"Jumper" Review - Journey of Finding the Best Books

Hello Fellow Journeyers,

I took a detour from fantasy to read a book on my to-read shelf for far too long, but much like another sci-fi book I forgot about (Red Rising, glorious review to come), was stupendously glad I decided to pick it up again. The next book is Jumper.

What's the story about: Jumper is about a boy who has a special power of being able to teleport anywhere he has a memory of going or being. The most surprising part of reading Jumper was that it was a sci-fi adventure story that focuses primarily on trauma...which was incredible. It was far more intimate in that way and read much like a journal from someone going through recovery but continually making mistakes. The story was about how humans cope with trauma in good, bad, incredible, and awful ways.

The writing was simple, instantly engaging and relatable from Davy's perspective, and for an 18 year old main character, perfectly balanced by being intelligent without being overly mature. I greatly appreciated this. Davy displays great cleverness mixed with a subtle naiveté throughout. He also seemed like one of the most realistic characters I've read in some time balancing between good and bad moral actions that he regrets and doubts often.

My only problems with the story as a whole was how great and perfect Millie was for Davy. Without giving much away, she seems to always be exactly what Davy needs for the story, rather than being her own character. She's very realistic in other ways, and their dialogue is some of the best writing in the story, but she's kind of a plot device that makes things move and happen. 

Finally, there is little to no plot or main goal, which is not a bad thing! Ironically, it could be said that it doesn't matter at all since I read the first 100 pages so quickly I didn't even realize it. It moves at a fast pace and events are always intriguing and compelling, but there is no real main goal, just mini goals, until about 50-60% of the way through.

★★★★ 4 Stars - Overall, a terrifically written story about trauma with a sci-fi edge that was fun and endearing.

Music Recommendation:

Life is Strange Soundtrack by Jonathan Morali

Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.

Rating system:

★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book; it is definitely Essential Reading!

★★★★★* 4.5 Stars: It was fantastic, I really loved almost every aspect of it.

★★★★ 4 Stars: It was very good and worth reading; highly recommend.

★★★★* 3.5 Stars: I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this story, but it was lacking in certain areas.

★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.

★★★* 2.5 Stars: I wanted to enjoy it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but many issues.

★★ 2 Stars:  It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.

★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.

*I round up based on the system on Goodreads. Also, there is no 1.5 Stars because it does not seem to have enough differentiation.