Influence

Influence Series, Book 1

De: David R. Bernstein

Narrado por: Heather Masters

If you could manipulate the reality of others, would you?

Seventeen-year-old Kaylin has been on the run for nearly half of her young life, hiding her untapped abilities from the relentless forces that hunt her. When rescuing a mysterious stranger risks exposing the depths of Kaylin's power, she quickly learns that this harsh, new world will no longer allow her to remain hidden.

Surviving has never been easy, but resisting will be even harder.

In a future where greed and corruption have torn society apart, ruthless sector groups manipulate and oppress the masses by abusing gifted youths, known as Influencers. With the ability to shift the mindset of others and bend the populace to the will of their masters, these teens are high-value targets to be acquired and controlled at any cost. Now, war is being waged by the sector groups to expand their reach and consolidate power. Though only wanting to create a new life for herself, Kaylin may be the only one who can stop them from enslaving the rest of humanity.

But will fighting back cost Kaylin everything?

Influence is the first novel in the Influence series, a sci-fi, dystopian epic brimming with fast-paced action, suspenseful intrigue and a touch of romance, all propelled by an inventive and unique story concept. If you are a Maze Runner or Divergent fan, then an exciting new journey awaits you!

©2016 David R. Bernstein (P)2017 David R. Bernstein

What If You Could Influence Another's Mind?

Influence is a fun new twist on post-apocalyptic ya fiction. Filled with people who can influence the minds of other people by using their "push" ability corporations have taken over countries and now the world is in a shambles. 17 year old Kaylin has been able to hide from the all might corporations ever since finding out she is an influencer.... until she and her friend Amanda help a dying boy at the side of the road.

If you love books where teenagers have strange powers and are trying to save the world than give Influence a try. I am looking forward to more books in this series.

So EXCITED this is available on audible!

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

I would absolutely recommend this to my friends. This is an excellent YA book, and will intrigue any reader.

What other book might you compare Influence to and why?

Hunger games, due to the change of Earth and abilities needed to stay alive.

What about Heather Masters’s performance did you like?

I loved how she brought the characters to life, just as the author did while writing them. It was really refreshing to hear a narrator bring so much passion and life to a book. Highly Impressed with her skills.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was blown away with Kaylin's ability to "Push" and ***May be a spoiler*** when she did used her ability with animals, it was super cool and I could envision it all as if it were really happening.

Any additional comments?

This is an audiobook that I highly recommend. The books itself is intriguing and written very well by the author. The pacing is faced, and you will be sucked in instantly. The narrator brings it all to life and makes for an even more exciting adventure while listening to the book. Well done, both to the author and narrator!
-USA Today Best Selling Author, S.L. Morgan :-)

Enjoyable entertainment.

Would you be willing to try another book from David R. Bernstein? Why or why not?

Yes, I would like to see what happens next . I assume there is a series.

What three words best describe Heather Masters’s performance?

Good job, understandable.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes. I think it would be an awesome movie.

Any additional comments?

3 and a half stars. 🌟

Influence

I was given an Audible copy of this book by the narrator/author/publisher & chose to review it.

First of all, the narration was great! It was easy to listen to the book & keep track of the characters because of the different inflections that the narrator used. Without the talent of the narrator, this would have been a much less enjoyable book.

Maybe I am becoming a little jaded because of all of the dystopian YA books that I have read, but this book didn't really have anything new to offer. A bunch of kids with superhuman ability decides to take down the evil government. Throw in some unknown relatives & violence & you have just another dystopian tale. Even the name of the group is unoriginal: The Resistance.

We are never told what led to the different factions, how they came to power, or anything else about the cause of the evil. Not a bad book, but nothing really exciting.

Character Driven

Influence by David R. Bernstein is the first book in his YA dystopian series of the same name. I have wanted to read this book for a long time. It’s one of those that is constantly recommended to me so I went in with high expectations. However they were not met. This is more of a reflection of me as the reader than the book. I’ve read too many dystopians, and unfortunately they are all starting to run together.

Influence follows Kaylin, a young teen nomad who stays away from big factions/colonies in an effort to hide her Influencer ability. Not much is revealed about these abilities. Why do some have them and others don’t? What happened to the country that we know live isolated and in factions? What is the threat and why do the characters live in fear and revolt? I’m hoping these answers are revealed as the series progresses. As it is right now, we have a bunch of teens with supernatural abilities, ranging from influencing a person’s actions to telepathy, leading a revolution against the largest faction.

I like Kaylin. She’s a typical teen, despite her influencer ability. This ability makes her a target for all the factions. She is hunted, and as a result never stays in one place to long. When her and her best friend encounter a bounty hunter of sorts on the road, her friend is trapped in the faction walls and the hunter helps Kaylin escape. He knows that this is the girl they’ve all been looking for and exactly what their rebellion needs. Farren is one of those characters that I wanted to like. He’s there for us to (he’s the love interest!), but he fell flat for me. As a result, the relationship the author portrays between Farren and Kaylin feels forced and unnatural.

Overall, Influence was an okay read for me. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. I was somewhere in the middle which made writing this review hard! I plan to read more of the series. I love dystopians, and I’m hopeful that the world-building will be present in the books to come as this one focused more on the character development of Kaylin. While not what I expected, this YA dystopian still held enough interest for me to keep reading.

Now I listened to the audiobook version of this story. The narrator is fantastic. Her infections and tone kept my attention making Influence a quick listen. In fact, I’ll be looking for more audios narrated by her.