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kmpuzzled's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
mentions past prostitutionajp71088's review
5.0
I enjoyed the first book in the series (Radiants), particularly the worldbuilding and thriller aspects, as well as the family dynamic. It's a short, enjoyable thriller well worth the read (even though its sequel can be read on its own). This book improves upon all of it, and I found the found family and their struggles to be more engaging and believable than the biological family unit from the first book.
Here the family is made up of three homeless youths who joined together in the subway tunnels of NYC. Drowse is a runaway, Mako a former gang member who left that life, and Bat is a blind young man whose secret past is quite haunting and sad. Together they steal to get by.
One day, Drowse finds a lost wallet that turns out to be from a murder victim. She uses her CORE powers to help her family sell the credit cards, and she and Bat investigate the contents of a thumb drive hidden in the wallet, which leads to a discovery that kicks off this thriller.
In the first book, Coe sets up how world powers would use and exploit COREs (people with magical abilities like levitation, electrical manipulation, mind-reading, etc.). In Invasives, he takes the next logical step by showing how capitalism might exploit COREs for nefarious gains. In this case, it's the manipulation of commodity markets that Drowse and Bat find on the thumb drive. But they feel that they can't just take it to the police given that they're criminals themselves, and have already profited from the rest of the wallet's contents.
High stakes are naturally tied into big money interests, and those that are willing to blatantly disregard the law for wealth believably have no problem hurting or killing the homeless or petty criminals within the world that this found family calls home. Drowse and her family are soon hunted by assassins, with CORE powers of their own, through NYC and its labyrinth subway system.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, particularly getting into the heads of Bat & Drowse along with some other denizens of the underground. The motivations were well grounded, the villains understandable and threatening, and the climax superb.
Highly recommended!
Here the family is made up of three homeless youths who joined together in the subway tunnels of NYC. Drowse is a runaway, Mako a former gang member who left that life, and Bat is a blind young man whose secret past is quite haunting and sad. Together they steal to get by.
One day, Drowse finds a lost wallet that turns out to be from a murder victim. She uses her CORE powers to help her family sell the credit cards, and she and Bat investigate the contents of a thumb drive hidden in the wallet, which leads to a discovery that kicks off this thriller.
In the first book, Coe sets up how world powers would use and exploit COREs (people with magical abilities like levitation, electrical manipulation, mind-reading, etc.). In Invasives, he takes the next logical step by showing how capitalism might exploit COREs for nefarious gains. In this case, it's the manipulation of commodity markets that Drowse and Bat find on the thumb drive. But they feel that they can't just take it to the police given that they're criminals themselves, and have already profited from the rest of the wallet's contents.
High stakes are naturally tied into big money interests, and those that are willing to blatantly disregard the law for wealth believably have no problem hurting or killing the homeless or petty criminals within the world that this found family calls home. Drowse and her family are soon hunted by assassins, with CORE powers of their own, through NYC and its labyrinth subway system.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, particularly getting into the heads of Bat & Drowse along with some other denizens of the underground. The motivations were well grounded, the villains understandable and threatening, and the climax superb.
Highly recommended!
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