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Review: Anomaly by Tonya Kuper (Schrodinger’s Consortium #1)

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Anomaly by Tonya Kuper // VBC ReviewAnomaly (Schrodinger’s Consortium #1)
Tonya Kuper
Published: Nov. 25, 2014 (Entangled Teen)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Kris

Rating (out of 5): 3 stars

Josie’s 17th birthday is not off to a great start. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, her dad is still playing absentee father, and the new kid at school brings on the strangest headache.

Quickly, Josie discovers that a breakup is the least of her worries. Reid Wentworth’s introduction into her life is the flashpoint that changes everything. Things she thought were impossible are now possible, people she has known her whole life are suddenly strangers, danger surrounds her and time is running out. Oh and she can make stuff appear and disappear with her mind.

Josie will have to learn to harness her powers and trust her instincts if she wants to survive what is coming her way.

Anomaly is a quick, fun, and enjoyable read. The mechanics of the book work well. The story flows, there are no major plot holes, and the main characters are developed.

I absolutely love the magical construct that Kuper has developed. Basing her system so deeply in physics is not something I have really seen in YA—it feels fresh and interesting. The strength in Anomaly lies in the development and history of the Oculi and the conflict with the Consortium.

There were a few issues that kept me from rating Anomaly a bit higher. The largest problem I have is with Josie. While she is a well-formed character, I had a hard time empathizing with her. I think she falls victim to the recent trend of “nerds” being the cool thing. She is a little too dialed into all things nerdy: super smart, pop culture oriented, and totally self-aware. She is just too much.

The romance is young—and reads like it. Which is not necessarily a criticism. I think the author does a great job of capturing teenagers being teenagers. I do think there was a little too much focus on that portion of the story considering the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in. However, young love often feels that all consuming.

I would have also liked a bit more development in the secondary characters. The point of view switches between Josie and Reid throughout the book. This device does not bother me, as you get to see a bit more of everything. Unfortunately, that did not extend to the secondary characters so the whole story feels a bit shallow because of that. Even with that, I was infinitely more interested in Josie’s mom and wish we could of had more of her story.

The last main issue I had was that I felt the twists were pretty telegraphed—once the action really gets underway—I didn’t feel any real narrative tension.

Despite these issues, Anomaly is still a fun read. The world building is great and I can see a wonderful overall story starting to form. Anomaly manages to avoid a lot of freshman pitfalls and all of the issues I had with it are fixable throughout a series. If you are looking for a sci-fi YA novel with a bit of a twist, Anomaly is a great choice.

Sexual content: kissing

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