Book Review: “Scorpion Shards”

“Scorpion Shards (Star Shards Chronicles #1)” by Neal Shusterman

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction

Other Star Shards Chronicles books

Summary from Goodreads:

Dillon has the terrifying power to create massive amounts of destruction with the slightest tweak of his will. Deanna is so consumed by fear, it has become like a black hole, drawing to her the very things that terrify her. Then, when the glare of a supernova sixteen light-years away illuminates the night sky, they have a vision: There are six of them out there, all teenagers, and all suffering from supernatural afflictions that disfigure their bodies and souls. Only by finding one another will the six ever be strong enough to defeat these mysterious forces that, bit by bit, are devouring their souls from the inside out.

It was interesting seeing the teens and their problems. I liked that we got a little time with them individually to really understand their power and how is was messing with their lives. It was good to see them struggle with how to survive with their power as well as to control their power. I still don’t understand exactly where the powers came from but it was a nice journey seeing the teens come accept their powers as well as use their newer powers for some good.

Shusterman has a really interesting mind. His books always seem to have really interesting premises. This book was no different. The idea of a supernova exploding miles away that affects 6 teenagers here on Earth is cool. The fact that their ‘powers’ are very out there is cool. Despite the fact that I though the ideas were cool, the book never fully grabbed my attention. It was horrible or bad, it was just a bit lackluster. That probably comes from the fact that this is one of Shusterman’s earlier  books and I’ve mostly read his later books. His writing has definitely improved over the years.

The bottom line? It was okay. I wouldn’t recommend this as your first Neal Shusterman book though.