It all began when David Rice was seventeen years old and was being abused by his father. Then it was immediately followed when he was almost raped after he ran away from their house. He knew it was teleporting, but he preferred to call it jumping and he considered himself from then as … a Jumper.Though he knows that he will be alone in the street, he is still willing to pursue running away from his alcoholic father. He is determined to find his mother. But how when the world as if turned its back from him and all he can afford to trust is just his ability being a Jumper?I knew this book before I bought it not because I heard or knew someone has read this but because I already watched the movie version of this book. But I wouldn’t have still picked this one, though I already watched the movie, if I didn’t fall into loving Orson Scott Cards books. However, given the chance that I already watched its movie, it’s another factor for me to pick this up now that I’m already starting to become obsessed of sci-fi books.My admiration to Steven Gould is new but solid just because of this book. No matter what they say negative about this book will just be nullified from me. But to study the whole story, it just flow as normal as single thread—no twist and no surprise--just plain. Furthermore, I know that Gould wrote this book without making first a pattern or an outline which basically a way of creating a book I commonly dislikes. Well, what I said above is, I think, a suggestion that I totally admired this book with the way of creating a book I mentioned above. So the realization just came to my mind recently that it’s not the way how the author creates a story nor just how an author fills a story with exploding twists and turns that would make a reader like a book to the extent of dreaming over it, but it is how the author really pushes and masters himself harder at becoming a proficient story-teller.Teleportation is commonly considered by some people to be at the paranormal line since they say that it’s one of the abilities of extra sensory perception that theoretically work of neurons. Since I’m aware of this thing, the first thought that came to my mind when I read this book is why labeled as sci-fi? But because I haven’t read yet the second book, I’m very much hoping I would find an answer from that book. On the other hand, there was still an associate of scientist’s theory on the things like Davy’s unexplainable landing when he’s doing his jumping that opposes this theory. But all of these theoretical sciences have nothing to do with the reason behind his ability to teleport. So still my question, why sci-fi? Nonetheless, the aura of the book is sci-fi.One reason I admire Gould because despite of being overused of teleportation in novels, Gould still made out a new dress for it by calling it in different name. I also admire at how Gould really creates a very much normal world and put a special human out of it. In movies, once a superhuman fell to the earth, a super enemy would follow him. But it is very much rare for this like of story that even though the whole theme of the book is fantasy, Gould pulled back still the world in it as normal as he could by creating spark between supernatural and deadly terrorists.It is also admiring that behind of unrealistic ability; Gould stamped it with realistic situations. The question in our dream that “what if we can teleport” has been successfully answered by Gould through this book. Though I understand why this book is one of the most banned books way back then, I still love it the way I love sci-fi books I read before. As what it says, there is more than to know than page 9. And of course there’s nothing makes a book more popular than being banned just because it is just read by mass of people around the globe.
This is marketed as a science fiction novel, but it's really a superhero story. But a superhero story written as a "serious" science fiction novel, in which the premise is that the "superhero" is the only one of his kind. Ever thought "Yeah, superpowers in reality would change the world, not just lead to a bunch of costumed gangs beating on each other in the streets of New York?" This book explores that a little, though Davy, our would-be hero, doesn't change the world, much.Davy is a teleporter. By the usual standards of superhero teleporters, he's very powerful - he soon learns he can teleport anywhere he's been before, anywhere in the world, in literally a blink. He can also teleport other objects and people with him, and when he experiments with velocity (i.e. jumping off of cliffs and teleporting), he learns there are some weird nullification of momentum effects as well.Davy's powers drive the book, but Davy's history and personality make it more a book about a guy with a superpower than a book about a superpower. Davy's father is a violent alcoholic, and he discovers his power for the first time when he jumps away from a beating. Then he runs away, and uses his power for the second time to escape a bunch of would-be rapist truck drivers.Here and a couple of other places are where the author gets a bit cliched - yokel lowlife truck-drivers that seem to have walked off the set of Deliverance, there is some soapboxing about freedom and government abuse of authority when Davy winds up crossing the NSA, and they find out about his powers, and a few ruminations on how terrible it is to be poor and/or homeless as callous rich people walk past you. Davy is hardly perfect, though - he is generally benevolent and tries to do good with his powers, but that's after pretty much the first thing he does, once he figures them out, is empty a bank vault.Davy is flawed and human and kind of annoying. He is very realistic as a child of abuse, compounded by the issue of a runaway mother, so in this sense his "broken-ness" was understandable, but it also made him kind of a wimp, and while I suppose his fumbling, adolescent infatuation with his older girlfriend was also believable, it made me wince.Jumper gets more interesting as Davy finds himself drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists and the NSA. The latter is a pet peeve of mine, which also showed the author's biases and ignorance (the NSA does not chase US citizens around on US soil! Even if they are considered terrorists, that would be a job for the FBI!). And it was a bit Stephen King-ish with the government playing the usual role of sinister, unsympathetic Men In Black. (Davy even references Firestarter explicitly, which is another thing that made the book great - Davy is pretty genre-savvy.)I really liked the book, despite not much liking Davy. It's a great story that tries to take a "realistic" view of what would happen to someone who's the only super-powered person (so far as he knows) in the world, and the human interaction makes it much more than an action-adventure story.
