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Impulse

(Jumper #3)

Steven Gould (Goodreads Author)

4.06 · Rating details · 3,661 ratings · 319 reviews

Cent is the teenaged daughter of two very special people, Davy and Millie, the world's only teleports, but her life is far from ideal. Kept in isolation to protect her from her parents' enemies, she wants a normal life, a life with friends and, perhaps, romance. She wants to go to school like any other normal child.

If only she were normal...

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Kindle Edition, 369 pages

Published January 8th 2013 by Tor Books

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Jul 06, 2013 seak rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 2014

Progression of the Jumper series:

Book 1, Jumper: Let's take a simple concept and weave a cool story that's brilliant in its simplicity.

Book 2, Reflex: Let's take that simple concept and add to it by restraining it, but while also pushing boundaries. Also, let's add a cool mystery and some spies.

Book 3, Impulse: Let's take all the great things we've built up so far ... and add teenage angst! A forced romance! A holier-than-thou attitude for all the characters!

(Okay, these are misleading, caus ...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Kat Hooper rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Originally posted at FanLit
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

Impulse is the third book in Steven Gould’s JUMPER series. The first book, Jumper, which was more thriller than science fiction, told the story of Davy, a teenager who discovered that he could teleport. He used his ability to fight the terrorists who caused him some personal pain. In the second book, Reflex, Davy is captured by people who want to use his power for their own ...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Gary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Science Fiction Fans

Shelves: kindle, own, 2013

Impulse (Jumper 3), the first Jumper novel in nine years. It’s been a long time coming, like having wisdom teeth pulled waiting for this novel. Yet, it’s really worth the wait. Impulse is reminiscent of the very first Jumper, a classic in my personal collection.

This time around Davy and Millicent are parents to sixteen year old daughter, Millicent; Cent for short. The characters of Davy and Millicent reflect what happened in the previous novels. They are isolated yet trying to make the world a bet Impulse (Jumper 3), the first Jumper novel in nine years. It’s been a long time coming, like having wisdom teeth pulled waiting for this novel. Yet, it’s really worth the wait. Impulse is reminiscent of the very first Jumper, a classic in my personal collection.

This time around Davy and Millicent are parents to sixteen year old daughter, Millicent; Cent for short. The characters of Davy and Millicent reflect what happened in the previous novels. They are isolated yet trying to make the world a better place through relief efforts, something gleamed from the short story, Shade (another must read for Jumper fans!).

Although it feels very similar to Jumper, it stills feels fresh. Cent makes some of the same mistakes that her dad made when he fresh learned to jump, only with a faster learning curve which definitely helped the story progress quicker to the action.

There is one gripe with the book. The character of Cent adjusts too easily being isolated and growing up with the only two jumpers in existence. Maybe it’s the clues to how she so well adjusted is in the sixteen years since Reflex. But the case could be made that she didn't adjust that well because she still ending up getting her family on the radar of the Organization.

After trolling the internet I found one source that said another novel is coming out next EXO. I hope it’s true because the thought of another nine plus years wait is unbearable. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for people who read Jumper when it original came out like twenty years ago. Twenty years and only three novels... it’s a dedicated bunch.

I’ve read all of Steven Gould’s books. But it’s something about the Jumper series and Wildside that connects with that kid that first purchased Hardy Boys 1: The Tower of Terror and fell in love with reading. If you’ve never read Jumper before you don’t have to feel intimidated to start with Impulse. I think it gives you better insight when things from the previous novels are mention. And they are mentioned in a matter of fact tone giving the read a since of history to the characters, they have full lived lives.
...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Brian Delambre rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fans of Jumper will love this book!!

I should not have started a Gould book at 11:30 at night. I finished right around 4:30am. I love the Jumper series. As a bookseller getting Fantasy people to try SF, I would give them Ender's Game followed by Jumper. Impulse is a wonderful continuation of the Jumper & Reflex storyline. Just to follow the characters 15 years later and get to see back into their lives, and what they have done with their abilities, and how they try to raise a chil ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Eric rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Jumper and Science Fiction Fans. Anyone curious.

