The Virals series is fun story about four kids who contract wolfish superpowers. Together, they use their superpowers to solve mysteries around their home city of Charleston. While the series can sometimes be lacking in the realism department, the story is fun. It is full of current teen slang making it enjoyable for younger readers just getting into the YA section. The story is fast paced and discusses relatable topics such as bullying. Goodreads gives this series 4.248 stars while this site give it 4.33 stars.
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Kathy Reichs’s Trace Evidence is a collection of novellas. In case you needed more Virals or were very upset by Terminal’s ending, Kathy Reichs provides the four novellas, Shirt, Swipe, Shock, and Spike, in her latest book, Trace Evidence. These stories include the action and excitement expected of a Virals novel and feature Tory’s great aunt Temperance Brennan. Three of the stories are fun mysteries with fast paced plots. Because, as novellas, there is little to no character development, and they are separate stories, I will be using a slightly different structure to review them. Shock: This short novella tells the story before Virals. Tory Brennan has just landed in Charleston for the first time. She at first hates her situation, but something changes her view of Charleston and turns her into the girl who leads the viral series. We finally get to learn about how Tory’s friendship with Ben, Shelton, and Hiram began. Shift: Shift is a novella about a recent theft at the Loggerhead Island Research Institute. The story is set after the first two novels, Virals and Seizure. It includes the interesting perspectives of Ben (Chapters 2 and 7), Hiram (Chapters 3 and 6), and Shelton (Chapters 1 and 5), Kit (Chapter 9) and Tempe Brennan (Chapter 10). Each gives us a slightly different angle on the events and gives us a new description of our narrator Tory. Swipe: Taking place at the nerd’s paradise, Comic Con, Swipe tells the story of another theft. While the Virals are admiring Comic Con, the theft of an expensive item attracts their attention. Taking place between the third and fourth books, Swipe is an interesting story that expands upon the powers of the Virals. Temperance Brennan also plays a decent sized role in this story. The only issue is that Tory and Ben get along in this book making it more likely that the Swipe took place after the fourth installment, Exposure. Despite this, Swipe is a book full of fandoms and action. Spike: Spike is the final novella, taking place after the final book Terminal. Kit and Whitney are about to enjoy the biggest day of their lives, but there is one problem. Someone is trying to sabotage their wedding. Tori and the Virals must catch the saboteur and prevent the wedding from ending in disaster. Through this book, we get to learn about what happened after Terminal and how it continues to affect their lives. In all, these novellas are great. The capture the fun, action, and excitement we have come to expect from Virals novels in short stories that are less than 100 pages. Spike attempts to explain the cliff hanger in the final book, although I’m still a little upset at the usage of such a marketing ploy. The ending is also left open, denying the readers of closer and making them wish for future installments. While answering many questions, it inspires others. Despite my annoyance with the endings of this series, the stories were fun. They were well paced, and full of excitement. They provide short mysteries than can be read in one sitting. I give this 294 page book 4.5 stars. Kathy Rieichs’s Terminal is the fifth and final book in the Virals series. The book picks up soon after the events of Exposure. Chance has not only admitted to stalking Tory, but also to contracting a new strain of the super virus that screwed with the DNA of the Virals. He restarted Karsten’s project under the name of Project Brimstone and succeeded in creating a new set of Virals, that name themselves the Trinity. These new set of Virals have a grudge against Tory and will stop a nothing to bring her and her friends down. Meanwhile, a shadowy third party is hunting the Virals n the hopes of uncovering the secrets of their inhuman abilities. Terminal marks Tory’s last and most dangerous adventure in the main series novels. Over the course of five books, Tory transformed from a weak victim to a confident leader. In Virals, Tory’s weakness is clear until she takes a stand for herself in Seizure. Code, Exposure, and Terminal show her growing confidence in herself and her abilities, while also giving her more internal challenges and harder problems to solve. She is bombarded with betrayal, romance, and attacks against those she loves, while the wolf inside her seems to grow and mutate with each new installment. The journey with Tory has been an enjoyable one, one full of angst, danger and suspense. Hopefully, her actions can teach all a little bit about confidence and dealing with bullies. While not my favorite installment, Terminal still provided a great ending to the Virals series. It tied up most loose ends while leaving a couple teasers for Trace Evidence, the collection of novellas that came out last February. Using Chance’s resources, the Virals finally get to find out more about