Customer Reviews

Changers' Summer (The Changers Trilogy)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book started out slow for me. I hate to say that because there was an event that was so totally creative at the beginning, it held a lot of promise. However, I felt the writing of it did not hold up to that promise. I won't say what it was because I hate spoilers!

The adult characters were a bit too two-dimensional for me, but as the story was meant to be focused on the children, it was fine. Tom was a great young protagonist, ready to jump in and get things done.

Some things I absolutely loved in this book: Bess, the talking dog (should have used her more!); rats that build tools; colored rain; and time travel! Mike Lewis, the author, did a good job with his editing. Many authors I find tend to write books that are too long, fill them up with a lot of "stuff" that doesn't really need to be in the book.

This is a good book for young adults. I think their natural curiosity and creative minds will find the story fascinating.

*Disclaimer: I received this book from the author through Librarything. I was not required to write a positive review.

It is books like these that support my belief that in the realms of self publishing you will find stories that are just as good, if not better, than the fancy, hyped books you'll find on the shelves of your local bookshop.

In Changers' Summer, Mike Lewis has created an intriguing post-apocalyptic world that merely hints at what went on to bring it to this point: rats that can build ladders, dogs that can talk, rain that falls in different colours. Although many of their changes are evident, there is a great mystery surrounding the Changers and your imagination gets a great work out as the reader to try to construct what happened. There's a real sense of the reader being ignorant and a tantalising mystery that makes the story engaging. Clearly there has been a period where genetic modification and fiddling with nature has gone mad to create this dystopia but what I really like is that the reader is left to make up their own mind about this. There are no worthy opinions and no definite sense of whether the Changers were benevolent or evil, it all adds to the mystery and the chaos in your mind as you try to work out who is a good guy and who is a bad guy.

The story develops at a perfect pace, with developments in each chapter and no lengthy periods of hanging around. What I really like is the way the adults in the story gradually drop out for one reason or another and it is then left up to the two children to take the lead and make the decisions about what they are going to do. Changers' Summer really encapsulates what I love about teen fiction and that is an innate distrust of adults. They may think they are making the right decisions but adults are too full of the world to truly know what is the right thing to do. I think all world-saving ventures should be conducted by children because they have courage first above all things and they instinctively know what is good and what is evil. This may not be true in real life but it certainly is in teen fiction and it certainly is the case in Changers' Summer.

This is definitely a book for those who love post-apocalyptic/dystopian reads with a dollop of time travel, plenty of mystery and an accessible sci-fi edge. As for the ending... AMAZING! But I'm not going to spoil that, you'll have to read it to find out. All I'm going to say is my favourite books are always the ones that end with a beginning...

I was intrigued by the premise of the story; A distopian future where crops need to be planted inside warehouse-sized barns due to the ill-fated efforts of some scientists from the past. Blue skies are only the stuff of stories now. Life is nothing but grey skies and acid (yellow)/goopy (green) rains. Excitement brews for Tom as a Changer (one of the scientists from the past) appears in his commune's barn. The adventure begins as Tom is swept up in the Changer's attempt to reunite with the rest of the time-travelling scientists from the past. The imagery is very concise without being too wordy... we get to use our imagination building a very familiar countryside. The characters are believable and true to their parts. A very good read for the first book in a trilogy. Some aspects that threw me off: The rain/cloudy skies are ever present in the world, yet only the first part of the book deals with the problems that occur because of it... it's sort of not an issue as you read along. The hybrid animals sound interesting enough to have been expounded on more, especially the intelligent rats (reading the first chapter of book 2 at the end told me there was going to be more about them)... All in all, I had a good experience. I got some excitement and a great introduction to a different world, yet was left wanting much more and I had too many unanswered questions regarding the Changers... AND the changes they made. I'm definitely getting the second book to continue my adventure with Tom and the world of the Changers. I recieved a free copy for review.