Shelves: scifi, young-adult-fiction, fantasy, read-so-many-times-im-embarrassed-t, lgbtq, badass, food-cravings, i-should-be-sleeping-really-i-shoul, multiple-povs, geek-sheik

Loved it. Fans of the series will get a wonderfully written new entry and enjoy every minute of it. I'm waiting to do my review until the audiobook comes out. Hopefully next week. I burned though this so quickly I can't even remember all the point where I LOL'd for reals.

Alright so I'm still reading this faster than should. I honestly loved this book. It was a perfect installment to this series. Whether you're here now because of your love of scifi, the movie, or randomly picked off Loved it. Fans of the series will get a wonderfully written new entry and enjoy every minute of it. I'm waiting to do my review until the audiobook comes out. Hopefully next week. I burned though this so quickly I can't even remember all the point where I LOL'd for reals.

Alright so I'm still reading this faster than should. I honestly loved this book. It was a perfect installment to this series. Whether you're here now because of your love of scifi, the movie, or randomly picked off the store shelves I think there's something for us all.

Between the voice of Cent and the actual narrator ~~(I must find out how old she was~~ Holy smokes Emily Rankin AKA Emily Janice Card [yup!!]) it really sounds like a teenager was telling you this story. I think it's great. I mean I know it's Gould's writing but really it reads like Cent is real and this is a story about what her life is like in a very important transition of her life. She gets to go to public school. If only it were that simple. Even knowing the most common traps and pitfalls is not going to get this girl through the day. I appreciate how real the day to day felt even in a family with super powers.

I don't remember who said it, and if you do - please reply, but I once heard of someone talking about a show or movie with a good bit of people with super powers. I'm paraphrasing here but "it's not about the powers they have but the people they truly are". Clearly it's stuck with me and here is another great example of "normal" humans getting extraordinary things done. No spoilers but it never seems forced or unrealistic. It just seems like this is how this particular family unit lives.

Now all those positives said I have one negative. Any seasoned fan... hell a n00b who's paying attention realizes that David has a fairly real paranoia from his previous experiences in the series. So can anyone tell me, throughout all the safety measures and precautions, hacks in phones limiting cell tower pickup, disguises, etc etc. Why he would allow his daughter to bring in the most exotic lunches to school daily? It's absurd and it really pains me to say it. I welcome everyone's opinion on this but I think that's the only thing within the pages where I groan internally and try and act like it's not a big deal even though any reasonable person knows that that is like putting a big bullseye on an already hunted individual (family).

See I can't even figure out how to follow that paragraph. It puts such a downer on a very excellent book. I wish everyone could read this. This is one of the super powers on my "if it were real, I'd like that" list. Nightcrawler anyone? YES! Just the idea of a cool family where the sky is the limit living in a world with limits abound makes this interesting. Even if you didn't have..hmm what are they called this time around? Oh, no worries. Even if you didn't have "them" you can still believe that showing off their ability to teleport in the world would be a no no. Who wants that kind of attention.

Yeah I'm sorry, I just can't get the flow back. The food this is minor. I swear on my life. It just cuts me up a bit cause Cent, David, or Millie - some combination of the Rice family, could've been the one cooking fabulous meals on a daily basis and it wouldn't have stuck out as much. Reading or in the moment. Arg. Definitely going on my "read to many times I'm embarrassed to admit it" shelf. I cannot wait to see what Gould does next. My only sincere hope is that it doesn't take another decade to read about it. BUT if it does it cool. I know it's aged well. ...more

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Sep 25, 2013 Sherwood Smith added it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

I loved Jumper the book. I liked its YA sensibility while still being a read for adults. It has been my go-to book when people ask what I think New Adult is, even though it came out before the Potter generation was reading. (Assuming that the New Adult sub genre was invented for the Harry Potter readers who wanted f or sf fixes a step up from school stories, with younger protagonists entering the adult world.)

