scifijack reviewed Brilliance (Brilliance Saga, #1) by Marcus Sakey
Review of 'Brilliance (Brilliance Saga, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It's a good story with an interesting premise; the characters believable and likable. That I read the main character's dialogue in Sterling Archer's voice throughout is my fault, not the author's.
Of all things, what struck me as outstanding about the book was its pacing. The story arcs from here to there with very few tangents, and little misdirection or extemporanea; nothing drags or is rushed through; exposition is never brought outside the narrative in that distracting way nobody likes. Very well done, and very easy to get absorbed in.
It takes place in what I suppose is an alternate world where for the last 30-some years, a small percentage of the population has been born with drastically heightened mental abilities. 30 years later, "normal" people are worried about becoming obsolete, the government is trying to control the "brilliants" (a/k/a "abnorms") from childhood by indoctrinating them in "academies," nobody plays …
It's a good story with an interesting premise; the characters believable and likable. That I read the main character's dialogue in Sterling Archer's voice throughout is my fault, not the author's.
Of all things, what struck me as outstanding about the book was its pacing. The story arcs from here to there with very few tangents, and little misdirection or extemporanea; nothing drags or is rushed through; exposition is never brought outside the narrative in that distracting way nobody likes. Very well done, and very easy to get absorbed in.
It takes place in what I suppose is an alternate world where for the last 30-some years, a small percentage of the population has been born with drastically heightened mental abilities. 30 years later, "normal" people are worried about becoming obsolete, the government is trying to control the "brilliants" (a/k/a "abnorms") from childhood by indoctrinating them in "academies," nobody plays poker anymore, and they had to shut down the NYSE when an abnorm made billions from it. It's an interesting embarkation point for a story, and we follow Nick Cooper, an abnorm who, counterintuitively, works for the feds, hunting and neutralizing fellow brilliants who pose some terrorist threat or other. If you'r reasonably well informed about the real world, you can guess how airtight the definition of "terrorist" is, and thus begins Cooper's conflict, and his impetus for change.
Any synopsis you read, including that one, is going to make it sound like the X-Men. It really isn't. Nobody shoots beams out of their eyes or walks through walls, they just perceive, gather information and act on it exponentially (in some cases) better than "norms" do. Don't pick it up when you're in the mood for sci-fi or alt history or you might disappoint yourself, but if you enjoy those genres or crime thrillers, I think you'd enjoy it.