Hidden Variables

This is a book I really enjoyed. Sophia is an intelligent, caring young woman and one who has big plans for the future. It was easy to get caught up in her concern for her classmate and her desire to do the right thing. It’s a complicated world and family that she’s been brought into, but she handles a lot of what happens to her with grace and level-headedness. The story poses some interesting questions about the nature of knowledge, the potential pitfalls of knowing the future and how the limited nature of Sophia’s gifts could put her in a precarious situation. Especially as she tries to alter things for the better.

One thing that bothered me throughout the book, was that the characters didn’t have much differentiation between their voices, and they all seemed to talk in ‘as-you-know’ explainy dialogue. Which is a real shame, because most of the time what they’re talking about is really interesting. I would have liked to see more personality and characterization present, but overall, the plot was still interesting enough that I kept reading, even despite this.

Because this book is a prequel, there’s a lot of information about things that aren’t necessarily pertinent to this particular story, but from what I gather, matters in later books. It was a little distracting to try to ferret out this information. However, I’m really excited to read the next book, Anomaly, because given what I’ve read already, I wanna know more.

Overall, a very enjoyable and short read. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves stories where you have to collect the pieces and put them together.

by Cheyenne Lepka

This was a compelling read with a good main character. I love the Leto family and how closely knitted they were. Although I found the pacing a little slow at first, it definitely picked up! Also, that cover is absolutely beautiful. Even if you haven't read anything by Caitlin Lynagh, I urge you to give this a go, it does not disappoint!

by Shijia Ali