Impulse returns to that sensibility with Cent, the smart sixteen-year-old daughter of Davy/> I loved Jumper the book. I liked its YA sensibility while still being a read for adults. It has been my go-to book when people ask what I think New Adult is, even though it came out before the Potter generation was reading. (Assuming that the New Adult sub genre was invented for the Harry Potter readers who wanted f or sf fixes a step up from school stories, with younger protagonists entering the adult world.)

Impulse returns to that sensibility with Cent, the smart sixteen-year-old daughter of Davy and Millie, who has been raised completely off-grid; who travels all over the world with her teleporting parents. She has everything a kid could want . . . except friends. She wants to go to high school. And when she figures out how to jump, or teleport, her parents come to the same realization that all parents must: their child is not only ready to venture into the world, she is capable of it.

So David, the PTSD paranoid, and Millie, the family therapist who anchors their little family, go about making it possible, choosing a small town with relatively low crime, and some safe-guards.

The book starts out deceptively slowly, as Cent begins school (and runs afoul of a bully the first day), and her anxious parents try not to hover too much, by getting involved in their own projects--Millie with disaster relief, and David with trying to track down the mysterious corporate entity that captured and tortured him for the secret of his teleportation (Reflex).

With Davy's drive to experiment and her mother's drive to right wrongs, Cent creates a life for herself at high school about which her parents only know the superficials. Like her first crush . . .and the discovery that the school bully is involved with some serious nastiness. It accelerates to a headlong pace, and finishes satisfyingly while leaving plenty of threads.

Nice evocation of locale and distinctive, vividly described characters enrich the story, and it was a relief to see Gould somewhat restraining his urge to bring in Christian fundamentalists just to highlight how backward, venal, and stupid they are.

I want to read more about Cent! ...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Will rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm a bit conflicted about this book.

On one hand, it's straightforward. No messy language details, no recondite SAT vocab words. There's no complex philosophical question to be considered, no mysterious butterflies or green frogs that tell you the Author Is Being Symbolic.

On the other hand... it's almost insultingly simple. It's a story about the daughter of a couple who can teleport, and how they've spent all their time living off the grid hiding from the people who attempted to ki ...more

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Jan 26, 2017 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: new-favorites, own, science-fiction

I have a deep and abiding love for JUMPER. I just had to get that out there. I found it in my teen years, and I have lost count of the number of times I read it. I love Davy. You want to talk about book boyfriends? Davy was (*cough*is*cough*) my first book boyfriend. (Along with Paul Atreides, but let's not get into THAT here.) Basically, if you're looking for a fantastic sci fi book, go for JUMPER.

Then read REFLEX.

And now we come to IMPULSE. Which . . . Okay, I really can't think o ...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Bryan Thomas Schmidt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I reserve fives for books where I can't imagine doing anything different. Where I can't find a single flaw I can honestly say would have made the book stronger. So I don't give those out very often. This is one of those exceptional cases. What an amazing, page turner of a read. Just perfect in every way. With not only exceptional craft but an exceptional spirit. Gould has written a book about a teen protagonist that examines teen angst and struggles without wallowing down in the usual "me agains ...more

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Jul 03, 2017 Shane Phillips rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Unlike others this was just predictable teenage angst story but with superpowers. Too much angst vs adventure.

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Jan 16, 2013 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finishedreviewcopy, series-complete-need-to-finish

3.5 Stars

As ever, unsolicited copies can be a real mixed bag, especially when the book turns out to be a later book in a series you've never read. I almost didn't read Impulse because I really hate reading series out of order and I had neither time nor free resource by which to acquire and read the first two. However, the publicity contact assured me that Impulse works as a standalone, so I decided to give it a go because Tor publishes quality stuff. Anyway, I am very glad I gave Imp 3.5 Stars

As ever, unsolicited copies can be a real mixed bag, especially when the book turns out to be a later book in a series you've never read. I almost didn't read Impulse because I really hate reading series out of order and I had neither time nor free resource by which to acquire and read the first two. However, the publicity contact assured me that Impulse works as a standalone, so I decided to give it a go because Tor publishes quality stuff. Anyway, I am very glad I gave Impulse a chance, because it turned out to be super awesome, the only problem being that I now really want to read Jumper and my library still doesn't have it.

