Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Wednesday Books, 2019.
Description
P.C. and Kristin Cast, the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the House of Night phenomenon, return to the scene with The Dysasters--the first action-packed novel in a new paranormal fantasy series. Adoptive daughter of a gifted scientist, Foster Stewart doesn't live a "normal" life, (not that she'd want to). But controlling cloud formations and seeing airwaves aren't things most eighteen year olds can do. Small town star quarterback and quintessential dreamy boy next door, Tate "Nighthawk" Taylor has never thought much about his extra abilities. Sure, his night vision comes in handy during games, but who wouldn't want that extra edge? From the moment Foster and Tate collide, their worlds spiral and a deadly tornado forces them to work together, fully awakening their not-so-natural ability - the power to control air. As they each deal with the tragic loss of loved ones, they're caught by another devastating blow - they are the first in a group of teens genetically manipulated before birth to bond with the elements, and worse... they're being hunted. Now, Foster and Tate must fight to control their abilities as they learn of their past, how they came to be, who's following them, and what tomorrow will bring... more DYSASTERS?… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member PinkPurlandProse
Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and P.C. and Kristin Cast for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.
Guys, I really wanted to like this one. It checked a lot of my boxes. Kids with cool powers - check, mad
Foster and Tate are on the run and trying to stay one step ahead of Foster’s father and his four minions. Foster’s adoptive mother has spent the last year and a half teaching Foster how to stay off the grid and before her tragic death made Foster promise to protect Tate, find the safe house and locate six other teenagers who are also in danger. It turns out that Foster and Tate share more than a birthday. They also can control the element air. Each pair of the other teenagers will also come into their powers on their eighteenth birthday and be able to control one of the elements. Foster’s father, who was a brilliant scientist, did some experimenting while they were in-utero and modified their genetic make-up. Now he wants to kidnap the kids, study them on his secret remote island and exploit them for their powers. Can Foster and Tate stay safe? Will they be able to learn how to use their powers without causing weather disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes? Can they find the other kids in time?
This reminded me so much of “I Am Number Four”. There are small differences like Foster, Tate and the other kids are human, but they are all alone in the world, with no one to guide them. They have this power that has always been calling to them that they haven’t yet got under control. They make friends who will help them in their journey. They are on the run and must hide who they are. I found the romance between Foster and Tate inconsistent, unbelievable, uncomfortable and kind of icky. I think I didn’t respond to the writing. I am also tired and just plain angry when the misunderstood, alone in the world, girl has to be written as bitchy until she is understood, or she lets her walls down or whatever other nonsense. What was missing that I Am Number Four had was really evil and violent people chasing them and super cool monsters that got in on the fighting. These thirty year old whiners behaved worse than the children they were chasing and again the writing flip flopped between do we not like them or are we supposed to feel sorry for them. Overall, more danger to create some tensions, more connection or build up for the romance (I mean can they at least like each other before they fall in love) and some sort of super cool effects (if no monsters) would have really upped the ante in this story.
You know when you read a book and then see the movie and the movie is such a disappointment. This is one of those cases where I think the movie might be better than the book. Now, to my knowledge, no one is making the movie. In case anyone cares about my two cents, I think it would make a really good movie, if done well, a really great movie. The book, however, was just a yawn-fest. Am I going to check out the next in the series - you know me too well. But I will only go one more round. There are just too many other really good books out there, waiting for me to discover. But one more in the series, just in case things get interesting.
Guys, I really wanted to like this one. It checked a lot of my boxes. Kids with cool powers - check, mad
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scientist mutates DNA - check, secret island slash training facility - check, a little romance action - check, written by an author whose other works I like - check, was in the mood and looking forward to reading it - check, check, check. Not what I was hoping for. I found the premise played out, the characters cardboard cut-outs and nothing about the action interesting enough to keep me hooked. It was easy to read and although I never had the urge to give up, or not finish, I just plodded along, hoping it would get better, then realizing yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen, and like a kid on a long car ride I kept asking “are we there yet” waiting to arrive at the destination. Look, I don’t mind familiar, or done before as long as the how-you-get-there is interesting.Foster and Tate are on the run and trying to stay one step ahead of Foster’s father and his four minions. Foster’s adoptive mother has spent the last year and a half teaching Foster how to stay off the grid and before her tragic death made Foster promise to protect Tate, find the safe house and locate six other teenagers who are also in danger. It turns out that Foster and Tate share more than a birthday. They also can control the element air. Each pair of the other teenagers will also come into their powers on their eighteenth birthday and be able to control one of the elements. Foster’s father, who was a brilliant scientist, did some experimenting while they were in-utero and modified their genetic make-up. Now he wants to kidnap the kids, study them on his secret remote island and exploit them for their powers. Can Foster and Tate stay safe? Will they be able to learn how to use their powers without causing weather disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes? Can they find the other kids in time?
