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Impulse  By  cover art

Impulse

By: Steven Gould
Narrated by: Emily Rankin
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Publisher's summary

Cent has a secret. She lives in isolation, with her parents, hiding from the people who took her father captive and tortured him to gain control over his ability to teleport, and from the government agencies who want to use his talent. Cent has seen the world, but only from the safety of her parents' arms. She's teleported more than anyone on Earth, except for her mother and father, but she's never been able to do it herself. Her life has never been in danger. Until the day when she went snowboarding without permission and triggered an avalanche. When the snow and ice thundered down on her, she suddenly found herself in her own bedroom. That was the first time.

©2013 Steven Gould (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Impulse

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I was impressed!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I certainly would. This story line is good a one. It expanded upon the life of a family which has the ability to go anywhere, anytime, yet also touches on the complexities which comes along with it intelligently. At least to my mind.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Impulse?

I'd have to say learning how the ability to jump was an enabling force for flight as well. I'd love to see this on the silver screen.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

If you think you know all about my power, you may be wrong.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

If you liked REFLEX and/or JUMPER you will like IMPULSE. It's a book for younger people (which I am definitely not). However, I liked this series as a relief from the more serious books I have been listening to. I would recommend it if you don't mind listening to the kind of books your young teenager would like.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Along with a new narrator this book takes the series a new direction, while we still get chapters from the viewpoints of the main characters of the previous books this book largely focuses on their daughter and her desire to live a normal life and failing to do so miserably. New enemies and old enemies make an appearance but most of the story in this book revolves around Cent trying to carve out a life for herself in a rural high-school but trouble of one kind or another seem to follow her and her family around. We get a lot of slice of life and a bunch of well developed characters that become a staple in the series. We also get new applications and explorations of what can be done with "jumping". The book works best when read with the next book immediately after as they feel like halves of the same story. Overall I love the characters and the new direction the series takes.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A new jumper into the fray

Loved it. Fans of the series will get a wonderfully written new entry and enjoy every minute of it. I burned though this so quickly I can't even remember all the point where I LOL'd for reals.

Alright so I'm still reading this faster than should. I honestly loved this book. It was a perfect installment to this series. Whether you're here now because of your love of scifi, the movie, randomly picked off the store shelves I think there's something for us all.

Between the voice of Cent and the actual narrator (I must find out how old she was) it really sound like a teenager was telling you this story. I think it's great. I mean I know it's Gould's writing but really it reads like Cent is real and this is a story about what her life is like in a very important transition of her life. She gets to go to public school. If only it were that simple. Even knowing the most common traps and pitfalls is not going to get this girl through the day. I appreciate how real the day to day felt even in a family with super powers.

I don't remember who said it, and if you do - please reply, but I once heard of someone talking about a show or movie with a good bit of people with super powers. I'm paraphrasing here but "it's not about the powers they have but the people they truly are". Clearly it's stuck with me and here is another great example of "normal" humans getting extraordinary things done. No spoilers but it never seems forced or unrealistic. It just seems like this is how this particular family unit lives.

Now all those positives said I have one negative. Any seasoned fan... hell n00bie who's paying attention realizes that David has a fairly real paranoia from her previous experiences in the series. So can anyone tell me, throughout all the safety measures and precautions, hacks in phones limiting cell tower pickup, disguises, etc etc. Why he would allow his daughter to bring in the most exotic lunches to school daily? It's absurd and it really pains me to say it. I welcome everyone's opinion on this but I think that's the only thing within the pages where I groan internally and try and act like it's not a big deal even though any reasonable person knows that that is like putting a big bullseye on an already hunted individual (family).

See I can't even figure out how to follow that paragraph. It puts such a downer on a very excellent book. I wish everyone could read this. This is one of the super powers on my "if it were real, I'd like that" list. Nightcrawler anyone? YES! Just the idea of a cool family where the sky is the limit living in a world with limits abound makes this interesting. Even if you didn't have..hmm what are they called this time around? Oh, no worries. Even if you didn't have "them" you can still belive that showing off their ability to teleport in the world would be a no no. Who wants that kind of attention.

Yeah I'm sorry, I just can't get the flow back. The food this is minor. I swear on my life. It just cuts me up a bit cause Cent, David, or Millie - some combination of the Rice family, could've been the one cooking fabulous meals on a daily basis and it would've not stuck out. Reading or in the moment. Arg. Definitely going on my "read to many times I'm embarrassed to admit it" shelf. I cannot wait to see what Gould does next. My only sincere hope is that it doesn't take another decade to read about it. BUT if it does it cool. I know it's aged well.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

What made the experience of listening to Impulse the most enjoyable?

Impulse is a return to the universe of Jumper and Reflex. Jumper is a favorite book of mine and I really enjoyed impulse as well. It was fantastic to meet these characters again - and to meet a new one, Cent, who I think is the strongest of the bunch.

This book is funny, exciting, well written and well narrated. Emily Rankin does a stellar job bringing the characters to life, most especially Cent.

Highly recommended.

What other book might you compare Impulse to and why?

Reflex and Jumper

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Much better than Jumper.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story. Timeline issue.

It was a wonderful and entertaining story. I had to get used to the narrator's voice, but it got better as the story progressed. One timeline error, similar to my comment in book 2, Reflex. Cent says Davy is 43 years old. But 17 years have passed since the end of book 2 when he was 28 years old, going on 29. So, he would be 45 to 46 years old, depending on when his birthday is, and how long the story took place in book 2. Otherwise, this is a great listen and I look forward to more.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

Great imagination that’s action pack with surprising twist. I was pulled into storyline from the beginning until the end. The unfolding of the drama captivated my attention.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

good but not as strong

good but not as strong as the other two books. perfect for your ya female reader.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • EJ
  • 01-29-15

Very enjoyable.

The story was well constructed. It began with the parents but the story mostly centered around the teen girl. The concept of "jumping" was fun and believable. I was sorry it ended.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Definitely a Teen book, however...

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Don't know who edited the rough copy of the book, but there are a HUGE amount of breathes....between sentences, in the middle of character dialogue...and so on... It's a pretty big distraction.

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3 people found this helpful