the virus that messed up their DNA. Although I am not a scientist, nor deeply versed in the science of genetics, I spotted a few accurate scientific facts in Kathy Reichs’s explanation. As for the specifics of the science, I don’t know enough about genetics to decide upon their accuracy. Besides the science part of science fiction, the story was, once again, interesting. The plot was fast paced and full of both suspense and secrets. The Virals have finally met worthy adversaries who have abilities extremely similar to their own. Sadly, this leads to even more wolf metaphors. The romantic triangle forming around Tory becomes increasingly annoying as both guys constantly feel the need to fight. Basically, Ben Blue is once again trying to impress Tory and make her other “suitors” look undesirable, while acting like a jerk as well. Compared to the previous book, there are very little puzzles to solve, something I found disappointing. I give this 380 page book 4.5 stars. Exposure is the fourth book in Kathy Reichs’s Virals series. Months have passed since Tory and the others were forced to endure the horrors of the Gamemaster’s game, but that doesn’t mean the consequences end with Ben’s confession. The Virals had been wrapped up in court cases as they worked hard to get the Gamemaster thrown in prison. Even after the events of the trial, the Virals are still suffering. Tory no longer trusts Ben after his betrayal leaving the Virals divided and fractured. In addition to everything, the Virals’ flares are going haywire and sometimes hurt our heroes more than they help. Just as the Virals try to settle down and adjust to their fractured lives, two twins are kidnapped from Bolten Prep and Tory finds out that Chance Claybourne knows way too much. Now the Virals are solving a kidnapping while Chance is determined to find out the secrets behind their powers. Tory is bombarded with problem after problem in this installment. She is determined to find out more about their power, but is running into obstacles and Whitney moves into Tory’s house. The most prevalent of her problems is Ben. It was hard enough to find out that her best friend betrayed her and nearly got her killed, but to find out that he did it because he wanted to be more than friends threw Tory into disarray. While entering this book a mess, Tory manages to sort out her feelings as the story goes on. The flares of her and her pack are also becoming dangerous adding extra stress onto her already stressful life. Sometimes, her flares become more of a hindrance than a help. Lucky for Tory, she also happens to find a new friend who helps to keep her grounded despite the fact that she knows nothing about Tory’s special abilities. Exposure was another amazing Virals read. It has a slower start due to the emotional problems everyone is dealing with, but quickly kicks back up to its usual fast pace. Kathy Reichs did an amazing job of mixing average teenage problems and language into her extraordinary teen’s life. I do wish that she could come up with a better curse world than “blargh”, a word used far too often. Tory’s emotions also take a dip into the romantic realm as she contemplates the possibilities of a more than friends relationship with Ben Blue. In all, the only things that mark this installment as different from the previous installments is the divided state of the Virals and the decreased emphasis on school and the social aspects of being a teenager. It was more fact based than book two, but not a puzzle like book three. In Exposure, Tory, Ben, Shelton and Hi play detectives using their flare to solve the case of the kidnappings. If you didn’t like the first 3 books, not only do I wonder why you’re reading a review for the fourth, but I know this one won’t change your mind about the series. I give this 418 page book 4.5 stars. Code, by Kathy Reichs, is the third installment in the Virals series. After finding Anne Bonny’s treasure, things were looking good for the Virals. They weren’t going to be seperated, the Loggerheard Island Research Institute was saved, and the Virals had a bunch of extra pirate gold spend. Sadly, their curiosity keeps getting them into trouble. They locate a geocache containing a strange box. Inside the box was clues leading to another geocache, but by following the clues, the Virals unknowingly entered a dangerous game. A game that puts the lives of themselves and their loved ones at risk. Once again, the Tory Brennan leads the Virals into many precarious situations. Her endless curiosity still leads her into unnecessary trouble. While she is intelligent, she is hilariuosly unaware of the boys vying for her attention. It is evident that Tory has grown and developed as a character. She carries herself in a more confident way and doesn’t let school bullies bother her. Despite that, she still over-analyzes every situation, which makes sense considering her age. In comparison to Seizure, this book is better. Seizure suffered from an intense plot convenience problem. Code is better about it. More of their solutions appear to come from intelligence and resourcefulness rather than luck. This book keeps the same mix of action, suspense, and awkwardness that was brought by previous installments. It combines high action, high suspense scenes with the awkwardness of being