The Supernaturalist

Junior Booklover Contest Winner Katrina, 14, from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Eoin Colfer has done it again! He has managed to captivate my mind in another spellbinding story full of everything needed for a spectacular read.

Welcome to Satellite City, the city of the future. A supercity controlled entirely by the Myishi 9 Satellite, it is home to twenty-five million people. One of these is Cosmo Hill, a fourteen-year-old orphan or "no-sponsor" one of the many in Satellite City. Anyone without a sponsor in this grey steel metropolis is sent to an orphanage until adulthood - but most never make it that far. The average life expectancy of an institutionalized orphan is only fifteen years.

Cosmo's orphanage is the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys - a cruel place where product testing is a normal way to raise funds in the city. Whenever a new product needed to be tested, the no-sponsors were the guinea pigs Cosmo disagrees with this lifestyle and readies himself to escape from the Institute. Finally his chance comes, but not without life risking gambles. In the few moments between life and death, a team of kids show up and rescue him, but not before Cosmo sees strange inhuman creatures appearing and seeming to suck away his life.

I absolutely loved this book! The plot was fast and fascinating - betrayals at every turn, tragedy lurking in every corner. The new experiences for Cosmo (such as a family and love) are just as entrancing. Life out of the orphanage is definitely worth living in Cosmo's eyes. The setting of Satellite City was however somewhat daunting to me. Why, you ask? Well I have this fear that in the future, our world could end up just like the fantastical idea of the futuristic world in this story: with high-tech simulated everythings and controlled lives - thank goodness this narrative takes place in the not too near future, nearly a millennium away!

All characters are my favourite because they are so real. Even with names such as Ditto, Ziploc and Cosmo, the characters have such personalities that make them seem like friends you've known forever. Our other main persons are the Supernaturalists. Mona Vasquez, Stefan Bashkir and Lucien Bonn (or Ditto, as he is referred to, from a habit of repeating things he hears) are the team who save Cosmo from his peril. Soon, Cosmo is part of the team. What does this team do? They fight parasites - the very ones that seemed to suck away Cosmo's life when he was about to die, the very parasites that have been causing problems with the Myishi Satellite, initiating trouble throughout the city - but are they really the cause? That is the question I will leave with you to find the answer to, when you read this book!

For people who love a thrilling storyline, with twists and turns, this book is highly urged in their direction! In a scene far from the Artemis Fowl setting, this exciting new book from Eoin Colfer is quite appealing to those who are, really, any age.

In the future, in a place called Satelite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill enters the world, unwanted by his parents. He's sent to the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, Freight class. At Clarissa Frayne, the boys are put to work by the state, testing highly dangerous products. At the end of most days, they are covered with burns, bruises, and sores. Cosmo realizes that if he doesn't escape, he will die at this so-called orphanage. When the moment finally comes, Cosmo seizes his chance and breaks out with the help of the Supernaturalists, a motley crew of kids who all have the same special ability as Cosmo-they can see supernatural Parasites, creatures that feed on the life force of humans. The Supernaturalists patrol the city at night, hunting the Parasites in hopes of saving what's left of humanity in Satellite City. Or so they think. The Supernaturalist soon find themselves caught in a web far more complicated than they'd imagined, when they discover a horrifying secret that will force them to question everything they believe in. Eoin Colfer has created an eerie and captivating world-part Blade Runner, part futuristic Dickens-replete with non-stop action

Eoin Colfer (pronounced "Owen") (born May 14, 1965) is an Irish author. Eoin Colfer grew up in Wexford, Ireland, along with his four brothers, Paul, Eamon, Donal, and Niall. He first developed a passion for writing in primary school, reading viking books inspired by his history lessons at the time. His father was a primary school teacher, as well as an artist and historian. His mother is a drama teacher. In 1986, Colfer became a Primary School teacher, but continued to write in his free time.