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A review by nicolemhewitt
Gypsy (The Cavy Files, #1) by Trisha Leigh
4.0
This review and many others can be found on my blog - Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Gypsy was taken in as a baby by a secret group that shelters (and experiments on) children with abilities, who they’ve dubbed the Cavies. But while Gypsy’s friends have impressive abilities like invisibility, super speed, and the ability to set things on fire, Gypsy can only see the age at which someone will die when she touches them. This ability is not only not particularly useful, but it makes Gypsy constantly feel like she’s walking among the almost-dead. She would love nothing more than to live a normal life. But when the Cavies are “rescued” from their captors and forced out into the real world where they have to pretend to have no abilities at all, Gypsy suddenly isn’t so sure how well she can adapt to the outside world after all.To make things more complicated, just as Gypsy is settling in, someone attacks the Cavies and injects them with a virus that increases their powers. They suddenly discover that the people who held them are not the only ones who know about their abilities – and that they may have more enemies than they realized.
What I loved:
Superpowers!
I loved the idea behind this story. Gypsy and her friends have been raised by some secret group that is constantly pushing them to the limit of their abilities. Of course, you have to wonder who these people are and what they’re training the Cavies for. And the idea of teens with superpowers has always been a favorite of mine – what teen doesn’t wish that they had them!
The characters.
Leigh did a great job of creating characters who I was invested in. Each of the Cavies had their own, distinct, strong personalities and they all dealt with the transition to the “real world” in their own ways. My favorite of the Cavies was Mole, Gypsy’s best friend (and possible love interest?). I loved the bond between these two characters. Once Gypsy gets out into the real world, she meets Jude, another one of my favorite characters. While there isn’t a huge romance in the book, there is definitely a little bit of a love triangle with Mole and Jude (with small hints of a quadrangle with another character as well – I wasn’t so crazy about him – I’ll talk more about him later).
Discoveries.
Throughout the book, Gypsy and the other Cavies make quite a few discoveries about themselves – their families, their backgrounds, the people who raised them. There are tons of mysteries that unfold throughout the book and I really enjoyed discovering the many pieces of the puzzle that came together. The Cavies never quite knew who to trust, and I was never sure either!
Family relationships.
This book explored family relationships and what makes people bond as a family. The Cavies have been the only family that Gypsy has ever known and when the group is torn apart, needless to say, they go through a difficult transition. On top of that, some of them have newfound family members and they suddenly have to navigate those new relationships – it can get pretty complicated and overwhelming!
The negatives:
Dane.
Dane is the one character that I wasn’t crazy about. Gypsy immediately became friends with him when she started at her new school and it just seemed way too obvious that something was going on with him. I didn’t get why Gypsy wanted to trust him so much and his motivations never made a lot of sense to me. Plus there were hints that Gypsy might have felt an attraction to him as well, and I didn’t really see it or want the triangle to turn into a quadrangle. Parts of the storyline that involved Dane seemed a bit unbelievable or forced to me, but it didn’t ruin the book as a whole.
If you’re looking for an interesting new YA paranormal book, then I’d recommend picking Gypsy up! With fun characters and lots of surprises, this one was a winner! 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
Gypsy was taken in as a baby by a secret group that shelters (and experiments on) children with abilities, who they’ve dubbed the Cavies. But while Gypsy’s friends have impressive abilities like invisibility, super speed, and the ability to set things on fire, Gypsy can only see the age at which someone will die when she touches them. This ability is not only not particularly useful, but it makes Gypsy constantly feel like she’s walking among the almost-dead. She would love nothing more than to live a normal life. But when the Cavies are “rescued” from their captors and forced out into the real world where they have to pretend to have no abilities at all, Gypsy suddenly isn’t so sure how well she can adapt to the outside world after all.To make things more complicated, just as Gypsy is settling in, someone attacks the Cavies and injects them with a virus that increases their powers. They suddenly discover that the people who held them are not the only ones who know about their abilities – and that they may have more enemies than they realized.
What I loved:
Superpowers!
I loved the idea behind this story. Gypsy and her friends have been raised by some secret group that is constantly pushing them to the limit of their abilities. Of course, you have to wonder who these people are and what they’re training the Cavies for. And the idea of teens with superpowers has always been a favorite of mine – what teen doesn’t wish that they had them!
The characters.
Leigh did a great job of creating characters who I was invested in. Each of the Cavies had their own, distinct, strong personalities and they all dealt with the transition to the “real world” in their own ways. My favorite of the Cavies was Mole, Gypsy’s best friend (and possible love interest?). I loved the bond between these two characters. Once Gypsy gets out into the real world, she meets Jude, another one of my favorite characters. While there isn’t a huge romance in the book, there is definitely a little bit of a love triangle with Mole and Jude (with small hints of a quadrangle with another character as well – I wasn’t so crazy about him – I’ll talk more about him later).
Discoveries.
Throughout the book, Gypsy and the other Cavies make quite a few discoveries about themselves – their families, their backgrounds, the people who raised them. There are tons of mysteries that unfold throughout the book and I really enjoyed discovering the many pieces of the puzzle that came together. The Cavies never quite knew who to trust, and I was never sure either!
Family relationships.
This book explored family relationships and what makes people bond as a family. The Cavies have been the only family that Gypsy has ever known and when the group is torn apart, needless to say, they go through a difficult transition. On top of that, some of them have newfound family members and they suddenly have to navigate those new relationships – it can get pretty complicated and overwhelming!
The negatives:
Dane.
Dane is the one character that I wasn’t crazy about. Gypsy immediately became friends with him when she started at her new school and it just seemed way too obvious that something was going on with him. I didn’t get why Gypsy wanted to trust him so much and his motivations never made a lot of sense to me. Plus there were hints that Gypsy might have felt an attraction to him as well, and I didn’t really see it or want the triangle to turn into a quadrangle. Parts of the storyline that involved Dane seemed a bit unbelievable or forced to me, but it didn’t ruin the book as a whole.
If you’re looking for an interesting new YA paranormal book, then I’d recommend picking Gypsy up! With fun characters and lots of surprises, this one was a winner! 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***