Now I can certainly infer a lot about the plots of the previous two books from what I read in Impulse, but I was never had to sit through any long infodumps about the plots of the last two. Nor was I ever confused or out of place because I hadn't read the first two. Impulse functions well as a standalone, since the main character was not a part of the previous books (from what I can tell). You do not need to read the prior books to appreciate Impulse.

The main character of Impulse is the daughter of the original young adult hero from the first books. He's now grown into the over-protective father of a sassy, brilliant teenage daughter. Cent, short for Millicent, has lost patience with their isolated lifestyle. Now that she's sixteen, she wants to go to a real school, make friends, and enjoy a social life that consists of more than just her parents for the first time ever. Though fearful that his enemies will track them down, Davy agrees, because he loves Cent so much.

Seriously, I love how loving this family unit is. They're way closer than most because they're literally the only people they can completely trust, as evil types are trying to hunt down Davy and use his powers for evil. Millie, Davy and Cent argue, but there's never a time where it's not completely obvious that they all love one another. When it comes time for big decisions, they make them as a family, and Cent trusts them with details about her life that most kids don't share. Of course, Cent's a teen too, so she does keep some shenanigans under her hat, because sometimes what you're parents don't know can't hurt them, right?

Cent does occasionally embarrass herself in her first experiences with other teens, but, honestly, she's just a champ. She's ballsy, friendly, incredibly bright, sporty (she snowboards - how cool is that?), and pretty, so she was never going to have a horrid time of it. Despite that, she immediately attracts the attention of a bully, Caffeine, who becomes obsessed with taking Cent down after Cent embarrasses her by moving out of the way and letting Caffeine go down hard. I love how Cent takes everything in stride. She has this crazy confidence about so many things, because of her powers, experiences, and intelligence, but on the other hand being confused by boy drama can make her cry. Cent's such a fun heroine.

Also, the story focuses mostly on the bullying, which has a wider impact than Cent initially realized, rather than romance. However, the romance is actually super cute, even if it does get a bit instalovey at the end. Up to that point though, she and her boy have some great banter, AND he's a smart, sweet reader. Yes to that!

The one aspect that didn't really work for me was the more fantastical side. All of the jumping is fun, sure, but the endless practice sessions that Cent did got a little old. Plus, any time the third person limited perspective switched to Cent's mother (relief work in other countries) or father (researching the people looking for him), I felt my attention waning, though thankfully their chapters were really short. Still, I don't really think those chapters were needed, except as an incentive to fans of the first two books.

Whether or not you've read Jumper and Reflex, Steven Gould's Impulse is an action-packed read with a kickbutt heroine. Impulse has humor, adventure, plotting, fighting and a little bit of romance. The series has appeal for male and female readers alike. ...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Jeffrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013, science-fiction

Steven Gould's 'Jumper" is probably the best novel about teleportation in science fiction. It tells the story about how David Rice learns to secretly use his jumping talent.

In "Reflex", the sequel to "Jumper", David is captured by a power hungry group that wants to coerce David to work for them. Hyacinth Pope, one of the leaders of the group, tortures and experiments on David, but Millie, his girlfriend, learns to jump and she rescues David and Pope is jailed.

In "Impulse" Steven Gould's 'Jumper" is probably the best novel about teleportation in science fiction. It tells the story about how David Rice learns to secretly use his jumping talent.

In "Reflex", the sequel to "Jumper", David is captured by a power hungry group that wants to coerce David to work for them. Hyacinth Pope, one of the leaders of the group, tortures and experiments on David, but Millie, his girlfriend, learns to jump and she rescues David and Pope is jailed.

