Amped

A Kid Sensation Companion Novel

By: Kevin Hardman

Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett

Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Electra - the beautiful, unflappable girlfriend of teen super Kid Sensation - headlines her own adventure for the first time.

A foundling adopted and raised by the Alpha League (the world's greatest superhero team), Electra has exhibited super powers since infancy. However, her past has remained a mystery for the most part, with those few people with any knowledge of her background being reluctant to talk.

Refusing to remain ignorant of her own origins, Electra embarks on a fact-finding mission intent on discovering who she really is. However, in addition to providing more questions than answers, her investigation causes her to cross paths with a powerful group of supervillains, who see in her a means of furthering their goal of world domination.

Finding herself in the crosshairs, Electra must now find a way to stop those seeking to exploit her unique talents for their own nefarious purposes. Because if she can't, the world will pay a heavy price.

©2016 Kevin Hardman (P)2017 Kevin Hardman

I have got a Sensation Complex for Electra

Hardman returns to the Sensation Universe on yet another side trip, the first focusing on Mouse, and now this one about Electra. I am really enjoying these "side" adventures that focus on other characters (we need more Mouse) instead of just Sensation. Not that I'm tired of Sensation, just that there are other characters that cry out for more storylines (like Mouse). Electra gives us a search for her adoptive parents during the period of Sensation's book Coronation.

The story is a fun little mystery that goes back a little in time for us to see how she came into the hands of her adoptive team, who, I might say treat teens like total D-bags. They can risk their lives saving civies but then aren't allowed to metaphorically borrow the car. There is a huge amount of cognitive dissonance between what the teens are told they can and cannot do. It reminds me of the old argument, I can get draft and fight for my country at 18, but I'm not allowed to buy a beer until I'm 21.

This is a shorter story, but that's ok, as it does what it sets out to do, tell a compelling story about Electra! Now I need more of her, too. Can I ask Kevin Hardman to never sleep again? Would that be fair? Look, the story is fast paced, full of action and bad guys, has a sweet mystery, and answers a few questions. How much more could you want?

Unlike the other books, Naramore does not narrate this novel. Instead, Elizabeth Klett does the honors and she does a fine job. She has some huge shoes to fill, coming in behind Naramore, but she manages to pull this off and make Electra her own character. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.


If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

When the kid is away....

While Kid Sensation is offworld his girlfriend, Electra, gets to take the spotlight in her own story. Amped puts Electra front and centre as she goes on a mission of discovery. Orphaned as a child, with no real knowledge of her parents, she goes in search of who she is and who he family was. A path that will take her down roads she may not wish to go, and into the path of one of the most dangerous super villains in history.

Other than the fact that Kid Sensation is a thing, and is currently off world, there isn't too much you need to know jumping into this story. It can be standalone, although it does give some information that may be spoilers for earlier Kid Sensation books. Nothing major, but enough to be cautious. Unlike the Mouse side story, this one takes place in the present, concurrent with the KS books. It is not a prequel.

Overall it is an enjoyable, quick story that expands the Kid sensation universe.

Narration by Elizabeth Klett is good. Well paced, engaging and interesting. Great to listening to, and filled with energy and various characters voices and emotions.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.

Electra's Story

This is Electra's stoty. Electra is the girlfriend of the main character (Jim) in the first three books of this series. As an orphan, Electra's origins are shrouded in mystery. In this book she embarks on a journey to learn about her parents and runs into trouble along the way. Elizabeth Klett does an excellent job with the narration. Her voice brings Electra to life. I was provided a free review copy of this audio book and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Not really for me

I enjoyed 'Sensation', so I expected to enjoy 'Amped' too, but unfortunately I didn't. I'm not sure if the way the narrator speaks makes it worse or not, but the language is too stilted and she uses too many big or formal words. It doesn't suit a teenager at all. I couldn't get into the story because I kept thinking, "Who speaks like that?" And stuff like instead of just saying "Jim" (After letting us know the first time Jim is her boyfriend), she says "my boyfriend, Jim" again and again. It's a pity because, as I said, I enjoyed the first book.

Starts off with a cat fight but gets a lot better.

It was fun. I did have a little trouble getting into it. The first hour or so is Electra exchanging catty insults with another beautiful young lady who has designs on Electra's boyfriend. That was tiring and could have been summed up in 5 minutes. I wanted to get to the action.

Once the story does get to the action, it is pretty darn good. Electra has lots of questions about her parents as she was an orphan. She keeps digging despite everyone warning her off. She does get two friends to help her out (after they warn her she might not like what she finds). Now these three are all good guys and they do have some heart burn over temporarily stealing some hospital records (cute, huh?), but once they pull one thread, more appear. I was kept in delightful suspense while Electra found out about her parents. The truth wasn't what she expected at all! Nice!

