‘Powers’ provides thrill, romance

By Sarah Abbott
South Charleston High School

There are plenty of good books in stores today, but it’s always great to find a truly unique idea instead of overused fantasy clichés. One mind-bending new story is “Powers” by Deborah Lynn Jacobs.

One of its most attractive points to me is that its heroine, Gwen, isn’t a Mary Sue. She isn’t the head of the cheerleading squad; she isn’t a size two; she’s not blonde and she doesn’t have a whole lot of friends. On the contrary, she wears big sweaters with stains on them and is very quiet.

When she meets Adrian, both their lives change.

Adrian is your stereotypical bad boy at first. He’s hot, dangerous and tricky. He arrives at Gwen’s school in the wilder regions of Canada with the idea that he can fool everyone. To his chagrin, Gwen sees through his charm and cool demeanor.

There’s one special thing about both Adrian and Gwen: they have rudimentary supernatural powers. Adrian is a telepath, or mind reader, and Gwen sees the future through her dreams. Through his talent, Adrian realizes that Gwen doesn’t like him and is surprised. They are complete opposites in every way, and he doesn’t intend to become friends with her.

Then they accidentally touch, and the two get a power surge unlike anything they’ve ever felt before. Adrian can suddenly sense the thoughts of everyone around him instead of just Gwen, and Gwen gets more frequent, more accurate visions. They become addicted to each other. They manipulate, blackmail and bargain with one another to get another hit of power.

It starts to get dangerous when Gwen begins to see only the future she wants to see. She convinces Adrian to run into a burning house, walk out onto thin ice and many other things, just to get attention and feel important. The power begins to consume both of them.

This is what makes the story so interesting. It’s not only about the supernatural and romance. It’s also about how greed can change people and how they can delude themselves into thinking they’re doing the right thing. It seems to embody the realization that too much power can change a human into a monster.

“Powers” is a compelling, suspenseful work of art. The relationship between Adrian and Gwen will have romance buffs in awe, and the slightly creepy edge of Gwen’s visions will attract readers of thrillers.

It’s an excellent, unconventional read. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone below age 13, though. There is brief language, some frightening imagery and the aforementioned romance.