In "Impulse", Gould explores what it would be like for a young teenager to have the jumping ability.

Now years later, David and Millie are married. They live way way off the grid in a remote cabin in Canada, with their young daughter Cent, who is unable to jump. Fearing the well financed groups that previously made him a prisoner, David has enacted many security safeguards, multiple internet accounts and fake disguises to live. No one even knows that Cent is even alive. She was born in the cabin with the help of a midwife and is home schooled. Meanwhile Millie and David use their talents and money to jump food to relief efforts in Bangladesh.

Cent, 15, chafes under her parents' controls and their paranoia. One day while snowboarding, she finds herself in the midst of an avalanche, which triggers her jumping ability. She tells her parents, and David and Millie help her learn to use her talent and she travels around the world learning to use her talent. However, Cent wants to hang out with kids her own age.

David and Millie reluctantly agree, that since Cent can jump, and presumably escape from harm, she can enroll in high school to learn how to interact with kids her own age. David provides her with a special telephone that cannot be traced to the family, and they buy a house in New Prospect so she can attend the local high school.

Cent goes to school and makes friends with a couple of local girls. She meets Brett, goes on a date with another guy and joins the snowboarding team. On the side she experiments on her abilities learning to increase her acceleration when she jumps, and control her talent better.

Meanwhile, instead of keeping a low profile at school, Cent gets on the wrong side of Caffeine, a bully and local drug dealer. Things gradually escalate and soon Cent is defending three local boys who are being blackmailed by Caffeine, and taking on Caffeine and her gang members, who gradually use more and more muscle on Cent.

There are some good high school scenes about the new girl in school, and her first exposure to jocks and boys. But inescapably, having the ability to jump, will mean that you are going to use it. Its almost impossible not to.

In the end, Cent, Caffeine, and David's old enemy Pope are all together in an airport, and Cent and her family must use their talent to escape.

Cent is a very likeable character and Gould interjects scenes with Millie and David that augment the story. Generally, "Impulse" is a good fast read about how a young person would deal with her talent, but it seems a little far-fetched that she would immediately get involved in a situation with a drug dealer and her gang members given her situation.Nevertheless, it definitely ratchets up the action.

This coming of age story is a good fast enjoyable read. ...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Anne Gray rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction

Impulse is the third book in the series that started with Jumper (1992) and continued with Reflex (2004). The first book is basically a coming of age novel about a teenager who escapes from an abusive home life with the remarkable ability to "jump" from one place to another instantaneously. The second book has a second person develop this ability, and is pretty much thoroughly an adventure/thriller, and the third book revolves around their daughter, who has had an odd sort of both socially isolated and particularl ...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Dana Stabenow rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Third in the saga of teleport David, his wife Milly, and now their daughter Cent. Steven Gould is the direct sf heir to Robert A. Heinlein and Joe Haldeman--he writes so sensibly and practically of impossible things that he makes you believe, well, the impossible. He's really given serious, extended thought in these novels (Jumper, Reflex) to just what it would be like to be able to teleport, and to just how attractive that would make you to the powers that be. If you live in daily fear of being ...more

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Feb 13, 2014 Laz the Sailor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, ya

One of the best things about this story is you can tell that the author has a teenage daughter (actually 2). I have one too, and much of the interaction with the parents was true-to-life. I hope I wasn't as overbearing a dad as Davy, but then I didn't have people actively trying to kill/capture me and my family.

In this book we learn what two Jumpers have to do to live their lives in a productive fashion, using their talents for good, and trying to avoid the bad guys who still hunt th ...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Ben Nash rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, young-adult, books-first-read-in-2012, books-published-2013, giveaway

When I got home from Christmas celebrations, I found this book waiting in the mailbox. I won it in a drawing and it must've arrived on Christmas Eve. What a great present!

