Jumper

By: Steven Gould

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

What if you could go anywhere in the world, in the blink of an eye? Where would you go? What would you do

Davy can teleport. To survive, Davy must learn to use and control his power in a world that is more violent and complex than he ever imagined. But mere survival is not enough for him. Davy wants to find others like himself, others who can Jump.

©1992 Steven Gould (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"An exceptionally well-organize debut, with thoughtful ideas, a controlled plot, and characters-particularly the young protagonist-portrayed with insight and compassion." ( Kirkus)

"Gould's warm, delightful, and compulsively readable novel dispalys assured storytelling skill." ( Publishers Weekly)

Way better than the movie!

Where does Jumper rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Right up there near the top.

Have you listened to any of Macleod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first exposure to Macleod Andrews. He was easy to listen to and follow. Very engaging.

Any additional comments?

I was hesitant about this book because I thought the movie was only so-so. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the story and the charactors so much more than the movie. The narration was perfect and made listening easy and the story engaging. I recommended this book to my daughter (she's 26) and she enjoyed it as much as I did.

A teenager becomes a superhero and a terrorist

This is marketed as a science fiction novel, but it's really a superhero story. But a superhero story written as a "serious" science fiction novel, in which the premise is that the "superhero" is the only one of his kind. Ever thought "Yeah, superpowers in reality would change the world, not just lead to a bunch of costumed gangs beating on each other in the streets of New York?" This book explores that a little, though Davy, our would-be hero, doesn't change the world, much.

Davy is a teleporter. By the usual standards of superhero teleporters, he's very powerful - he soon learns he can teleport anywhere he's been before, anywhere in the world, in literally a blink. He can also teleport other objects and people with him, and when he experiments with velocity (i.e. jumping off of cliffs and teleporting), he learns there are some weird nullification of momentum effects as well.

Davy's powers drive the book, but Davy's history and personality make it more a book about a guy with a superpower than a book about a superpower. Davy's father is a violent alcoholic, and he discovers his power for the first time when he jumps away from a beating. Then he runs away, and uses his power for the second time to escape a bunch of would-be rapist truck drivers.

Here and a couple of other places are where the author gets a bit cliched - yokel lowlife truck-drivers that seem to have walked off the set of Deliverance, there is some soapboxing about freedom and government abuse of authority when Davy winds up crossing the NSA, and they find out about his powers, and a few ruminations on how terrible it is to be poor and/or homeless as callous rich people walk past you. Davy is hardly perfect, though - he is generally benevolent and tries to do good with his powers, but that's after pretty much the first thing he does, once he figures them out, is empty a bank vault.

Davy is flawed and human and kind of annoying. He is very realistic as a child of abuse, compounded by the issue of a runaway mother, so in this sense his "broken-ness" was understandable, but it also made him kind of a wimp, and while I suppose his fumbling, adolescent infatuation with his older girlfriend was also believable, it made me wince.

Jumper gets more interesting as Davy finds himself drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists and the NSA. The latter is a pet peeve of mine, which also showed the author's biases and ignorance (the NSA does not chase US citizens around on US soil! Even if they are considered terrorists, that would be a job for the FBI!). And it was a bit Stephen King-ish with the government playing the usual role of sinister, unsympathetic Men In Black. (Davy even references Firestarter explicitly, which is another thing that made the book great - Davy is pretty genre-savvy.)

I really liked the book, despite not much liking Davy. It's a great story that tries to take a "realistic" view of what would happen to someone who's the only super-powered person (so far as he knows) in the world, and the human interaction makes it much more than an action-adventure story.

Engrossing and fun!

If you could sum up Jumper in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing, Fun, Page-turner

What did you like best about this story?

The way the story was narrated with such believable emotions and thoughts the character was experiencing. I thought he pegged them for the age of the character.

Have you listened to any of Macleod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. I liked the performance very much. Mind-Movie

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

If you could be anywhere in the world at anytime, what would you do?

Any additional comments?

Cant wait for the next one in the series.

Very good- not great though

Keeps you hooked- usually books in first person keeps you hooked. The story went a different way than I expected and not many twists and turns- the plot was linear, and the words simple - blink!- However, I enjoyed and it was an easy listening as much as ready p1 and enders game- might look for more if the story is intriguing enough.

Good idea... not well written.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. The idea is strong but the characters aren't written well and the writing could use some work.

Narration could not be better

I loved the narration a little more than I enjoyed the story line. Narrator is perfection with all voices and emotions. I'm not sure if this was mean to be YA or not... Certainly not for anyone under 18 as there is a few very unpleasant things that go on, I was shocked how it went towards the last third of the book. I didn't remember reading any of that in a blurs about the book maybe I missed it.
The overall story idea is a fun one and I would like to go on to the next book to see where else the author will take this jumping theme.

Epic

I loved this story. An action thriller mixed with adventure. I couldn't stop listening, I had to know what was happening next.

Well developed characters and a great story.

Where does Jumper rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Definitely in my top fifteen for the time being.

What other book might you compare Jumper to and why?

This is a truly unique take on an age old story. Gould did an excellent job of taking it in an entirely new direction.

Have you listened to any of MacLeod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, a good deal of them. He is an excellent actor and puts himself into the roles of all of his characters. One of my favorite male narrators.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I really identified with the main character and how the events of his past really shaped who he would eventually become.

Any additional comments?

If you've seen the movie, you need to read/listen to this book. The level of emotional detail written in these pages far outweighs anything that Hollywood could present in a mere two hours.

Love this series

It's been one of my favorites since high school. I could read it over and over!

Good book, excellent narration.

Great start to a series! Hopefully it stays the course, and continues to be great!