Sean Cummings is a fantasy author with a penchant for writing quirky, humorous and dark novels featuring characters that are larger than life. His debut was the gritty urban fantasy SHADE FRIGHT published in 2010. He followed up later in the year with the sequel FUNERAL PALLOR. His urban fantasy/superhero thriller UNSEEN WORLD was published in 2011.2012 saw the publication of Sean’s first urban fantasy for young adults. POLTERGEEKS is a rollicking story about teen witch Julie Richards, her dorky boyfriend and race against time to save her mother’s life. The first sequel, STUDENT BODIES is due for publication in September 2013.
Sean Cummings lives in Saskatoon Canada.
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Author: Sean Cummings
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release: September 3rd 2013
Pages: 340 (ARC)
Pre-Order: Amazon UK / Amazon US / TBD / Barnes & Noble
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Whoever said being a teenage witch would be easy? For fifteen-year-old Julie Richardson and the city’s resident protector from supernatural evil, the Left Hand Path doesn't give a damn if you've found true love for the first time in your life. There’s someone lurking the halls of Crescent Ridge High School with enough malice to unleash an epidemic of Soul Worms – supernatural larvae that feed on the very fabric of a victim’s humanity.
After witnessing the death of one of the most popular kids at school, Julie and über genius boyfriend Marcus are in a race against time to find out who is behind the attacks. All the evidence points to a horrifying plot at the City Weir during the Winter Solstice; the place where icy waters of the Bow River and a thunderous spillway will mean the deaths of more than a hundred of Julie’s classmates.
If she has any hope of saving their lives, she’ll need a little help from a coven of white witches and an Aboriginal mage whose snarky attitude is matched only by her magical prowess.
YESSSSSSSSSS. I don't know what else you want me to say apart from that. I finished Poltergeeks and immediately wanted more from Julie and her wacky crew - which I luckily got, since I had this book on hand. Student Bodies was even better than its prequel; everything was kicked up a notch, and I was left in a whirlwind of even better fight scenes and a much improved plot!
In Poltergeeks, the reader meets Julie, a teenage white witch. After saving her mother from the dangerous grasp of a tricky frenemy, the gang set about trying to find out more about her father's death and what being a Shadowcull is all about. Immediately, Julie is thrust into picking up where her father left off, as teenagers at her school begin to be overtaken by transparent worms and lead, unconsciously, to their deaths. An enemy of her father's is now her enemy, and Julie must gather her forces together in as little time as possible, before the coven is overthrown.
We had new characters - YAY! But what were their names? Twyla (good so far, good so far) Standingready...yeah. Do I even have to say anything more? That is the worst surname I have ever come across (aside from our good friend Tookie over in Modelland), and it did slightly put me off the character. However, I quickly jumped back onto the bandwagon, as she turned out to be just as awesome and badass as Julie was, if not more! Is it bad that I want a Twyla spin-off? I want a Twyla spin-off. And she was Indian too! Yes for racial diversity! I really hope we see more of her in future novels.
Julie was just as great, and I loved the storyline Cummings concocted between her and Marcus. As much as I liked him, and as much as I know the paranormal genre isn't exactly realistic anyway, I loved it because of the fact that it did held elements of contemporary realism. If Julie's situation was real, that is the kind of thing that would happen, and I applaud the author for this.
Student Bodies was repetitive. Great action sequences, a good, thick plot, but it did go around in circles for a little while, following the pattern of We-Is-Gonna-Do-That-Thing, Oh-Wait-We-Is-Distracted-From-Doing-That-Thing, Now-We-Is-Going-To-Do-That-Thing, Oh-Wait-Again. After a while, I did feel like yelling JUST KILL 'EM! KILL 'EM ALL! But unlike it would do with other books, the repetitiveness put me off reading the book - it kind of made me want to know more about what would happen when they finally did do 'that thing'.
A lot of sequels suffer from SBS, otherwise known as Second Book Syndrome. Student Bodies is the exact opposite, as every last thing you can think of that was wrong with Poltergeeks is improved. Again, I am left wanting more - but unfortunately, this time I don't have the next book yet! But I will one day, and I honestly can't wait for it. If you love the paranormal genre, then give Poltergeeks and Student Bodies a go - it's a series to look out for.
Rating: 4/5
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