Amelia Kahaney grew up an easily sunburnt child in San Diego, CA and Hilo, HI. At age 12, self-exiled from surf camp due to lack of coordination, Amelia sought refuge in her local library and spent the rest of her summer filling up yellow legal pads with her first attempts at fiction. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in English, she lived in Portland, Oregon and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala before landing in New York City with a giant suitcase and high hopes. Nine apartments and a dozen jobs later, she began to study fiction writing at Brooklyn College. Her short stories have appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, One Story, Crazyhorse, and other literary magazines. She wrote most of The Brokenhearted in a coffee shop that has since gone out of business, and is currently testing out new locations in which to dream up superpowers for book two. She is still a fan of libraries, and is also partial to bicycles, art cars, fire, hermit crabs, voices harmonizing, flash mobs, hot springs, and voracious readers of all ages. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son.
The Invisible by Amelia Kahaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Invisible is the second book in The Brokenhearted series by Amelia Kahaney and it picks up where The Brokenhearted ended. Anthem Fleet has been trying to get her life back to normal but it isn’t exactly working out the way she planned. Mostly because she feels her father is hiding a connection to The Syndicate and new group called The Invisible has entered the scene.
The Invisible is led by someone who has a vendetta against the wealthy inhabitants of the North Side. After a number of harmless pranks by the group, their attacks escalate and turn lethal and Anthem’s friends and family are now in danger. As she attempts to find out who is behind the group’s activities, Anthem finds out her secret isn’t so secret anymore thanks to her old friend Will.
While Anthem tries to thwart Invisible’s activities and protect her friends and family, she is also trying to figure out what is going on with Ford. She knew he wasn’t healing well since he almost died so Anthem decides to go to Jax for help. Jax ends up injecting him with a fortified blood which affects Ford in a way that neither of them expected. As Ford struggles with his reactions to things around him due to the different blood flowing in his veins, he decides he needs to step away from Anthem because he is afraid he will hurt her. Ford’s decision really hits Anthem hard but she also can’t focus only on this because The Invisible has stepped things up and now that the leader knows who she is, he is coming after her.
I thought Kahaney did a good job of moving this story forward. I love the idea of a seemingly normal girl becoming “superpowered” via a needed surgical procedure and I thought that this book showed Anthem in more of the superhero role which I found I enjoyed. Kahaney also interjects some chapters that are from the past and are from other characters’ points of view. We get to find out more about Reggie (Anthem’s sister) and her father which I think added an unexpected layer to the story. I have to admit, I was completely taken by surprise when we found out Harris Fleet’s secrets and the impact they had on Anthem were huge.
Eventually Ford comes back to Bedlam City and because of his new blood, Ford is able to easily keep up with Anthem. Knowing this, they are able to work together to defeat Invisible and when they do, they find out all about who he is and why he is out to get the wealthy. Anthem also finds out more about who she is and what that might mean for her future.
So hopefully this review isn’t too vague – I just don’t want to give anything away. If you are looking for a story that has quite a bit of action, a bit of romance, and a science fiction/superhero bend, consider checking this one out. I enjoyed the story and found myself flipping through the pages to find out what was going to happen.
Thank you to Harper Teen for the review copy.
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