In a recent new arrivals post, we featured Mindscape as an intriguing new addition to the collection. I also mentioned that the first book, The Ability, has been compared to some very popular middle-grade series. Being a big fan of fantasy and adventure, especially the kind where the hero or heroine discovers that they are much more than ordinary, I couldn’t resist the read.
Chris gets in trouble at school more often than he should. He has to take care of his mother at home, who is severely depressed and often very unpleasant toward him. His father has passed away. He doesn’t seem to have too many friends, either. He is just about to get expelled from school when a very unusual woman arrives to test students for a special opportunity to attend Myers Holt, a prestigious boarding school. Ms. Sonata sees a spark in Chris, and we discover–along with our hero–that he is much less average than he seems. Miss Sonata’s test is bizarre: Chris is asked to envision a real place and explain exactly what is going on at that very moment. He is even asked to read Miss Sonata’s mind. After passing with flying colours, Chris is invited to attend Myers Holt, a government-run school for extraordinary 12-year-olds, like himself, to help hone special skills (also known as”The Ability”) in order to save the lives of very important people.
Practicing The Ability requires the small group to learn how to read minds, how to control the thoughts and actions of others, and how to install mental blocks in order to keep people from entering their own minds to do them harm. Unfortunately, they are not the only students of The Ability, and someone is using their powers to hurt people. The really neat thing about The Ability is that everyone has had it: between the ages of 12 and 13, however, is the only opportunity to develop The Ability before it is lost.
I loved the atmosphere at the school, which was full of imaginative details. The children are trained completely underground, but the school is always sunny, with beautiful views of fields and forests. The teachers are delightfully varied: I liked the grumpy and slightly scary telepathy professor. The Ability itself is fascinating: students learn to enter people’s minds, where all of their thoughts, feelings, and memories are organized like a small town, the aptly named “mindscape.”
All in all, I enjoyed the book. I’d rather not have gone into it expecting Harry Potter (although it’s a great read-alike suggestion, it’s not particularly fair to compare a well-established book to a blossoming new series, especially one so different), but I wasn’t disappointed with what I read! The best part of The Ability was the pure adventure of it: as Chris and his classmates learn to control their potentially dangerous telekinetic powers, we see other sinister characters sharpening theirs as well. Can the children of Myers Holt defeat the evil minds behind a deadly plot? What happened at Myers Holt that forced them to close their doors 30 years earlier? The mystery, adventure, and pure wish-fulfillment of this book is enough to make me want to read the next one! This is great summer reading, perfect for ages 8-14.
Enjoy,
Bronwen
CSL Children's Department Blog 