Book Review: Numbers by Rachel Ward

Numbers (Numbers #1)

Rachel Ward

Publication Date: November 8th 2008

Publisher: Chicken House

Pages: 323

Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem's world is about to explode!

To say that this book wasn't what I expected would be an understatement. Numbers was a book I had on my to-read list for a very long time, but just hadn't had a chance to pick up. I thought the idea was very interesting, but for some reason I had an expectation that it would be very similar to other paranormal romance books.

I was wrong, so very, very wrong.

First of all, the main character, Jem, is no where close to being your ordinary Paranormal YA heroine. She is a troublemaker stuck in the foster child system, living in the projects of London with absolutely no friends because of her ability. She is not described as beautiful at any time, and in fact is described as being quite ordinary, perhaps less. Jem is so human it almost hurts, yet it is refreshing and a delight to be in her head learning things.

Spider is the boy that she takes a chance on for the first time, because basically he won't leave her alone. He is not really that nice looking at all, has a lot of issues standing still, has a serious body odor issue, and is black in a very white U.K.. People expect these two to get in trouble just because of what they look like and this gives a very interesting spin to a story that is already unique.

Jem is haunted by her ability to know the date of a person's death, and it is why she can't get close to anyone, when she notices that a bunch of people have dates that say the day it is and runs with Spider from the scene, it sets off a chain of events that if they had been any other people wouldn't have happened.

What's great is that this story isn't just about her ability, but it's very much about Jem growing up and learning to open to people.

Something that also really surprised me was the ending. I knew that this book had a sequel and a third book coming out soon, so when the ending was an ending I was confused at first, and then as I read that she had gotten with child with Spider and she no longer had her power, but instead her son did, everything made sense. It also helped to explain why Jem's mother was possibly the way she was.

It really did have a satisfaction to it all, and I loved Ward's writing style so I'm really excited to see how Jem's son will deal with the power in the next book.

Pick up this book if you like unique characters, unique abilities and stories where things are questioned and loners learn to open up. The setting (paranormal everything aside) reminds me of the beginning of Kate Cann's Possessed as that also somewhat takes place in the Projects of London. So if you enjoyed that environment in that book that you will enjoy this book.

4.5 Bookmarks