Second Sight

Mindwarp #4

by Chris Archer

Book by Archer, Chris

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery

Library Binding

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindwarp continues on strong with the fourth book of the series, and it takes an interesting turn at the end of it. As always, I really liked Chris Archer’s writing; he’s talented and has pizzazz. The actual plot developments here are riveting as always and kinda lays out what we know, and doesn’t do as much in the way of progressing things until the final chapter—which diverted course from where I though this one was gonna go in a great way, making higher stakes for future books. Well done, no notes. The book was endlessly fun and gets a mandatory personal praise with the alien theming here, I found the powers for this entry’s new character quite intriguing, and generally this was just a very, very solid Mindwarp. My one complaint is the protagonist, Elena. Whilst she has brighter moments, she’s a bit insufferable, whether she seems like a dick in the school scenes or is unreasonably… well, unreasonable. She makes some dumb decisions in the book which, whilst have good fuel, don’t take more than ten seconds to tear apart logistically. Her character could’ve been better written is all. Overall, 9.5/10. Damn near perfect entry from the series. Cover is butt ugly, cannot lie.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This fourth Mindwarp novel follows the same general structure as the first three: another kid in this fictional Wisconsin town turns thirteen, discovers they have special powers, and then quickly has to use them to avoid falling into the clutches of a shapeshifting alien hunter. For our latest protagonist, her new superhuman skillset involves a variety of psychic phenomena, from premonitions of impending danger / pop quizzes to astral projection and the ability to telepathically speak her thoughts.

The problem is, it's a bit unfocused as a story for the majority of the text. Characters pop up for a scene or two and then disappear again, introducing conflicts with Elena's mother and a few school bullies that never get resolved. Instead she mostly just has a vision and is shocked to see it come true, repeated several times. Finally about two-thirds of the way through she meets up with the teens from the previous books, who fill her in on the stakes of the threat against them just in time.

It's a familiar enough schtick by now, and at this point in the series, I really need more forward momentum on whatever the larger narrative is supposed to be instead of these roughly identical plot beats and vague X-Files conspiracy chatter. The ending at least strikes a different tone that I hope the remaining sequels continue to explore, but overall this feels pretty weak even by the standards of other 90s middle-grade sci-fi.

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[Aelvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elena Vargas is a firm believer in psychic powers. When her thirteenth birthday rolls around, she knows just what she wants: a psychic reading at Madame Mysteria's. The visit throws a few surprises, but even better than the visit is the realization that Elena herself has psychic powers too. But her powers are only the beginning: the aliens she thinks have taken her father have returned, and they're anything but friendly...

Elena's actually more fleshed out as a character in Alien Scream; she more picks up where Jack left off describing her. Like the other three, Elena has strange new powers appearing on her thirteenth birthday, along with an alien menace. Unlike the others, Elena's actually seeing aliens and their craft, and she has a book from her father to help her with the new psychic powers she's acquired.

This felt more flat than the other three books, mostly because Elena's main point of interest seems to be that she's Hispanic. Her powers come easily; as soon as she focuses on doing something in particular, she can do it. Her fascination with psychic phenomena shapes how she thinks about her powers and what she tries to do with them, so there aren't as many surprises.

Overall this is a weaker book than the previous three, though it finally brings up more information about Todd and the similarities he has with all of them. As a series followup it isn't bad, although not one I'd recommend outside of the series. I rate this book Neutral.

[The Children's]

JSF ARC