This reminded me so much of “I Am Number Four”. There are small differences like Foster, Tate and the other kids are human, but they are all alone in the world, with no one to guide them. They have this power that has always been calling to them that they haven’t yet got under control. They make friends who will help them in their journey. They are on the run and must hide who they are. I found the romance between Foster and Tate inconsistent, unbelievable, uncomfortable and kind of icky. I think I didn’t respond to the writing. I am also tired and just plain angry when the misunderstood, alone in the world, girl has to be written as bitchy until she is understood, or she lets her walls down or whatever other nonsense. What was missing that I Am Number Four had was really evil and violent people chasing them and super cool monsters that got in on the fighting. These thirty year old whiners behaved worse than the children they were chasing and again the writing flip flopped between do we not like them or are we supposed to feel sorry for them. Overall, more danger to create some tensions, more connection or build up for the romance (I mean can they at least like each other before they fall in love) and some sort of super cool effects (if no monsters) would have really upped the ante in this story.
You know when you read a book and then see the movie and the movie is such a disappointment. This is one of those cases where I think the movie might be better than the book. Now, to my knowledge, no one is making the movie. In case anyone cares about my two cents, I think it would make a really good movie, if done well, a really great movie. The book, however, was just a yawn-fest. Am I going to check out the next in the series - you know me too well. But I will only go one more round. There are just too many other really good books out there, waiting for me to discover. But one more in the series, just in case things get interesting.
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LibraryThing member SJGirl
Some interesting characters and concepts, it’s just, for me, the way it was executed rarely lived up to the potential it had.
This started in a fairly exciting fashion, and emotional, too, with a tornado, deaths, characters coming into their power and racing away from villains, however, without a
This book isn’t that lengthy yet it introduced a large cast of characters with five villains, four heroes, two family members, and two friends. Eve and Mark were refreshingly dimensional villains and G-Pa was fun if implausible, but there just really didn’t seem like there was room enough to get know most of the characters as well as I would have liked. For instance, pretty much my only takeaway about Foster is that she seemed short-tempered, and given that she’s ostensibly the main character, knowing that little about her was unsatisfying. Since this is a series, maybe it would have been better off delving into Foster and Tate here and providing only the slightest glimpse of Charlotte and Bastien at the end, then feature them in the second book. With the divided focus here (and unevenly divided, at that) it kind of felt like both pairings were short-shifted. As for the two friends, Sabine and Finn didn’t feel necessary, without them maybe a little more time could have been spent fleshing out characters vital to the story.
Another thing that to me killed some of the momentum built up in the beginning were the frequent squabbles between Foster and Tate. Yeah, I know that was meant to convey sexual tension but it just felt forced, especially since it happened shortly after they’d lost loved ones, I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’ve lost someone, picking senseless fights really isn’t in my emotional wheelhouse at that particular moment. Their romantic chemistry never did settle into a place that felt all that natural to me, maybe had the authors leaned into Tate’s endearing awkwardness in his opening scene with Foster that could have turned into something I could cheer for, but they never really revisited that fumbling side of him.
The Dysasters is entertaining enough, it just felt like in nearly every area there was the possibility for it to be more.
This started in a fairly exciting fashion, and emotional, too, with a tornado, deaths, characters coming into their power and racing away from villains, however, without a
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prolonged struggle for safety and shelter, the story became less intense. Not only did Cora’s preparations hinder the page-turning quality of the book in that it made things far too easy for Foster and Tate, it also distracted, as my mind kept going to how hard it was to believe that Cora put that much preparation into a safe-house yet she didn’t really have conversations with Foster about this stuff, didn’t drill instructions into her as to how to handle everything and everyone. She’s that concerned for her child yet leaves it in a letter rather than tells her to her face? This book isn’t that lengthy yet it introduced a large cast of characters with five villains, four heroes, two family members, and two friends. Eve and Mark were refreshingly dimensional villains and G-Pa was fun if implausible, but there just really didn’t seem like there was room enough to get know most of the characters as well as I would have liked. For instance, pretty much my only takeaway about Foster is that she seemed short-tempered, and given that she’s ostensibly the main character, knowing that little about her was unsatisfying. Since this is a series, maybe it would have been better off delving into Foster and Tate here and providing only the slightest glimpse of Charlotte and Bastien at the end, then feature them in the second book. With the divided focus here (and unevenly divided, at that) it kind of felt like both pairings were short-shifted. As for the two friends, Sabine and Finn didn’t feel necessary, without them maybe a little more time could have been spent fleshing out characters vital to the story.
Another thing that to me killed some of the momentum built up in the beginning were the frequent squabbles between Foster and Tate. Yeah, I know that was meant to convey sexual tension but it just felt forced, especially since it happened shortly after they’d lost loved ones, I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’ve lost someone, picking senseless fights really isn’t in my emotional wheelhouse at that particular moment. Their romantic chemistry never did settle into a place that felt all that natural to me, maybe had the authors leaned into Tate’s endearing awkwardness in his opening scene with Foster that could have turned into something I could cheer for, but they never really revisited that fumbling side of him.
The Dysasters is entertaining enough, it just felt like in nearly every area there was the possibility for it to be more.
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Language
Physical description
308 p.; 25 cm
ISBN
9781250141040
Other editions
The Dysasters (Dysasters, 1) by P. C. Cast (Hardcover)
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