Brilliance (The Brilliance Trilogy)

First off, take all those blurbs about "nothing you've ever read before" and throw them out the window. You've read it before. What you will discover though is that Brilliance takes a decent idea and spins it into a absolutely fabulous story.

As one person mentioned, there is no small part of X-Men in here. Essentially you have the abnorms (Mutants) that began being born in 1980. Some of the mutants are good, some are bad, others are trying to get by. Their abilities are all focused in the mind (no laser eyes or metal claws), but they are jumping science forward by leaps and bounds.

You'll quickly understand that even though the book takes place in 2013, this is a completely alternate history. The world is different, the technology is more advanced and the rules have changed.

The book successfully intertwines the life of Nick Cooper, a powerful abnorm who works for the government with a wide cast of other characters. Nick hunts down terrorist abnorms for a living. Due to their powers, they've already crashed the stock market and in their fight for equality, some have taken to outright warfare against the government. Lead among the terrorists is John Smith, a man who orchestrated a major terrorist attack in Washington DC and is planning several more.

To give more of the story away would deny you of the myriad twists and turns the story takes. Needless to say, the story is a lot more intricate than it appears at first glance. It delves into issues of trust, racism, inadequacy and humanity in ways that modern genre fiction have failed to do.

And despite it being the first of a trilogy, it is completely satisfying when read by itself. So you won't have 18 months of cliffhangers to deal with.

It is my favorite book of the year so far and I can't wait to read what happens next.