While I thought this was a pretty good book, too many things kept it from being phenomenal or even memorable, and I struggled to find anything that would convince me that it deserved any more than a 3 star rating.First of all, the plot, which was interesting and held potential, was way too thin and full of holes. It's not like I demand everything in a sci-fi novel to work realistically, but I do have expectations that it be somewhat logical. I am much more lenient about this point when it comes to young adult novels, but then that's not what this book is. At times, it does feel like the author wants you to not ask questions and just run with it.
For example, take the book's idea of discrimination against amplified humans or "Amps" -- it feels very crude and underdeveloped to me, like I'm not so sure the country would simply deny a whole swath of the population their basic human rights overnight without a million things happening before that point. Sure, there were a few details about a court case, but I would have loved to see more details. Without them, the story's premise just feels like an empty shell. That said, Wilson is definitely a strong writer on the whole futuristic technology front, but seems to falter when it comes to constructing and describing plausible human societies.
Next up, the characters. I don't know what it is, but I found the main protagonist extremely bland and pathetic. There is hardly anything noteworthy about him at all. The other supporting characters fare a little better, but again, like many of the themes present in this book, they feel underdeveloped. They are like templates, saying things and acting in ways that are very predictable and not very realistic.
Like I said, despite the problems I had with it, I didn't think this was such a terrible book. It just felt like it needed more substance. I did enjoy the addition of news reports, article excerpts, transcript documents etc. at the beginning of each chapter though; I thought that was a nice touch. Pity they weren't enough to flesh out the book's setting and plot.
