Review--Black and White

IT'S THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF GOOD VERSUS GOOD.

They were best friends at an elite academy for superheroes in training, but now Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet, are mortal enemies. Jet is a by-the book hero, using her Shadow power to protect the citizens of New Chicago. Iridium, with her mastery of light, runs the city's underworld. For the past five years the two have played an elaborate, and frustrating, game of cat and mouse.

But now playtime is over. Separately Jet and Iridium uncover clues that point to a looming evil, one that is entwined within the Academy. As Jet works with Bruce Hunter--a normal man with an extraordinary ability to make her weak in the knees--she becomes convinced that Iridium is involved in a scheme that will level the power structure of America itself. And Iridium, teaming with the mysterious vigilante called Taser, uncovers an insidious plot that's been a decade in the making...a plot in which Jet is key.

Never thought I would actually have the time to read this one. I actually won it in a contest because it is normally not my type of read, but since I got a free copy read it and it was surprisingly enjoyable.

Black and White is set in the future, like 100 years or so since that is what I was led to believe. There wasn't any confusion really where I've had some with futuristic settings. There were references to things that happened in the past, like the 4th World War--no date was given, but knowing that we had 2 more on the way in the next 100 years was surreal.

The way the novel was told was also very interesting, Caitlin Kittredge and Jackie Kessler wrote this together, they each wrote one perspective and I cannot recall who wrote whom. There is also different sections that take us back into the past when Iri and Jet were in school together starting at the beginning. It was very interesting and not at all confusing. And sometimes the chapter left you hanging and then you switch to the other person's perspective and then that one left you hanging. So it was a very thrilling book.

The characters were very interesting and entertaining as well, we already know that something devious is going on based on the BOC, so trying to guess who the villain was was another enjoyment. There were many characters both in the present and past. Jet was the good girl while Iri wasn't necessarily bad, but she wasn't a "by-the-books" girl.

Trying to figure out who the deceiver was, wasn't too hard, since I made a guess somewhere along the way, but another character's actions really took me by surprise, and perhaps it shouldn't have, but it did. Yeah, I can be easily mislead, but I knew who one of the villains were!

I cannot be sure if I will read the next one, Shades of Gray, that comes out in the summer. I might, if I have the time.

Overall the book was entertaining, the characters were very fun and thrilling and the plot was gripping, the action non-stop and the end leaves you satisfied yet wondering what will happen to our heroes next.

Shades of Gray comes out on June 22 2010.