One of the New York Times' best selling books, The Supernaturalist, is a very suspenseful and intense book. It was written by one of the New York Times' best selling authors, Eoin Colfer, as well. This fiction book is about a boy in the future named Cosmo Hill, the books main character and protagonist. He grew up in the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, Freight class, in Satellite city; a future city that it has everything the body needs and nothing what the soul wants; Steel buildings, advanced technology for everything, multibillion corporation terror, and polluted air. Basically, Clarissa Frayne is a futuristic orphanage. At Clarissa Frayne, the boys are put to work by the state. They test highly dangerous products. At the end of most days, they are covered with burns, bruises, and sores. Cosmo soon realizes that if he doesn't escape Clarissa Frayne as soon as possible, he will die from all of the testing they do.tEventually, he seizes his chance and breaks out of the institute with a friend of his, however, he dies in the endeavor, when he gets thrown off the edge of a building by an electric shock while being chased by the marshals from the institute. Cosmo and his friend, Ziplock, then lay on the ground, speechless. Cosmo then sees two blue creatures. One cradles itself around Ziplock and the other stares at him. It looked as if the creature was killing Ziplock. Then, the Supernaturalists stepped in and blasted the creatures and took Cosmo with them. These Supernaturalists are a group of kids who all have the same special ability as Cosmo-they can see supernatural Parasites, creatures that feed on the life force of humans, and the same creatures Cosmo saw on top of his friend before he died. tLed by Stefan an 18 year old ex-cop, assisted by ex-gang member Mona and former doctor called Ditto who could easily pass off as a 6 year old but actually is almost 5 times the age, due to being an experiment of a man known as Dr. Bartoli. The Supernaturalists patrol the city at night, hunting the Parasites down in order to save the rest of Satellite City. Cosmo joins this group and hunts down the parasites. However, as the story progresses the group soon comes into contact with a former friend of Stefan, the leader of the group. This character is known as Ellen Faustino. She says that she also wants to help get rid of the parasites, so she sets up the Supernaturalists. She gives them a bomb to plant in the nest of the parasites, to basically render the parasites useless. tThis convinces Stefan, Cosmo, and their group that it will kill them off. Nonetheless, there is always a twist. In fact, Ellen Faustino plans on using the parasites as a source of energy for her network of satellites. It will cause less pollution, and, essentially, be cost-free. Also, the parasites are not even evil. Actually, they relieve pain from people, and they made Ziplock's death easier by removing the pain he experienced from the electric shock. Cosmo and the Supernaturalists are outraged by this and stop Ellen Faustino. With no worries about the parasites, and Ellen Faustino out of their way, the young group of kids no longer have an objective, so they then try and live normal lives. tThis book was full of suspense on every single page. From being in the testing rooms of the Clarissa Frayne institute, to being in the nest of the parasites, there was no way to predict what would happen next, making the plot even more exciting. Cosmo goes from testing dangerous products, to blasting parasites, to taking down a major, billionaire evil mastermind, there was no stopping him. He took on every challenge with his friends, and beat each one. This book was very interesting and easy to read, mainly because I was always eager to know what would occur on the next page. Moreover, Eoin Colfer did an amazing job in writing this book. It grabbed my attention from the first sentence on the first page. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in action-filled, suspenseful books.
This book gets three stars, because I did like it, but I did not think it was breathtaking or earth shattering. Some of it felt . . . rushed, maybe. I'm not sure. My main question the whole book really doesn't completely relate to the book. The question is why are all of the books that I find to read about future societies always so . . . depressing? Why have we always ruined the planet or had massive nuclear wars or have one unified government and lots of downtrodden, unhappy people? Am I just reading the wrong books? Am I naive to think it might be enjoyable to read about a happy future where we have corrected the mistakes we are making now? What about a book where we figured out a way to cut down on our pollution and have fewer wars, but without giving up emotions, families, love, etc.? It seems like a really creative writer could think up some impossible solution that leads to a better place. That's what we're always urge to create right? A better place?Anyway, back to the novel. The main character's name was Cosmo, and that is my cat's name, so I kept thinking about my cat the whole book. Again, I know, not a flaw of the book's. The protagonist has been mistreated and ill used his whole life and knows very little of the outside world. He has a chance to escape and join a unit of people who include him like a family. Part of his new activities are fighting parasitic creatures. All is not what it seems, and all are not who they seem in the book. A lot of interesting side stories were introduced (I thought) but not fleshed out. Granted that would have made the book a lot longer, but I for one have never been bothered by long books.The book is 100% set up for a sequel, so I didn't really feel like there was much resolution. I mean the main conflict of this story was resolved, but the characters were left in such a manner that you know there is much more coming and new conflicts to be dealt with.I would have liked more information on the backgrounds of the side characters, specifically the other Supernaturalists. I wouldn't have minded more from their points of view, even some flashbacks.It is an interesting book with a new take on what our future could be like, and I do recommend this book. It just wasn't a five star book.