Like the previous two books in the series (not including the movie tie-in), this one had me from the beginning and kept me going all the way through.

This one mostly follows David and Millie's daughter, Cent, as she discovers and learns her new ability. She finds new ways to use the ability, just like Dav ...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Casey Blair rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I actually haven't read Jumper yet, but that didn't adversely affect my enjoyment in the least. People new to the series can start with this one without worrying.

My favorite thing about this book is that it made me want to go learn about new things, or relearn things I've forgotten: everything from Boyle's Law to international relief efforts to Jane Austen's publishing history. I love learning things from books, and a book that inspires me to go learn more about such a variety of subjects is a ...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Carolyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-ya_16-and-up, science-fiction_psions, 2013-read

I enjoyed this, read it in one sitting.

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Oct 04, 2014 Richard Guion rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This sequel features Cent (Miilicent) the daughter of Davy & Millie as she comes to terms with her powers & learning how to adapt to high school. Great fun!

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Aug 17, 2018 Gbolahan rated it really liked it

YA. Clean YA. If I explained what that means, I'd be spoiling it...
Explanations for how Cent was applying her mutation though...eh. Discarded that after struggling with one page of it and just decided to enjoy the book. Although, wished I could have been patient to understand them more, cos I'm suspecting the god in the machine now...
Sigh. Poor Davy. Well at least, he only cried once...
I think the story is too fast in some ways though. She's barely controlled her flinching and next thing ...more

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$J. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯$

Nov 16, 2012 J. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Aside from the awesomeness that is teleportation this book had no redeeming qualities. I hated it so much I'm not even going to clean up this review. Mostly gripes and maybe some spoilers:

Update: A fellow Goodreads member disliked my "review", griping that I reviewed the author rather than the book. It isn't hard to ignore an author/actor's politics, I rather enjoy Matt Damon's movies, the problem is when an author tries to choke you to death with his politics. I'm fairly certain tha ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Impulse is the third in a series, and I listened to the audiobook without a problem. I did wonder why and how the family had the power to teleport, but the overarching plot drew me in enough that I was able to overlook that and focus on a really good story.

Cent is the child of Davy and Millicent, and her parents can teleport. At the beginning, Cent can't, and she spends her days helping her parents' charity projects when she's not being homeschooled. They are in hiding from a shadowy Impulse is the third in a series, and I listened to the audiobook without a problem. I did wonder why and how the family had the power to teleport, but the overarching plot drew me in enough that I was able to overlook that and focus on a really good story.

Cent is the child of Davy and Millicent, and her parents can teleport. At the beginning, Cent can't, and she spends her days helping her parents' charity projects when she's not being homeschooled. They are in hiding from a shadowy organization that once imprisoned and tortured Davy, but their life seems pretty nice, if isolated. Then Cent develops the ability to teleport, and demands to attend school like a normal teenager.

A lot of the beginning dealt with the logistics of both their isolated home as well as they steps they took to buy a new home and set Cent up in school. Scattered throughout the book were scenes dealing with Millicent's relief efforts throughout the world, but you never spend enough time with those characters to really care about their fate. Although the chapters switch between Cent, Davy, and Millicent narrating, Cent is definitely the protagonist of this book as she navigates a particularly nasty gang at the local high school.

While there are some adult concepts addressed in this book, it seems appropriate for older teens. It was refreshing to see a teenage girl written with humor and empathy, even if some of the early bullying scenes seemed a little off. She loves anime and snowboarding, and her trials of finding new friends and figuring out teenage boys was written with a lot of empathy. Cent gets in trouble helping others, says the wrong things at times, and fights with her parents. She's a really likable character, and her eventual confrontation with the gang was good. Cent relies on her wits, but is still a teenager and is relieved when her parents do the heavy lifting.

