Rippler by Cindy Swanson

Title: Rippler

Author: Cindy Swanson

Book #: 1st of Trilogy


Publisher: Williams Press

Publish Date: June 15th 2011

Pages: 288

Format: Kindle Edition


Date Read (Throwback): 
November 26th 2012

Rating: ★★  / out of 5



Summary:

After a freak disappearing act on a school trip, Sam discovers something terrifying about herself- she has the Rippler gene and there are people who want her dead because of it.

Along with her bestfriend, Will, and his sister, Mickie, she searches to discover the answers to their problems. 

And, what they are willing to do to keep each other safe.

Review:

Pros

• The main idea behind the story is decent. I prefer reading stories about people with powers (such as invisibility, flying, laser vision, ect.) to people with shape-shifting powers. This book gave me just that! In the novel, there are people who have a even rarer version of the already rare disease called Helmann's Disease. This super rare variation is called Rippler Syndrome or the Chameleon gene. These few people are hunted and killed, as well as anyone who was studying the disease. (view spoiler)

• The characters are pretty enjoyable. Sam, the main character, is relate-able being that she is just a normal teenage girl. She runs, has a stepmother, crushes on her best-friend, gets into a fight with her other best-friend, blends in at school. Typical teenage girl status. Will is a semi-typical, more of a rare find, kinda guy. He has a family member who is dealing with a drug problem, gives off mixed signals, great personality, charming but not enough to make me gag. Mickie, who is Will's super funny and slightly over protective older sister. She is hilarious and I loved the scenes where her and Will would bicker. Gwyn, eh. At least every book has a "best friend" character that mirrors the main character. That is exactly what Gwyn is, really. She cares about Sam very much though, which is good. 

• The conflict was borderline thrilling. Sam, Will and Mickie are hiding from the people who are killing off anyone who has had any association with Rippler's Syndrome. That means to Sam: no telling parent's or best friends (AKA, Gwyn) which is hard for Sam not to give in to. (view spoiler) It's pretty exciting!

Cons

• Will, poor Will. This paragraph is mostly going to be directed at you. I did not like how much information he gave so early on into the novel! It is the one thing I despise when reading. A simple fix would be to just add a few more pages in. There needs to be more development of the story before so much information is revealed. Having all those details hidden later on in the book is what makes you want to read it more! So you can find out what the heck is going on. 

• The writing style felt a little off to me. I don't recall many grammatical errors, but there were places where I thought "that could be worded a lot better". Another thing that bothered me was how the word guffawed seemed to be used so many times. It was only really used 11 times throughout the book, but it was such a strange word that it stuck out at me every time I read it. It also feels like things were missing from the writing. It felt semi choppy. I was able to stand it, but I wasn't really able to enjoy it.I don't want anyone reading this review to take what I just mentioned here to heart. That is not my intent. Every author has a different style, and I just did not like this one. That does not mean that the majority of people who read this will not, as well.

• Some things just didn't make sense! 

Overall, I thought the book had a good central idea, as well as a nice platform of characters. However, I felt it lacked in wording and flow. I would still recommend it, though, I don't know if I will be reading the next book!


On My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/439535363