★★★★☆
Highly-evolved humans. An increasingly curious world. A regular high-school boy that gets caught in the heart of it.
Quick Summary:
Select follows a teenage girl, Julia Jaynes, whose family belongs to a separate race of humans with evolved abilities. They mostly keep themselves separate from the outside world, with her father leading the pack. They think regular humans are beneath them, but make every effort to blend in when necessary to prevent too much curiosity about their group.
Their powers include heightened senses, premonition abilities, a higher tolerance for dangerous stunts, and more. An incident happens where Julia jeopardizes the anonymity of the group, and she is forced to spend time apart from the group and sent to a regular high school as punishment. There, she meets John Ford, who sets off a catalyst of events that changes Julia’s entire worldview.
Review:
I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. It was a light read but still gripping, and I absolutely loved “watching” the progression of Julia’s relationship with John. At times, you find yourself at the edge of your seat because you know Julia is putting herself in a dangerous situation the closer she gets to John. Her father is a force to be reckoned with, and it’s not quite clear if he’s the good guy or the bad guy (anti-hero, maybe?). He makes questionable decisions that he believes are for the best, and when you find out his ulterior motive (that poses a danger to John), you contemplate whether you agree with him or not. He was by far the most interesting character.
Most of the characters brought out ambiguous feelings; the only one I really didn’t like was Julia’s half-sister, who didn’t stand up for her when she really needed her. Julia herself was different from the rest of the group in that she was more real – she never came off as cold and unfeeling, like her stepmother. You could feel the dynamics and tension in how she interacted with the rest of the group as opposed to how she connects with John.
My only gripe is that there wasn’t enough information provided to the reader on the group’s history. The layers start getting peeled back, but the true extent of who they are, where they came from, and how they got to where they are today is still a mystery to be discovered. I suspect this may be covered more in book #2, but I still wished I had this knowledge right off the bat.
The ending of the book left me with a cliffhanger, desperate for more. I will certainly be picking up the next installation of the series! It deserved a well-earned four out of five stars.
