Review: Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Nobody
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pub. Date: January 22nd , 2013
Pages: 393
Age Level: 13+ (YA book)
Source: For Review from Publisher

Synopsis via Goodreads
There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.

Review
I had never heard of Nobody until I received an email asking if I wanted to review it. I'd seen a lot of good things about Barnes' books and I had been wanting to read them for a while so I figured I'd give this one a shot. 

At first, I didn't mind the characters. I thought Claire was quirky and amusing and Nix, well, I felt sorry for the poor guy and he was so intriguing. Needless to say, I liked them well enough in the beginning. But then they met. I understand that their emotional issues were pretty justified. I mean hey, they'd both lived their whole lives around people who barely even knew they existed, if that much. And Nix had spent his life being trained and used to kill people, some who deserved it, a couple who didn't. However, that didn't stop them from being frustrating to no end. Claire basically fell in love at first sight to a pretty blue-eyed boy...pointing a gun at her. I swear, every time he tried to kill her, it had the opposite effect one would expect. As for Nix, how did you fail to figure out Claire was not a null sooner? Once they got past him trying to kill her, it didn't take long, they were head over heels in love with each other. I felt empathy for them, really, but omg they got on my nerves. I think it is important that I mention now that I did not hate them, they had their moments, I just didn't particularly like them either. As for the secondary characters, well, there weren't really any. I mean, when you have two main characters whom can illicit zero emotion from people, leave no impression on them, any other characters are going to be pretty...static. Ione was probably one of the more involved minor characters. *cough* What a bitch! *cough* Two others were Natalie, a little null girl, and a sensor. 

The plot for Nobody was truly unique, presenting a whole new spin on the concept of invisibility. I loved the fact that there was a relatively scientific explanation for it all. The concept of energy's role in Nulls, Nobodies, and Sensors was truly imaginative. While it had a few predictable moments, it had some surprises as well. Even with my problems with the characters, I flew through this book in no time as it was both fast-paced and compelling. The beginning portion of the book was a little repetitive but the rest was pretty great.    

The writing was arranged in frequently shifting points of view between Claire and Nix. Surprisingly, I didn't find it all that disruptive and if I had of liked the characters more, I'm sure I would have loved that aspect. That said, I got to constantly go back and forth from being annoyed by one character's thoughts to being annoyed by the other's. The writing style overall though was refreshing and enjoyable. 

The ending, despite my not loving the characters, was perfect and I was very pleased with how things ended up pulling together for Claire and Nix. I couldn't help but be happy for them.  

In Essence

Characters: MCs not bad apart, but absolutely annoying together. Supporting characters almost non-existent.
Writing: Different, but in a good way, and fast-paced.
Plot: Inventive and compelling.
Ending: Loved!
Enjoyment/Likability: Liked pretty well but characters definitely decreased my enjoyment overall.
Recommendable: If you like the sound of the book, I'd say give it a shot. My only real problem were the characters and I wouldn't suggest avoiding this book on that basis alone.

Overall: Characters were disappointing but everything else was pretty good. I'd like to give some of Barnes' other books a try.  

Cover: It's okay.



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