Author: Cidney Swanson
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Published on: September 6, 2011 by Williams Press
Sixteen-year-old Samantha Ruiz has a lot on her mind. The crush who kissed her but changed his mind. The BFF who thinks Sam is in an abusive relationship. The geneticist who wanted Sam dead but now wants her ALIVE. And of course, Sam’s still dealing with a tendency to disappear into thin air.
When Sam learns of her nemesis Helmann’s Nazi-like plan to establish a Thousand-Year Reign, she’s determined to fight him. Along with Will and Mickie, Sam flees to France to meet Sir Walter—their best hope for stopping Helmann’s brave new world.
But Sam isn’t any safer in France. Someone is following her. Someone invisible. Sam will have to figure out how to hide from an enemy she can’t even see.
This is the second entry in the Rippler trilogy. The main character is Samantha Ruiz, a teenager with a special power. Sam is a rippler, someone who can turn invisible. This series's version of invisibility is rather different, though. Ripplers don't just vanish from view; they become totally incorporeal. This means they can walk through solid objects, among other things. The second protagonist is Will, another young rippler. He takes Sam under his wing after discovering she's like him.
Despite having powers, ripplers are compelled to stay secret. Mickie, Will's sister, explained the situation to Sam already. There's a man known as Dr. Helmann who's targeting ripplers. He wants to control them all, otherwise they have to die. Mickie and Will have stayed hidden for years. It was a bit of a fluke that Will found Samantha. Unlike him, she cannot control her power. Samantha ripples when she gets into a state of calmness, usually when she's near bodies of water. Samantha's learned a bit about rippling from Will now. She still can't vanish at will, though.
In Rippler, Sam and Will stole a journal belonging to Dr. Helmann. It contained diary entries detailing the wicked experiments he performed on children. Will and Mickie already had another diary, left to them by Mickie's former mentor, Dr. Pfeffer. They suspect Helmann killed him. Fortunately, they're still in touch with a friend of Dr. Pfeffer's, someone they call Sir Walter. This man lives in France, though. Fortunately, Sam and Will's school will take some of their students on a field trip there soon. Along with Mickie, they make use of the opportunity to meet Sir Walter.
Sam's power (and the secrecy behind it) cause an unexpected complication. It has to do with Gwyn Li, Sam's best friend. She's part Chinese, and her mother is the kind of person who knows almost everything that happens in the town. In the previous book, Sam had an altercation with one of Dr. Helmann's cronies. It left her with visible injuries, which caused Gwyn to think Will beats up Sam. Gwyn refuses to talk to her unless she dumps her "abusive boyfriend". Sam doesn't know how to explain things. It could be dangerous to let Gwyn know what's really happening.
One of the main antagonists Sam goes up against in Chameleon is Deuxieme. He's a subordinate of Dr. Helmann's. Deuxieme gets his name because he's a man with two personalities. His main personality is muscle guy Ivanovich, while the actual Deuxieme is a scientist (yeah, pretty much everyone in Dr. Helmann's circle are scientists). Each personality is active for one half of every day. Ivanovich is the one who's mainly after Sam. He wants her so Deuxieme can have a sample of her blood to analyze. Deuxieme and Ivanovich are very different in character, though. This leads Sam to make a choice that could either pay off or damn her in the future.
In the end, I really liked Chameleon. As a sequel, it's really good, quite better than Rippler. There isn't as much world-building, so the story and the characters get more importance. Sir Walter was an intriguing new addition to the roster of characters. Without him, Sam and her friends probably couldn't hope to stand against Helmann. Sir Walter's age and knowledge give him an edge. And again, as with Maven from the Boundary Magic series, I am intrigued about the perspective of a character who's lived for hundreds of years. The villains weren't as interesting as the good guys, except perhaps for Deuxieme and Helmann himself. Overall, if you're already invested in this series, you wouldn't do wrong to continue. I look forward to knowing how things end in book three.
My rating: ★★★★
4 stars - Definitely enjoyed it!
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