Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem's world is about to explode!
My Thoughts :
I can't remember where I came across this book but it has been on my wishlist for a long time now. So when I saw a copy on Audible I decided it was high time I got to see what this book was like. It looked so promising and cool. I was sure I knew how the plot was going to go and what would happen but I was in for a surprise.
The actual idea is wonderfully eerie. Being able to see the date of when a certain person is going to die is a strange but excellent topic for a book and ability for a character. And I admit I was expecting the main character to end up in a government facility somewhere by the halfway mark but I was extremely shocked and pleased to find that the author actually didn't go down that road at all. The one she picked was much more realistic.
Somehow the author managed to make this debut in the series stand out and very thrilling. Two kids running away was believable and their relationship made for great reading. Jem's story very powerful and emotional but still something that could happen. I was able to relate to the characters and their feelings on so many levels but understood the danger and depth of their situation right till the end.
Despite the youngsters being a little slow on the uptake sometimes it was rewarding to see that the author hadn't made them super clever like so many writers do. This is based at Young Adults and it suits that genre very well. However there is so much more to this story that older readers will appreciate it too.
I am looking forward to finding out what happens in the next two books. There was a nice few twists towards the end of Numbers and I am eager to see what the author does with the series. After all I was beginning to feel like this was a one off and not a series. Really worth checking out if you haven't already. Numbers is a thrilling and spectacular story.
Now for the small rant! Something about this audio book annoyed me. Before I continue I have to say I got this copy from Audible.de and the author is British. The book is based in the UK and the narrator uses, and manages, to do a wonderful London accent. However the dates were wrong! At first I thought the story was taking place in April then realised the story was actually set in December. Instead of using the British date system 4/12/2010 meaning the 4th of December, all the dates were in the American format, 12/4/2010.
Being British and this being a British book, well I found this a bit stupid, annoying and ridiculous. I am pretty sure this isn't the fault of the author but the publisher. All that trouble to get a British accent and some of the pronunciation was also wrong. I managed to ignore this after a while but it was still quite frustrating. Rant over ;)
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