The Mindwalker by Kate Dylan

Honestly if you’re a Marvel fan, go pick up this book like right now.

That’s all you really need to know about this one. I frankly recommend going into this one with just the “Marvel movie in book format” pitch but alas, I am a book blogger so here is me blogging about this book and telling you all about it.

Here’s the synopsis because otherwise you will either somehow read spoilers or this will be an essay instead of a simple book review:

Eighteen-year-old Sil Sarrah is determined to die a legend. In the ten years she's been rescuing imperilled field agents for the Syntex Corporation—by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety—Sil hasn't lost a single life. And she's not about to start now.

She's got twelve months left on the clock before the supercomputer grafted to her brain kills her, and she's hell-bent on using that time to cement her legacy. Sil's going to be the only Mindwalker to ever pitch a perfect game—even despite the debilitating glitches she's experiencing. But when a critical mission goes south, Sil is forced to flee the very company she once called home.

Desperate to prove she's no traitor, Sil infiltrates the Analog Army, an activist faction working to bring Syntex down. Her plan is to win back her employer's trust by destroying the group from within. Instead, she and the Army's reckless leader, Ryder, uncover a horrifying truth that threatens to undo all the good Sil's ever done.

With her tech rapidly degrading and her new ally keeping dangerous secrets of his own, Sil must find a way to stop Syntex in order to save her friends, her reputation—and maybe even herself.

This book is one of the only ones that read exactly as it was pitched: A Marvel movie in book format.

Sil is super cool - usually, protagonists in YA novels are unsuspecting, simple, plain looking and then they become the chosen one, suddenly are good at things right away, etc. but Sil shows that she worked for it and that there is a reason why she is the best agent Syntex has because she went above and beyond to prove to them that she could be the best and she managed to do it.

Then we have the love interest. Oh, the love interest. Kate Dylan really nailed it not only with the characterization of Ryder but also with the enemies-to-lovers banter, oh my god, it was so good. And really, it didn’t feel rushed (despite it being a quick read) and it made sense with the characterization of Sil herself as well as Ryder.

One other thing I really loved was the found family aspect. There are few books that really nail it down to what it is: a group of ragtag characters coming together for a common goal and bonding over that as well as other things. They don’t have to get along right away, reluctance is normal but even then, the group would do anything for each other. That being said, unfortunately there’s always one member that dies and this does happen in the book (which I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the author for and she knows this). She threw characters such as Sil and Ryder in with Sil’s friends Jondi and Lena as well as Ryder’s friends (whose names have escaped me at the moment of writing this review) and they’re all amazing (although Sil is only with Jondi and Lena at like the beginning and then she deals with Ryder (who she absolutely despises by the way/s) and his friends.

The last thing I am going to mention about this book is the overall plot and twists: it’s Now You See Me level twists in the sense that something happens, you’re shocked and then wham! and another twist is thrown at you out of nowhere and then bam! Ryder is being his mischievous self and Sil is annoyed.

Overall, if you like the amusement and pace of Marvel movies and the twists and turns of Now You See Me, I think you’d like this one. Don’t get hung up on the YA level rating, sure it reads like that but that’s the fun of it - a teenager has to beat a massive corporation that has plastered her face all over and has its grimy hands in every possible corner of the City.

I think we’ve learned this from Hunger Games a.k.a the founding YA novel: Don’t underestimate teenagers.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Love,

Mila