We Sat Down: Transparent - Little M's review

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Transparent - Little M's review

Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Transparent is set in a world where everyone has some sort of superpower. During a war, a drug was created to give you a superpower. Many people wanted to keep it so as time went on their children were born with powers. Then, the first invisible human was born.

Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Fiona McClean is anything but an ordinary teenager; she is invisible, works as a thief for her father and gets almost everything she wants. But there is one thing she really wants: she wants to leave her father and start a normal life without him. Fiona and her Mum run away and start a new life in a small town somewhere in America. She starts school for the first time and meets a boy who has a secret which he won’t tell anyone, not even her. Fiona struggles to hide from her cruel brother who has come to take her back to her father but is she right about him? Is he all so bad?

I read this book during our 24 hour read-a-thon so I may have missed out some sub plots or important details. However, that shows that this book is a page turner because it kept me awake during the night.

I really enjoyed this book because I liked the sci-fi aspect and the small romance. It is an easy read so lots of teens might love it.

I would definitely recommend this book to teens but maybe not much younger than Year 7 due to the fact that the main character is a teen, there is a bit of swearing and also some of the issues e.g. romantic relationships which are aimed at older people.

The publishers' Hot Key Ring has given Transparent around 40% Superpowers, around 30% Romance and around 30% Kick-Ass. Personally I think the term “Kick-Ass” is not helpful because you can interpret it in many different ways like "awesome" or “I’m going to kick your ass” so you could think the book has something in it but then it doesn’t. I wouldn’t put that term on the back of the cover. Instead, I’d put Crime (thieving crime). I think Superpowers should be around 60% and Romance 20%.