By Steven Gould
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Source: PublisherCent has a secret. She lives in isolation, with her parents, hiding from the people who took her father captive and tortured him to gain control over his ability to teleport, and from the government agencies who want to use his talent. Cent has seen the world, but only from the safety of her parents’ arms. She’s teleported more than anyone on Earth, except for her mother and father, but she’s never been able to do it herself. Her life has never been in danger.
Until the day when she went snowboarding without permission and triggered an avalanche. When the snow and ice thundered down on her, she suddenly found herself in her own bedroom. That was the first time.
Goodreads Summary
Normally I’ll start whining when the books in a series slow down to a year or more between publication dates, so it’s inconceivable to me that it’s taken twenty years for Gould to write all three main Jumper books (and it’s been seven years since Reflex). Impulse is less conspiracy-theory than the first two books while being more specifically friendly for today’s YA market. This can definitely be read even if you haven’t picked up the first two, just…before you start reading, purge that awful movie with Hayden Christensen from your mind, okay?
Remember the way the beach smelled the last time you were there on vacation? Now imagine holding on to that scent and place in your head and then you’re there. That’s jumping for Davy and Millie and they’ve been doing it a long time. At one time, Davy had been captured and experimented on, so he and Millie are fanatical about personal safety, living self-sufficiently in the Yukon. They’ve become more vigilant now that they have a daughter, but as Cent gets older, she resents their isolation. She’s only with other people when Davy or Millie jumps her with them, usually on one of their humanitarian missions. She wants to go to school, they want to control her and it looks like they’re going to get their way until Cent spontaneously learns to jump on her own. Hello, high school, carefully picked by an obsessively overprotective Davy, who also institutes a lot of rules.
Cent’s foray into high school isn’t exactly what she expects. She’s brilliant but socially inept and manages to make a dangerous enemy. With her tendency to protect the less fortunate, Cent makes the situation with the bully worse and soon she’s using her jumping abilities several times a day at school. Knowing how her dad flips out over any risk to their security, I would have assumed Cent would know too; I know part of her deal was that she needed to get out from under his thumb, but she seemed to be a good kid and I wondered if she’d really ignore her dad that much.
As I said earlier, Cent seems tailored to current YA readers. She’s snarky and brilliant, independent and fearless. Her ability to jump with her mom was an ingenious way to show off the liberal political side of the entire family, and Millie and Cent as feminists and humanists. If she weren’t so hilarious and nerd-girl cool, I’d have started worrying that Cent was a Mary Sue because of how perfect she was but she had enough flaws that I was okay with all of the epic greatness. If I was overwhelmed at all by the family, it was easy enough to think of them as superheroes, which may or may not have been a bad thing, depending on how you like your sci-fi.
I think if you’ve read the first two books, you might be thinking that Cent was ridiculously stupid taking the risks with jumping she did. Of course you also may think that it’s time to get over that old conspiracy plot and move on to something new too. Impulse straddles that line, mostly. This is Cent’s story, so Cent’s problem at school and Cent’s figuring out her jumping abilities are top priority. Davy and Millie are still in the picture though and they’ve always got someone looking for them. I wasn’t too impressed with that part of things, but I suppose it needed to be included to tie all of the books together.
I went into Impulse with modest expectations because it’s been years since I’d even picked up a Jumper book and sci-fi has stopped really being a genre I read. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. This is so much more: social commentary, a little romance, a lot of suspense, way too much math for my poor brain and some seriously funny dialogue. I really don’t have any idea if Gould has more books planned for the series, but I’d love to read more about Cent and what she’s up to. Please though, I don’t know if I can wait seven years or more.
My Rating: A
The premise sounds very intriguing and glad that she is snarky and independent.
Great review.
Happy reading,
Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Thank you, Brandi! I’ve read time travel jumping and not enjoyed it (Tempest by Julie Cross) but I love this kind of jumping. If only I could do it.
blimey! 7 years??!! You must have been very patient!
I am still waiting for the final book in the nightworld series – think it has been 14 years now. lost patience about 12 years ago!
Glad this one was good after such a long wait though!
Isn’t that insane? It’s like waiting for the Game of Thrones books too – years and years between them. You have me beat though, 14 years?! Holy cow, I’d just assume the series was dead by now. There’s a break from the series and there’s a break from the series for the author. Sheesh!
Yep I had that movie in my head as soon as I saw the title, you totally called me out. This sounds good and hey I like the name Cent but who has the patience to wait that long in between books?
Ha! The movie wasn’t anything like the book (shocker, I know). The movie played up the whole cult thing while the book was more about Davy figuring out his jumping and avoiding being taken.
I can’t imagine anyone waiting so long between books. I read the second book and forgot about the series until Tor contacted me about this one. I didn’t even realize it had been so long since the first because the movie was so recent. Nuts!
Wow, I wondered why I didn’t know about this series..this sounds interesting and wahoo for you liking it so much after the large gap between books. Have a wonderful weekend Barb!
I’m late since I was a slacker and did all that necessary house and outside work all weekend until I dropped, but I hope you had a great one too! It was really good – and definitely a crazy gap.
Wait … holy crap! I need a moment.
Okay, Jumper was a book?! And then there is a freaking series?! I can’t believe I didn’t know this. How could I not know this??!! I feel so… so …. out of the loop. Well hell. I guess I better get my ass on these books.
LOL
Hell yeah, Jumper was an infinitely better book. 20 years ago though..you were an amoeba right?
I started this series years ago & completely forgot about it until recently when I read there will be a possible 2 books to be released this year (yay!)
I’m glad to see you enjoyed it after such a long wait
A great review!
Yes! I saw on someone else’s review that there might be a book released at one of the cons? I didn’t recognize the name of it and I’m hopeless at the acronyms. I’d read more of Cent’s though, and I know there’s more of Davy and Millie’s story based on what’s in here. But I’d really read more of Cent. lol
I didn’t even know this was a book series! I’ve seen the movie which was…okay, so I’m glad to hear that the books are better.
I’m not fond of having authors take an exceedingly long time between books in a series either, the more time that passes the less I’m excited for it and the less I remember from the previous books.
Everyone that’s rabid about the books is screamingly hateful about the movie.
I was sort of meh on the whole thing since I thought the movie stunk anyway, just as a movie. 
I’m so, so with you on the long wait between books. The longer the wait, the more likely I am to cross it off of my to-buy list anyway, since there’s always something new and if I don’t remember it as something truly fantastic, I’m not going to be that crazy to follow up. I’m just fickle that way. lol
Just finished this one.
I have been waiting a loooong time for a continuation of the jumper novels and was glad they managed to take a different story(Although it mirrors ever so slightly Davy’s own journey in Jumper as a youngster who can teleport, it alters the dynamic by having Cent in a stable, loving family relationship with parents who know exactly what she’s going through, even though she doesn’t tell them a whole lot!). I feel he managed to keep the story fresh, adding the new elements and only subtly alluding to the old. I like how they never mention “twinning” by name, but allude to it’s use several times, cleaning the driveway, dispersing the gas in the basement, and the water in the lake, etc. It adds an element for the casual reader to wonder about, and for the avid follower to laugh about. The text on Cent’s phone: “incoming” had me laughing at the hurt about to be inflicted…
I previously had both audiobooks on my iPod Nano, and listen to Jumper and Reflex at least once very six months.
I will say that i think this novel seems more like a setup than the main story. Like he has more story to tell and wanted to get Cent’s backstory up and running before commencing the story proper. And considering the new ability he introduced, the sky is the limit with Cent’s abilities…
Here’s hoping the next novel comes around in less than two years.