Review: Adversary by Kate Kaynak

Title: Adversary (Ganzfield #2)
Author: Kate Kaynak
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release Date: August 20th, 2010
Pages: 238


Things are more dangerous than they seem at Ganzfield, and not everyone will survive. Does Maddie have what it takes?

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Plot: 5/5
Creativity: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Impact: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Not long ago, Maddie Dunn was a normal teenage girl. Then one night, she was assaulted by a couple of her classmates and, in an attempt to save her life, Maddie discovered she could do things her peers couldn't, like read minds and literally think people to death. Armed with her new-found abilities, she discovered the world of Ganzfield- an institution for people like Maddie called G-positives- and even fell in love with the perfect boy, Trevor. But now someone is set on destroying Ganzfield, and it's up to Maddie and her friends to go after him and defend their home, not to mention the entire race of G-positives. With not only their lives but also those of countless of others on the line, Maddie and her friends try to defeat Isiah and are thrown into a battle bigger and more dangerous than any of them could ever imagine.

I was impressed by the first Ganzfield novel, Minder, and the world it introduced to me, but I have to say Adversary totally kicked things up a notch. I'm an avid reader and I've read more than my share of series books, and I rarely like the second novels more than the first (the only exception I can think of right now is Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins). That being said, Adversary totally blew me away.

It builds on the first novel, and then some. The same characters are reintroduced and once again you're brought into Ganzfield, but this time, it's more action-packed and violent and terrifying. The characters constantly face life-and-death situations as the plot races on, and you can't help but be engaged.

The romance is another thing I preferred in this book over the first. In Minder, I didn't really like that things seemed to move too fast between Maddie and Trevor, but in Adversary, they've been together for a while, so things are a lot better. There were times that I thought that things were too perfect, but the connection between Maddie and Trevor is a central part of the series, so it's understandable. On the whole, Kaynak's approach in tackling teenage relationships in this novel is impressive. The way she handles the ideas of sex and the characters' mutual need for each other is fairly realistic, she could have been telling a true story- minus the superpowers and the evil villain, of course.

Packed with armloads of excitement to keep you turning its pages, Adversary is definitely an enjoyable read and a brilliant addition to one of the most underrated YA paranormal series I know of. I'm honestly surprised people aren't raving about this series, because it's honestly very good and it just seems to get better with every installment. Now my expectations of the forthcoming books have stepped up because of this great second installment, but I have a very good feeling they'll deliver, the way Adversary blew my mind.