a modern day teenager. Sadly, with awkward high school circumstances comes stereotypical high school movie situations. Social problems can be easily predicted and seen from miles away, while the characters are completely oblivious. I give this 408 page book 4 stars. Seizure, by Kathy Reichs, is the second book in the Virals series. After the events of Virals and the following weeks of being grounded, Tory, Hiram, Ben, and Shelton finally get to enjoy their summer until the bad news arrives. Budget cuts threaten to shut down the Loggerhead Island Research Institute (LIRI), the place where all their parents work. With bad publicity from rumors of Dr. Karsten’s unauthorized experimentation, the LIRI's fate is sealed. As their parents would have to find new jobs, all of the Virals would have to leave Charleston. While moving away is awful in its own right, the problems are amplified because the Virals need each other to manage their powers. With the threat of being separated looming over their heads, the Virals start a search to look for any ways to save the LIRI. Tory Brennan, stubbles upon the ancient history of a famous and local pirate named Anne Bonny. She leads her Morris Island friends on a treasure hunt in the hopes that the treasure can prevent their inevitable separation. Tory Brennan is back, and still hasn’t learned from her past transgressions. Once again, Tory persuades and leads her friends in committing several felonies. This list of acts against the law includes breaking & entering, thievery, and trespassing. All of this is done while she supposed to be grounded and locked up at home. In order to get anywhere in the plot, the Virals are forced to "flare". With increased usage of their new found powers comes an increase in control over their flaring. Tory does make some slight character growths as she becomes slightly more confident in herself, but the difference is almost minuscule and the other protagonists remain static. Seizure is an entertaining book that full of plot convinces. All the hints and clues Tory finds seem to be a matter of luck and plot convinces. She constantly gets away with sneaking out because Kit just happens to be away at the time. For readers who hate plot convinces and dues ex machina situations, this book should be avoided at all costs. For those who don’t mind plot convinces, a pleasant story awaits. The action is near constant. The Virals are thrown into precarious that get you hooked into the book regardless of the fact that you know that no one is going to die. In addition to that, every time you think that the problem will be solved, a new one arises making the plot frustrating, but ever more entralling. Once again, Kathy Reichs writes in such a way that it feels like a teenager is telling the story Because of this, the book is probably more suited for middle school readers, who are just getting into YA books, rather than high school readers and beyond. Despite all the negatives, this book is fun and the story keeps you enthralled. I give this 491 page book 4 stars. Virals, Kathy Reichs, is the first book in the "Virals" series. After her mother was killed by a drunk driver, Tory Brennan is sent to Charleston to live with her father, a researcher at the Loggerhead Island Research Institute (LIRI). In Charleston, Tory befriends Ben Blue, Hiram Stolowitski, and Shelton Devers. All of their parents work at LIRI and all of them attend Bolton Prep High School. Tory's curiosity causes her and her friends to come in contact with a rare strain of canine parvovirus and stubble upon a four decade old murder. Tory Brennan is a genius. She skipped a grade and is the only 14 year old girl in a prestigious high school. Her and her friends are teased constantly because they live on Morris Island and are not from a prestigious Charleston family. Tory and her friends are also interested in science which comes in handy when lifting fingerprints, analyzing bones, and when dealing with experimental strains of viruses. Tory's curiosity knows no bounds and she is determined to see things through. This gets her into dangerous situations because she's not afraid to commit felonies to get her answers. This book is a great read. The science fiction aspect is mixed with a captivating murder mystery. While this book has a lot of science facts, the fiction facts stick out like a sour thumb. The book's plot has lots of action and dangerous scenes packed into it, but some of their daring escapes and essential clues seem to come from luck rather than skill. Because Tory is going to a illustrious high school, there are many scenes of classic bullying. In this regard, it is very similar to the "Mythos Academy" series and the "Chronicles of Nick" series. The book is funny and is written in a way that suggests an actual teenager wrote it. I give this 454 page book 4.5 stars. |
ViralsThe "Virals" series takes place in modern day Charleston. Tory Brennan, Hiram Stolowitski, Shelton Devers, Ben Blue and live in the secluded Morris Island neighborhood and their parents work at the Loggerhead Island Research Institute. The four friends contract a experimental strain of canine parvovirus. The disease unites them as a pack and gives them superhuman senses and strength. Archives
April 2016
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