I received a free copy of this book for my review. This is a sci fi with environmental issues as a focus, which is a very modern concept, as it adresses global problems. It is suitable for any age, as it does not contain profanity or other content unsuitable for young readers. I think adults will enjoy it as well. I believe it would also make a great scholastic addition. The main character Tom is suddenly confronted with scientist who have made the world he lives in unsustainable, and now to make matters worse they have arrived to destroy even more. The writing flowed well and the ideas were utopian but never farfetched enough to be unbelievable. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to my children.Changers' Summer (The Changers Trilogy)

Imagine living in a world that has problems due to the actions of scientists from a previous time period who tried to change nature thru the use of technology to make it better, mutating animals and plants caused problems that the scientists didn't anticipate. Even the rain is different and something to be avoided. Technology failed and became useless due to lack of replacement parts. Some of the scientists were able to access a time-travel gate to try to go forward to see the results of their experiments. It was book that will appeal to middle schoolers definitely. I received a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Tom lives in a future that has been altered by Changers, people from the present day who experimented with technology to create fantastic machines and to genetically modify crops and animals. Tom is growing up on a farm where the corn grows inside barns and rats have opposable thumbs. One day, he and his friend Jordan discover a time traveler in one of the barns -- Changers have been transporting themselves to the future in order to see how their changes have affected the world. Tom ends up having a very adventurous summer tagging along with a couple of the Changers.

This book kept me entertained even though I suspect I am much older than the target age group. I'm excited to read the other books in the trilogy!

I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it.

When I was offered a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review, I knew that it was going to be a change of pace for me. I was pleasently suprised that while this book is geared towards a younger age group, I found the story very addictive and interesting. In it you meet Tom, who is living in a time period that is struggling to survive in a world of constant acid rain which was the result of some mistakes that a group of scientist whom they call "Changers" made. When a changer arrives on the family farm, Tom goes out of his way to help Paul(changer) to "fix" the problems that the world is in. Tom along with a friend, Allison find out late, that the "fixing" that Paul and his fellow friends are going to make will make the problems worse before being made better. I was not aware that this book was a trilogy, but I will definately be reading the entire series.

I'm a 5th grade teacher and love reading children's literature, so that I can keep up with the stories my students would enjoy. When offered a complimentary copy of this book to review, I jumped at the chance. I do think for my level students (10 & 11 year olds) that the book would be a bit over their heads.....But, for a 6th or 7th grader, I think they would really enjoy it.

Tom is living in a future time where the environment has been changed due to people of the past (our present day). People can not go outside due to harmful yellow rain and extra precautions are taken so that the characters aren't harmed by it. Tom is playing with a friend in a barn one day and man starts appearing before their very eyes. Tom soon learns that this man is a "Changer" which has come from the past in hopes to fix the mistakes that scientists like him have caused.

Throughout the story more characters are introduced and Tom finds a friend and confidant in Alison who is an entertainer/traveler. The two, along with Tom's helpful, talking dog, Bess, try to make sure that the Changers actually fix the environment which leads them into a plan in which the unexpected happens.......This, of course, leaves the reader totally hanging in the end and wanting to learn even more from Book 2.

I really enjoyed this book and feel young adults will also be wanting to read the 2nd book in this trilogy when it becomes available.

I really enjoyed this book! If you are used to reading Dystopian fiction like the "Hunger Games" this may seem a little young and tame, but it is geared for a younger audience, so that's very appropriate. The characters are likeable and real. Tom and Alison (and Beth, Tom's talking dog)are just normal kids and a dog (well, except for the fact that this dog talks). The world they live in, the world "changed" beyond recognition by the
"Changers" is all they've ever known. It's a difficult world, but rather than see it get even worse they are willing to face incredible challenges. They're just kids and they're scared, but they show courage, compassion, fortitude and moral strength in trying to save their world. I plan to purchase the rest of the trilogy so I can see what happens to them all!
I received a free copy of this book in order to review it.

CHANGER'S SUMMER by Mike Lewis presents a bit of difficulty. The novel combines elements of environmentalism, science fiction, and a British setting to come up with its unique storyline, and on a conceptual basis, there's a lot that fascinates about Changer's Summer.

Unfortunately, the novel spends a lot of time - tens of pages, it seems, at times - in telling mode, rather than in scene and action that advances the plot. And the plot moves at a glacial pace.

I was fully a quarter of the way into the book before it was revealed with certainty that Changer's Summer involved time travel. As a fan of Doctor Who, that reveal was a big plus, as I'm always up for a time travel story.

Unfortunately, Changer's Summer lacks the strong pacing and action of the best WHO novelizations. And while the environmental plot element was interesting, other than the fact that it rained in different colors in this world, the significance of this color variance of the rain was so slowly unveiled that by the time it was finally detailed, I'd lost interest in the why aspect of it all.

So it's with regret that I can only offer Changer's Summer a lukewarm review. Had the plot and pace been picked up, it was easily a novel I'd have been more enthused about.