“Pulse” by Patrick Carman is a dystopic, romantic story of characters with superpowers. For being a relatively unknown author, Carman has created a spectacular novel that deserves much praise. Sometimes the writing is a bit confusing with the time period not being stated in the book and the setting not being discussed until the end of the book, but despite those minor annoyances, it was an exceptional novel. It was intense and adventurous.
With three parts, 20 chapters and 371 pages, the book could easily be understood by anyone over 12. Emotionally, it was more complex, but overall everything is understandable. (There is some profanity used throughout the book which wouldn’t be appropriate for younger ages, though.)
The story is about Faith Daniels, a super tall junior in high school has just one best friend, Liz. Faith lives in the strictly ruled eastern states with residents who leave daily to join the State, a place where pollution is nonexistent and their lives revolve around their tablet that can fix itself and grow. The tablets hold everything people need and help them read books, get lectures for school, text, shop and listen to music. The tablets are also their tracker so the government can always keep tabs on them.
Throughout the novel, Faith is forced to move from town to town trying to stay in each place as long as she can. At the newest town she moves to she runs into some trouble, meets a new friend named Hawk and finds her true identity.
The summary for the book in the inside cover said that Faith would be with a character named Dylan which isn’t true until the end of the second part making that a minor annoyance since the summary is misleading.
The fighting scenes throughout the book are action-packed, making the reader wonder if Faith will make it through the next scene. Faith eventually learns about the pulse, another name for telekinetic abilities, which will change the balance between good and evil. It was frustrating that she didn’t know she was using her power, though; her knowledge of her ability didn’t appear until the last part of the book.
Faith as a character is intriguing. She is smart and seems really down to earth, but sometimes there are times when she makes poor decisions that risk her life.
Other characters that are interesting are Hawk and Liz were hilarious in the book. Their jokes were funny and gave comic relief during intense moments. However, it took a really long time to further develop the plot. The book didn’t really move forward until the third part making the reader feel anxious to get the storyline moving.
Overall the book was great and ended well without a big cliffhanger. Anyone wanting a good book to read should read “Pulse.” The book had a great storyline. Though a little slow at first, once it got past the middle of the second part it was exciting and made an excellent book. The next book is much anticipated, however won’t come out until next year.
by ARIELLA APPLEBY