What do You think about Jumper (2002)?
I had heard that this book is better than the movie, but after seeing the movie--which was awful!--I just couldn't bring myself to read this. Especially with its incredibly lame cover. (I've seen at least four different covers for this book and all of them suck.) However, I finally did read this book and it turns out that it's actually quite good! The main character is a seventeen-year-old who discovers he can teleport. He doesn't know why, he doesn't know how, he just knows he can. He uses this talent for the first time accidentally to get away from his abusive alcoholic father. He figures out he can teleport to anywhere he's been (and can remember accurately) or anywhere he can see. Now what? He's certainly not going home to his father and his mother left home years ago never to be heard from again. This is the story of love, loss and revenge, an exploration of right and wrong. It's not a difficult read but it's definitely a page-turner. If you saw the movie, forget it, this is nothing like that. This is a good, fun read with a hint of depth.
—Kim
By the title, cover art, and description Jumper has all the markings of a YA novel, but after David almost gets raped, his alcoholic father beats him, his mom is blown to bits on a tarmac, and the word fuck appears over and over, you start to think it may not be appropriate for little Suzy.I really enjoyed the novel. I found myself eager to get started again each time I stopped reading. The first half of the novel is very different from the second half. The first half covers Davy's discovery of
—Paul
It's actually interesting to note the timing for my reading of this book. I'd just finished Larry Correia's Hard Magic and jumped (pun intended) right into Jumper by Steven Gould, the new SFWA president. I absolutely loved Hard Magic and Correia's book dealt with a wide variety of different magics, from the Pale Horse who can make people die to the Heavies who can use magic to move objects (and much more as we find out) and even teleports who can disappear and appear anywhere they want. Jumper, on the other hand, only deals with one power, teleportation. How could this book even compete?And yet as complicated and well-thought-out as Hard Magic is, even going so far as to explain what happens when you teleport into a bug (it melds with your skin and really hurts), Jumper was an excellent story in its simplicity. Jumper explains some of the nuances of the powers of teleportation, but not nearly as in-depth as Correia (I know, even with all the other powers it deals with).Davy learns about his powers through some pretty brutal circumstances. His dad is an alcoholic who regularly beats him, but in the middle of one episode, he suddenly "jumps" away to his local library. From there, he decides not to go back, but that doesn't mean he understands or even knows how to use his newfound skills Davy gets into more trouble out on his own with scumbags who try to rape him and again he accidentally teleports out of the situation and back to the library.And so begins Davy's use of his powers and his fledgling understanding of what he is able to do. This, this right here, is the genius of this story. I can't imagine finding myself with these powers, especially at a young age and with such brutal circumstances, but I'm sure it would be something very similar to this. Okay, with a few less problems because not everyone encounters one problem after the next, but overall it works so well.I'm also happy to report that the book is leaps and bounds better than the movie. With such a cool premise and such great previews, how did that movie suck so much? Oh yeah, they got the worst actor in the world to be the lead.On the topic of the movie, if you are one of the poor souls who sat through it (it did have it's moments of not being terrible I have to admit), the movie follows the book pretty well for the most part although there are some things that are added (view spoiler)[ such as the other people who can also "jump." (hide spoiler)]
—seak