OK, so once Electra has dug deep into her past, some nefarious baddies become interested in her. Yay! More action! Fiends! They must be stopped! Very exciting stuff. So while the story started off slow and silly, it ends strong and gripping. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Elizabeth Klett gave a great performance. I loved her voice for Electra. Klett had distinct voices for all the characters and her male character voices were masculine. I especially enjoyed her evil fiend voices for several of the baddies. They were snide, wicked, gritty, polite with evil intent. Yep, all that captured in a character voice. There were no technical issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

Great story!

I loved the characters the mtstery and the action. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

A wonderful compliment

Really happy to have this story of another main character, and if you have read them in order, You really have your claws in the storyline.
A MUST read.
thank you again Kevin.

Don't think about it too much, and it's fun.

Despite the action-packed sizzly cover image, this book is not about superheroes battling villains in full dramatic fashion. There is a small amount of running around and fighting, but mostly it's about a girl trying to figure out who her parents were. She talks to her adoptive parents, talks to her friends, looks up information on the internet. And is apparently very insecure about her boyfriend, Jim, because she mentions him at least once or twice a chapter it seems and almost always with the title.

Eventually, things get moving more, and there is breaking into places and fighting bad guys and whatnot. A lot of the side plots are kinda ignored by the end, and it feels very cartoonish in a lot of ways. The number of times I had to yell at the stupid main characters for ignoring obvious solutions to problems was irritating. So, really, try not to think about it too much or it doesn't hold up.

I might have cared more if I'd read the base series first - I was under the mistaken impression that they were not reliant on each other, but I think I may need to try the mainline series to get a better feel for the world.

Overall, not what I expected. Not bad, not great.
And don't forget. Jim is her boyfriend. It's very important to her.

Great audio book

I loved the humor and flippant attitude. Very entertaining story told from the point of view of Electra, a superhero in training with the ability to harness electricity in various ways. Very exciting story that kept me engaged throughout. Many original concepts, and interesting characters. Elizabeth Klett, the narrator, was one of the best I have ever listened to. I listened to this 3 or 4 times, and each listening felt new.

Great Follow Up to Kid Sensation Novel(s)

A great follow up to the Kid Sensation Novel. You will definitely need to read or listen to “Kid Sensation # 1” at the least. There are some events referenced from book # 2 “Mutation” but these are explained again by the author so reading “Mutation” isn’t required.

This story follows Electra, Jim’s girlfriend, and her quest for answers about her childhood. The author does a good job showing he can write from the point of view of a butt-kicking super powered girl.

Wise choice picking a female narrator for the audible version.

great

what a well written and narrated audiobook, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be looking for the rest in the series

Entertaining Superhero Tale

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Amped is Electra's story and it's great to find out her back story but it did spoil a bit for me as I have only listened to book 1 in the Kid Sensation series. The narrator did a good job breathing life into the story and the different characters within this tale.

Electra is desperate to find out where she comes from and after asking and getting unsatisfactory answers, she enlists some friends to help her discover her roots. The story is full of action, adventure and many twists in this superhero finding herself tale with a somewhat happy ending. Would definitely recommend listening along with the rest of the series.

Brilliant

Another brill book. I love this series. I highly recommend this book.
Brilliant storyline and great characters.
The narrator is awesome.
💖❤️🥰❤️

An amped up story

If you have read or listened to any book in the Kid Sensation series by Kevin (which are all brilliant) then you will know that Electra is the main hero's girlfriend but in this book she gets her own story and what a great story it is .
With Kid Sensation off planet, his girlfriend Electra finds herself with time on her hands and instead of using it to hang out with friends or do homework she decides to look into her past, with deadly consequences. Following up on the little information she has been told about her birth mother, she ropes in her friends to help her find out where she came from and it is not long before things get serious as some secrets are ment to stay buried for a reason.
I really enjoyed this book. I love the Kid Sensation series but it was nice to have a different teen super hero as the main character but it didn't lack any of the punch you would expect from the seriesand made a nice companion book. It is also a great book if you are new to the series as there was lots of action, adventure and mystery.
The author went for a female narrator with this book and even though I am use to the voice of Mikael Naramofe and really like his style for the characters, I understand why he went for a female this time round and think it was a good choice as even though she wasn't the right person she did a good job.

Another great story!!

As a fan of the series I was looking forward to this one giving a bit of a back story to one of the main characters. I felt that the story was constructed nicely with some nice twists along the way.

The narration is done to a high standard, providing distinctive voices without sounding silly. I am fully up to date now in the series so now I have to wait for the author to bring out the next in the series!!


Please note that I was given a free copy of the audiobook to provide a non-biased review.

Electra's story

This is Electra's story and set a bit further down the time line than I have read so far but it's not too spoilery.

Electrifying Novel

This is another in the series of companion novels for Kid Sensation, but what always surprises me about these novels is the rich history and the immersive experience you get when you listen to these.
This one is in relation to Electra and is about her search for her family past and brings a history that many have tried to bury for better or worse.
Narration this time by Elizabeth Platt is quite good and although she is new to be i found her suiting the characters quite well.
As you would expect from a Kid Sensation series the danger and thrills are still there and keep the story moving along and the listeners interest well.
I requested this audio and have left my thoughts on this for you to peruse.