Author: Cidney Swanson
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Published on: March 8, 2013, self-published
Discovering she can turn invisible terrifies Samantha, especially when she learns a geneticist who murdered her mom wants her too. Handsome Will Baker offers help and secrecy, but soon Sam will have to choose between keeping her secrets and keeping Will in her life. Suspenseful and romantic, Rippler and its sequels capture the collision of the beautiful with the dark.
Two further sequels form a complete trilogy. Four additional books in series for those who fall in love with the Ripple world and want even more!
RIPPLER is the free first book in a teen and young adult paranormal fantasy series set in a contemporary world where invisibility has long been a well kept secret. It combines the heart pounding action of a thriller with a touch of clean romance and a science fiction twist.
Looking forward to reading another contemporary sci-fi novel, I picked up Rippler. It’s the first entry in a trilogy, and it was free when I got it, so that was a boon. I began reading it, not expecting to be significantly wowed or anything. After finishing it, I was eager for more. Books that have characters with special abilities are among my favorite, and Rippler does not disappoint.
The main protagonist is Samantha Ruiz, a teenage schoolgirl from some tiny town called Las Abuelitas. Supposedly, it’s located somewhere in California. The town doesn’t actually exist, just so you know. Personally, I found the name a bit silly, no offense to the author. Anyway, Rippler starts out drawing your interest right from the first page. Samantha’s just suffered an incident in front of her classmates while rowing: she turned invisible. Lucky for Sam, no one notices…except for a boy named Will. He pulls off a well-thought distraction to allow Sam to return to normal.
Sam wonders why Will is helping her conceal her secret. Although they’ve met before, they never really talked much. Sam is a sophomore, and Will is a senior. Will seems to have answers about Sam’s gift of invisibility, which makes them spend a lot more time together. One of their favorite activities is to run to school every morning (they’re both in cross country). Sam is an avid runner, and Will is fond of the activity as well.
It turns out that Sam didn’t know she can control her invisibility power. Every time she’s vanished so far, it wasn’t on purpose. Conveniently, Will’s older sister, Mick, used to work for a scientist who researched Sam’s condition. She learns that the gift of invisibility is genetic and that it's called Helmann’s Disease. Will explains the details to Sam and agrees to teach her how to control her ability.
Before long, Sam learns that Will is also a “rippler.” That’s what his sister Mick calls being able to turn invisible. The latter also tells Sam that there are other ripplers in the world, and that they’re all being hunted. A dangerous group has some nefarious plans in the works, and they don’t want rogue ripplers around. This is the reason Sam and Will moved to Nowheresville, America. They and Sam believe they’re safe in the small town, where news travel faster than light.
Most of the book is rather conflict-less, other than Sam’s growing attraction for Will. This, and her thirst for information on her ability, is what drives the tension at first. I don’t mean to imply that this makes the book bland. On the contrary, the book is definitely interesting. I mean, the rippler ability is quite awesome. I like the author’s take on invisibility. While that’s a common ability, she makes it sound more intriguing. It sort of reminds me of Broken Symmetry by Dan Rix, and its characters who had the ability to walk through mirrors because of a genetic variation. No villain is after those characters, though. In Rippler, Sam eventually runs into a man who turns out to be tracking her down. She decides to take a risk in order to learn more about him and his cohorts.
Although the book ends a bit quickly (it’s one of those I wish lasted longer), it’s rich in story. The characters manage to be interesting in the limited amount of page-time. They don’t need fully fleshed-out character arcs, though, as there are still two more books to go. I enjoyed Rippler, and the world that the author created. It almost makes me wish I’d written it! However, interspersed through some of the chapters are research documents written by the series main villain. He carried out some frightening experiments on children. There’s no way I could have dreamed up that kind of stuff. Another thing I liked is that the characters know French, so there are more than a few exchanges in that language. It’s a bit timely that I started reading this book just when I was becoming really good at understanding French. At the time I'd been studying it for a few months. Now I've pretty much mastered it.
My rating: ★★★★
4 stars - Definitely enjoyed it!
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