Book info

• Title Unleashed
• Author Ali Sparkes
• Year 2011
• Genre Childrens

A group of very special teenagers. Each with an incredible power, they live together, protected by the government. Out in the ordinary world they know they must not use their powers. But good intentions are easy... following them through is another matter. Lisa is one such extraordinary teenager. For her, every day is about life and death. Because she can hear the dead talking, and they never leave her alone. But on a short break in London, the tussle between life and death takes on a new twist. A brilliantly planned kidnap thrusts Lisa into the role of reluctant rescuer alongside Michael, a famous TV psychic. Together they set out to find a missing girl and walk straight into mortal danger. Now Lisa is in fear for her own life, is there anyone to help her?

Thoughts

I picked this up as I thought it was the start of a young adult series, and it is although it’s also a spin off of an existing set of books. I like to start things at the beginning, and there were some passages in the story that made me feel like I’d missed out on things - those catch up sentences summarising whole books as best they can.

That aside, though, it was a fun read. Lisa is a psychic medium, attached to the spirit world, and one of a group of young adults with special abilities who attend a college in Cumbria. In that regard, it’s very much like The X-Men - groups of people with supernatural style abilities who work together to solve crime and stop tragedies.

It was nicely believable though, helped by Lisa’s snarky attitude and the banter that goes between all of the characters. It can get surprisingly dark in places, but overall a good start to the new series, and presumably a good continuation of the previous as well.

Rating: 4 / 5