Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: September 1st, 2020
624 Pages
Synopsis: A group of outcasts with extraordinary abilities, must save a crumbling world from annihilation in this gripping follow-up to The Nobody People.
Fahima Deeb changed everything seven years ago when she triggered the Pulse, imbuing millions of people with otherworldly gifts like flight, telekinesis, or superhuman strength. She thought that would herald the end of hostilities between those with abilities and those without, but it instead highlighted a new problem: There is someone behind the scenes, able to influence and manipulate these newly empowered into committing horrible acts against their will. Worse still, that shadowy figure is wearing the face of Fahima’s oldest friend, Patrick Davenport. Fahima is horror-struck when she realizes that Patrick has built an army entirely under his control to wipe out all who oppose him.
With nowhere to turn and few she can trust, Fahima must rely on uncertain allies: Carrie Norris whose illusion of a normal life vanishes at Fahima’s reappearance. Clay Weaver, a retired soldier, fighting to keep his husband and son safe—and to keep Patrick from taking over his mind. And, finally, Emmeline Hirsch, adrift and untethered from her ability to travel through time. Together, they might be able to topple Patrick’s shadowy regime…though it may spell destruction for the entire world.
I really enjoyed The Nobody People, the first book in this duology, which was a mashup between X-Men and Harry Potter. The Somebody People picks up seven years after Fahima sent out the Pulse, imbuing more people with abilities in the hope that it would end the fighting between Resonants and those without. Unsurprisingly, this only caused new problems. In this conclusion, the storyline plays out through several characters perspectives and therein lies the problem. There is no recap at the beginning, so readers who read the previous book a year ago are going to have difficulty following things, especially at the beginning. I read The Nobody People just a few months ago and I floundered for a bit, which made the beginning of this book slow going. Thankfully, about 30% in, the action picked up and I wound up being quite entertained. In the end, while I don’t think The Somebody People quite lives up to its predecessor, it’s a fun and satisfying conclusion to this duology. I would only advise that readers who haven’t read The Nobody People do so before jumping into this, and even if you did, if it’s been more than a couple of months, I’d recommend skimming though the first book to refamiliarize yourself with the diverse cast of characters. The Resonants duology was my first introduction to Bob Proehl, and I’m looking forward to what he comes up with next.
It has been some time since I read a duology. Lovely review. Sometimes I find book 1 is more interesting then book 2 loses steam. For some authors they use book 1 as the launch pad and improve in book 2
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Thanks Shalini. This definitely lost some momentum from The Nobody People, but it was still enjoyable.
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Good suugestion to read the first book before attempting this one.
Thanks, Kim.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Some sequels you can just jump into without having read previous book(s), but that’s definitely not the case here.
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This does sound like something I would enjoy! It’s definitely good advice to read the first book (or re-read it so to speak). Honestly though, with my current backlog of books, it will be quite a while when I get to this, but as always I loved reading your post😊
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Thanks Michel. I think this duology is definitely up your street!
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Sounds a lot like Xmen. I’ll pass on this one, got enough superheroes in my life 🤣
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SuperPhil!😁
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😂 he is that!
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