Book Review - The Supernaturalist

The Supernaturalist is by the same author who wrote all those incredibly popular Artemis Fowl children's books. I read the first Fowl book in the series; didn't like it. I picked up The Supernaturalist because I figured after writing all those books that people loved, maybe the author worked out the kinks in his writing.

NOPE.

If anything, it got worse. The main character, Cosmo, is an orphan in Satellite City. It's a city where all the day-to-day functions and communications are turned over to the satellite to control. Anyway, he's in this orphanage, hasn't been outside for most of his 14 years, and spends his days as a test specimen for new products and drugs.  He wants to get out so badly that he nearly dies in the attempt. A group of people, The Supernaturalists, save him.

That's where things get really dumb. Cosmo is perfectly cool with his new surroundings even though his entire world has been the prison/orphanage. There's really no depth or character development. Same with the other Supernaturalists. They all talk the same, with the same personality. The only way I could tell them apart was Stefan was described as tall and Russian descent. Mona sometimes used Spanish words when appropriately cliched.  When the author wrote, "the tall boy said" that was my only clue it was Stefan and not any of the others.

Oh and Mona came from a gang background in a very tough neighborhood. Yet that had zero influence on her. She had the same reactions as the test rat from the orphanage.

It was just really poor. Nothing jived together. The ideas were there, but they weren't pulled together in a cohesive story. Usually in worldbuilding, you start with either the character, or the setting. The author had an idea for a city run by satellite. The next step should've been, what would that be like? What kind of people would live there? What would their day be like? Their personalities?

The author also had an idea for a main character that spent his entire life as a lab rat. He should've been sketched out. What would the character be like? Angry? Mistrustful? Does he have a disability from the tests? How does he react to new surroundings?

Instead, you had these two ideas thrown together and nothing worked. You start with one or the other - the setting or the character. Not both.

Also, the plot twists were 100% predictable.