pyrokenesis, etc. And as their talents become known, so does their potential for exploitation. Seriously, if our government could raise an army of zombies, what do you think they'd do with it?
But anyway, this was a meaty read at 9212 kindle locations. Mrs. Blodgett provided enough information to leave me satisfied, but held back just enough to leave me thirsting for more. And yep, I've already bought book #2, which should tell you just how much I enjoyed book #1.
So it goes without saying that I highly recommend Death Whispers. I just checked and it's still free on Amazon, so make sure to grab a copy while it lasts.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ULVYAU/