Overall, I'd recommend this book. The narrator had a fantastic voice, and it was easy to tell which character was speaking due to her vocal changes. ...more

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Sep 01, 2015 ambyr rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ageㅡya, nyr2015, protagonistㅡfemale, acquiredㅡfree-book, genreㅡscience-fiction, authorㅡmale, formatㅡaudiobook, warningㅡrape, characterㅡlgbt

This is billed as being basically stand-alone, since it's set 20 years after the previous books, but I think it works better when read in the context of the series. Cent's storyline here is satisfying in a wish-fulfillment way but not particularly deep; there are good guys and bad buys, and she plows self-righteously through them, always instinctively sorting them into the correct basket and never encountering any real danger. The depth comes from David and Millie, and watching all the little wa ...more

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Feb 18, 2016 Ashok Banker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I'd read Jumper and loved it. The film adaptation was pretty good too. I enjoyed Reflex, the sequel, and the way Gould didn't just rinse and repeat, but actually 'jumped' the story and characters forward. But Impulse blew me away. Gould 'jumped' the characters yet again, but this time he added a new primary viewpoint protagonist, Cent, the teenage daughter of Davy and Millie from the earlier books. Not only that, he made Cent a complex, extremely likeable yet flawed character, and added a bunch ...more

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Sep 07, 2014 Leah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-fantasy, 2014, new-adult

This book was fun and fast paced - I was almost late for work trying to finish it.I liked how the characters were developed just enough for you to really car about them - even the bad ones! I'd love to hang out with them at the coffee shop, Krakatoa. Also, the "jumping" kept it fresh from beginning to end. My favorite part was when Cent really get's her teen brain going and puts on a disguise to take action. I also liked the family bond in this story. I really appreciate that the father cared s ...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Jonathan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: powers

This book was almost what I wanted.

Jumper is one of my all-time favorites. I can read it over and over and still love it every time. It explores the mechanics and psychology of teleportation from the viewpoint of a person I can relate to.

Reflex took the previously explored world and added an element of adventure and despair to the story. Another great book, but markedly different from Jumper.

Impulse did not have the same feeling of the other two. In books 1 an ...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Kent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

I wouldn't have called Jumper one of the best books I've ever read -- it's a fairly predictable SF novel. But Gould tells a good story with a compelling lead character. I loved it and read it multiple times. I watched the disappointing movie in hopes that it wouldn't suck (but it did).

The sequel, Reflex, was less compelling. But I enjoyed it, it just didn't drag me back the way Jumper did.

Now, 15 or 20 years later, comes the third book in the series, and the author who wrote Jumper ...more

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Jun 13, 2015 Karin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I'm going to write just as horrible of a review as I thought this book was. It plain sucked. I forced myself to finish it just because I like to finish what I start. I was very entertained by Jumper and Reflex so I had high hopes for this book. However, this one was just way too out there for my taste.

I won't summarize the story for you, all the other reviews do that but I found it so unbelievable that Cent is jumping all over the place and supposedly no one is noticing. (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 18, 2018 J. Peters rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Originally, my rating for this was 4 stars.

After reading it a second time (and it's been a few years since I read it originally), I decided to up it to 5 stars.

I'd say it's on par with the first book in the series. The second book was a bit too dark for my tastes. The extended sequences of torture and misery, while well written, were kind of hard to get through. And because of the third person writing, it was also harder to get closer to the characters.

Impulse is the sto ...more

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Sep 22, 2015 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction, raunchy-language

There's a lot to like about this one despite the whiny teenager angst. I just wish Cent's parents had "spanked" her in some way when she started rebelling. I don't care how mobile your kid is, you don't let them act out without consequences. Luckily, Cent acted a lot less bratty later, but then again, she got her own way, didn't she? I much prefer Davy and Millie to their spoiled brat of a daughter.

The story was good, though, even though I think Gould dropped the ball on the romance. Davy and M ...more

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About Steven Gould

Steven Gould

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Steven Charles Gould is an American science fiction author. His novels tend to have protagonists fighting to rid government of corrupt antagonists. The struggle against corruption is the focus, rather than the technology.