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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent paranormal YA!, July 6, 2011
Do you ever start a book and know, just know, from the very first line that you're going to love it? That's how I felt about Rippler. It drew me in from the very beginning and that great first impression extended through the whole book for me.
Besides the beautiful cover, there's a lot to like about Rippler. Sam is just a regular girl until she starts turning invisible. She has no idea what's going on, or the cause of her new invisibility, until her cross county friend Will witnesses one of her "spells". Will covers for her to keep Sam out of trouble, and the two become fast friends. The story takes off from there as Sam discovers more about her new talent as well as threats from people looking to exploit her.
Rippler has great characterization. I loved Swanson's character development, and especially the way she writes emotion. The world-building was also very intricate, which I loved. I liked how the communication between the "mysterious man from France" was included in the beginnings of the chapters. It added some great depth.
One thing I really liked about Rippler was that it touches on depression. So often, mental illness is overlooked or made out to be a character flaw in literature, especially YA literature. Swanson brings depression and its far-reaching effects out into the open. I like reading about characters with real issues. When someone goes through a traumatic event, I like when they have a realistic response to it, instead of just bouncing back like nothing happened.
Rippler was a great start to a promising new series. I have to note that Cidney Swanson is such a nice person. She has been so friendly, understanding and gracious in our email communications. Don't you just love it when you like an author personally as well as enjoy their work? I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thrilling and romantic, October 2, 2011
This review is from: Rippler (The Ripple Trilogy) (Kindle Edition)
4.5/5 stars (rounded up for Amazon) A blend of science fiction, historical novel, thriller and romance, Rippler was an incredibly intriguing story that I just couldn't put down. Told from the perspective of Samantha Ruiz, Swanson crafts a compelling mystery surrounding a rare genetic disease, interspersing Sam's story of discovery with passages of an old journal written by a Nazi scientist who conducted rather horrendous psychological experiments during WWII. I found this blending of the past and present fascinating and very well paced. For just as I am about to sigh blissfully from the sweetness that is Will & Sam, Swanson reminds us again and again in increasingly disturbing ways that all is not well -- that the situation is serious and dangerous. It's shocking and unsettling, and it is good storytelling. Sam was a protagonist that I really identified with right from the beginning. Despite her confusing and sometimes inconvenient new-found ability to ripple - or turn herself invisible - she is very much a normal girl who's just discovered she's a little more abnormal than she thought. Just beginning to heal from her mother's death in a tragic car accident years earlier, Sam doesn't have a whole lot of people she can call friends. As a result of the trauma of seeing her mother die, Sam spent many years withdrawn inside herself, depressed and lonely. However all that begins to change with the reappearance of an old childhood friend and the arrival of her cute new neighbor, Will. As Sam begins to open up to her new friends, she begins to learn more about herself than she could have ever imagined possible. While I have never experienced personal tragedy to the extent that Sam has, I can definitely relate to her. She's someone who has experienced real sorrow, and it has matured her. Although she's been socially withdrawn since her mother's death, Sam is not a wall flower, painfully shy or socially inept. Instead, she just needs friends who don't view her through the tainted lenses of her past, and she finds them in Gwyn and Will. Though she has a lot of the same insecurities most girls share, they're not debilitating - she's a confident and intelligent young lady. She's just a normal girl. I mean, despite the fact that her genes allow her to ripple. Sam is someone I could see myself befriending and I really enjoyed getting to know her character throughout the book. There were so many things I loved about Rippler, but perhaps the item that tops my list is the friendship between Sam & Will. Swanson did a wonderful job establishing them as good friends before the idea of romantic entanglement surfaced. They have a genuine connection, a comfortableness with each other. I'm of the opinion that relationships tend to be deeper when there's a well-established friendship at the foundation of the romance. And perhaps I'm just an incurable romantic but there's something incredibly swoon-worthy about suddenly realizing you're falling in love with your best friend. Sam & Will are just so sweet and adorable, as is their budding romance, and I can't wait to see where their story takes them. One of my biggest hang-ups with plots that delve into the scientific realm is credibility. Sometimes the science is just laughable, sometimes it's just too vague, sometimes it just doesn't quite feel plausible. I have no idea how much of the things discussed in Rippler are grounded in actual fact, just theoretical or just plain made up, but Swanson writes with an authority that makes me think it could be. And that's really what matters. It doesn't matter how true the science is, it's a matter of "does the author make me believe it could be?" And she does. Overall, Swanson has written a thrilling and romantic tale that had me alternately curling my toes in delight and gasping in horror, but that ultimately left me extremely satisfied... or unsatisfied, because I can't wait to read the next book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Really great read! Nice storyline and mystery!, September 22, 2011
This review is from: Rippler (The Ripple Trilogy) (Kindle Edition)
When Samantha suddenly turns invisible on a canoeing trip with her cross-country team, she is shocked when she realises that her friend, Will, is now aware of her secret. He's witnessed her in action and knows more about her ability than she does herself. Who is he and where is he getting his information from? In their possession is a journal from over a century ago, and in it they discover the deep dark secrets of a disturbed stranger, which could give them more grief than help. I enjoyed Cidney's writing style immediately. It was simple and in a way which conveyed Sam's exhilaration and the novel's mystery element really well. What seem to be riddles in the old journal are actually reports of experiments done on children in captivity. One plate less of food is provided to pit the children against each other, blankets are removed in the freezing weather for the same reason, water is withheld and only some unknown and possibly poisonous liquid is offered... It's a game of survival, designed to pick out the fittest, meanest and most ruthless. Who is willing to do anything? These flashback scenes are intriguing, and when you discover the way they link with the present... *gasp* Oh my! Will and Sam have a thing for each other, obviously, but they don't act on their feelings very often. The times they do hug and kiss are adorable though. How about those friends-fall-in-love stories! Will lives with his sister, Mickie, and she just might be my favourite character. Responsible with a hint of cheeky...what's not to like? Her university professor was a man called Pfeffer, someone who's now dead. Theory: Everyone who knows about the Rippler Syndrome is picked off one by one. Fact: One false move and they're in big trouble. I enjoyed reading about their exploration of invisibility and seeing the mystery unfold, but I would have liked to see more action and plot. There are hints and trickles of the plot throughout, which culminate to form an exciting last few chapters. Some spread would've improved Rippler a whole deal but despite that, this was a fun, yet serious, novel which should have just the right amount of mystery to pull you in. A good debut novel by Swanson!
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