What do You think about The Supernaturalist (2005)?
Colfer is best known for his humorous fantasies -- like the Artemis Fowl series -- and I expected this to be more of the same. Although this has some humour interspersed, especially early on, in fact it's a pretty dour -- and really fairly damn' fine -- piece of science fiction. In a future dystopian city, young Cosmo escapes from the sadistic clutches of those who run the orphanage in which he's been incarcerated and used as a guinea pig for various potentially lethal drugs and allies himself with a gang of outcasts who, like himself, can see the ethereal parasites that, Valkyrie-like, cluster to any scene of death, the grosser the better, and feast upon the souls of the dying. Using technology they have developed, the outcasts slaughter as many of these being as they can, despite the ignorant efforts of the city authorities to stop them. But is everything the way Cosmo and his buddies think it is? This is a surprisingly serious, surprisingly good piece of work.
—John
The Supernaturalist is intriguing dystopian science fiction that would appeal to a younger reader or even older readers who aren't looking for a story that's highly sophisticated. Overall, I liked it, although I was dissatisfied with some elements.British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (one of my actor crushes) narrates this book very capably, using diverse accents for the characters. I am glad I chose to listen to this even though I have a paper copy. I liked hearing it, which stimulated my imagination in a way that I don't think reading would have done. I have an issue with science fiction in that I can't visualize technical things very well. In the auditory form, I found it a little easier to conceptualize the content.The story is interesting. Cosmo Hill, young orphan who grew up in a group home that was nothing if not rampant neglect, victimization and abuse, has a near death experience, and he starts to see creatures that seem to sap the life force from people. He also comes into contact with a group who works to kill these creatures, which they have called 'parasites.' Throw in a deeper conspiracy and other elements from your standard dystopian world and you have a pretty good science fiction novel.However, I found the end unsatisfying. I think that the twist that Colfer gives us in the story called for a richer ending than the one we got. I also think more thought could have gone into the world-building and the story plotting as far as the science fiction elements. It felt a bit superficial. On the other hand, I will say that Colfer is excellent at writing tense action scenes and his fast-paced writing style keeps a reader's interest.The characters could have been better developed. I liked the secondary characters of Mona, Stefan and Ditto, but I wanted more from them. I feel as though their characterization barely scratched the surface. I realize that I'm being a bit hard on this book. Probably because I am huge fan of this author's Artemis Fowl books and I've read dystopian teen young adult books this year that went deeper in a way that was more satisfying.Overall rating: 3.25/5.0 stars.I think this could make a pretty good movie. I'd definitely watch it!
— Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja)
Satellite city is a place in our future it has everything the body needs and nothing what the soul wants. Steel builings, high tec for everything, multibillion corporation terror, polluted air - the list goes on. The main character is 14 year old Cosmo Hill, named by the place where he was found in, escaped "prisoner" from the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys. Escaped and saved from the blue creatures who seem to be sucking the life out of you by a group called The Supernaturalist. Whos leader is Stefan an 18 year old ex-cop, helped out by ex-gang member Mona and former doctor called Ditto who could easally pass off as a 6 year old but actually is almoust 5 times the age. The book was easy to read. Especially because I found it to be interesting and waiting to find out what happends in the end. The characters werent that complicated but i found them intriguing. And if you ignore some of the silly references in the book (and somewhat sometimes leaving me wonder why they were even there). All in all I hope one day he might write a sequel to it, because im very interested to hear more of them.read: in english
—Ave
