Review - Altered (Altered 01) by Jennifer Rush

Title and Author: Altered (Altered 01) by Jennifer Rush

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Publication Date: January 1st, 2013

Paperback/Hardcover: 336

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Sci-fi

Find it at: Goodreads / Bookdepository

Summary:

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.
Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

  

Review:

When the read the synopsis for Altered I thought it was a book I would like to read. The idea of that of genetically modified boys locked away in a lab had me intrigued and when I actually got around to reading the book I wasn’t disappointed.

When she was thirteen Anna found her father was keeping a secret from her. Below their farmhouse there’s a lab where four genetically modified boys are being kept. Anna can’t stay away from them and eventually builds a relationship with them. 

For years later when the organization her father works for decides to take the boys away they manage to escape and when her father urges her to go with the boys, Anna finds herself on the run and in the middle of a situation she doesn’t fully understand.

I liked the characters in this book and thought they were all, in their own way, important to the story.

Anna is the main character. She’s a strong, intelligent girl. She can be a bit naïve sometimes, though and I think I would have liked her more if she wasn’t so smitten by Sam. She had her good, kickass moments, though.

Now, onto the boys! All four of them are all very unique and different and I liked the fact Anna had a different kind of relationship with each one of them (well maybe not exactly with Nick).

Sam is the mysterious one, I would say. You can never tell what he’s thinking or what he will do next. He’s very smart, serious and battle-ready. I think all the mystery surrounding him was one the reasons why I liked him so much. There’s just something about a mysterious guy. :)

Cas is the boy with the laid-back personality. He’s fun and sweet and crazy about food.

Trev is Anna’s best friend and he can be quite sweet to her. He loves to read and can store away a great amount of information and quotes in his mind.

Nick is that guy that can be blunt and somewhat of a jerk most of the times. There’s a reason why he’s like that, though. 

The relationship between Anna and Sam is a little complicated. She likes him, there’s no denying it but Sam tends to keep most of his emotions to himself. He’s also on the run which probably doesn’t leave much time for dwelling on his feelings for Anna. There are some good moments between them and it slowly becomes clear that Sam does like Anna as well.

When it comes to the story, Altered is well-written, fast-paced and easy to read. Plus, the plot is quite original and fun, I think. Not everyone is who they seem to be and not everything is what it appears to be. There was enough action, mystery and suspense to keep me entertained and interested in the story. A few twists and turns caught me by surprise while others not so much but I still enjoyed them all.

All in all, I really enjoyed Altered. The story is interesting, fast-paced and full of twists and turns. I wanted to learn more and more about the characters and their intentions and motivations.

The book ended nicely, I think but I’m still looking forward to the next book in the series and wondering where the story will go from here. 

If you like this kind of books, you should definitely give this one a try.

Rating: Worth Your Time and Must Read (4 Stars)