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Jumper #1
Jumper
Blessed with the unusual ability to "jump"--to teleport himself to any place on Earth that he has been to before--Davy is determined to locate others who can jump, but the interference of the government could prevent him from doing so.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1992
About the author
Steven Gould
51 books1,121 followersSteven Charles Gould is an American science fiction author. His novels tend to have protagonists fighting to rid government of corrupt antagonists. The struggle against corruption is the focus, rather than the technology.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,321 reviews
April 27, 2014
I've wanted to read this ever since I watched the Jumper movie. Teleportation movies and books are always fun. The biggest surprise is that this book was nothing like the movie. The only thing they had in common was the teleporting main character.
This was a surprisingly dark sci-fi that spent more time pondering moral dilemmas and exploring Davey's emotional reaction to the various mishaps that befell him than it did on action sequences. The action and the pace did pick up a bit towards the end.
Davey was a tortured soul with a bit of bitterness about him, but for all his faults he was mostly likable.
Overall this was an enjoyable sci-fi read worth a 4 star rating. I'll definitely read the rest of the books in the series at some point.
Audio Note: The ever reliable Macleod Andrews gave a decent performance.
This was a surprisingly dark sci-fi that spent more time pondering moral dilemmas and exploring Davey's emotional reaction to the various mishaps that befell him than it did on action sequences. The action and the pace did pick up a bit towards the end.
Davey was a tortured soul with a bit of bitterness about him, but for all his faults he was mostly likable.
Overall this was an enjoyable sci-fi read worth a 4 star rating. I'll definitely read the rest of the books in the series at some point.
Audio Note: The ever reliable Macleod Andrews gave a decent performance.
November 22, 2013
Jumper
By Steven Gould
A Retroview by Eric Allen
When this book came out, back in 1992, I was in my teens, had just finished the latest installment of The Wheel of Time, and I was looking for something else to read. So, I did the thing that all geeks do, and asked the librarian for a recommendation. She handed me Jumper with a wink and told me that I had better hurry because the book was about to be banned at that library. Being a teenaged boy at the time, these were the exact words needed to sell me on it. And I must say, I was really blown away by it. It was a book written for someone my age, that wasn't afraid to treat me like an adult, showing such things as homosexual child rape, child abuse, alcoholism, graphic terrorist attacks, and it even used the dreaded F word like FOUR WHOLE TIMES!!! No wonder that behind Catcher in the Rye, it is the most banned children's book in history. A fact that the author is extraordinarily proud of.
When I heard that a movie was going to be made of this book I was extremely excited. Given the post 911 sentiments in the United States toward terrorism, I had been crossing my fingers and hoping that this book would get a movie adaptation. You can't know how incredibly disappointed I was when I left the theater. The movie has a kid named Davy in it, who can teleport, and there is where the similarities between the two end. The movie is COMPLETELY different from the book. They're not even close to the same story. It is as if the Filmmakers heard two or three sentences about the basic premise of the book, and then decided to toss out everything else. And to make matters worse, Davy, a childhood hero of mine, was played by the miraculous walking, talking piece of wood himself, Haydin Christiansen. Talk about adding insult to injury. Where the movie is about a complete douche canoe abusing his gifts and rightly being chased and punished for it, the book is about a child abuse victim learning to come to terms with life, and the murder of his mother... all while kicking terrorist ass with his magic teleporting powers.
Jumper begins with Davy, a child who has spent the entirety of his life being verbally and physically abused by his alcoholic father. When his mother left, unable to deal with the abuse she suffered anymore, it only got worse for him. Feeling abandoned by the only person in the world who ever cared for him, and left with the man who frequently beat him bloody, Davy finally finds escape when he discovers his ability to Jump, or teleport, to any place that he has previously been, and can remember well enough to picture in his mind. He runs far away and tries to make a new life for himself. But it's not easy for a seventeen-year-old out on his own, with no money or identification. Out of desperation, he finally decides that the only way he can survive is to rob a bank using his powers. This happens in the movie as well, one of the few similarities between the two. However, where Davy's desperate circumstances and real need are deeply delved into in the book, and he is forced to steal the money just to survive, promising to himself one day to pay it back, something he actually, eventually does, the one in the movie uses it to live like a king and abuse his powers. He doesn't even really seem in all that big a need for cash. He's still living at home when he steals it.
When he meets a girl named Millie whom he falls in love with over the course of the rest of the novel (not at first sight, thank god) he finds someone who is willing to listen to his story, all of the horrible, terrible things that he has had to live through, and has kept pent up inside himself his entire life. She urges him to seek out his mother, and he does just that...
The good? This book is not the movie. And thank god for that. That movie freaking sucked! It is a COMPLETELY different story that has very little to do with that crapstorm of a cinematic failure.
Davy as a character is extremely well written. You get all of the pain, the horror, and the pent up anger over a life of abuse, leading to his hatred of bullies, which then shifts to a hatred of terrorists and anyone else who would push him around, or try to take anything from him. His journey from frightened, abused child, to hero is a long, and painful thing that is described so perfectly by the author that you would almost think he had a very similar childhood himself to draw upon for inspiration. You see him brought as low as he can be brought, sink into the darkness of his situation, and finally overcome. There is real thought and emotion put into him. He learns and grows as a character, overcoming the shackles of abuse, grief and anger that held him down for so long, unlike the so-called heroes of some other young adult books I've had the displeasure to read. I'm looking at YOU Twilight!!!
The teleportation is very well incorporated into the story. Davy goes through a lot of the reactions to it in the beginning as I think anyone else would. At first he thinks he's hallucinating, then he experiments with it, and then he really learns to use it as part of his life, like being able to move an arm. I thought the progression was very well done. It wasn't, oh, I have magical powers, cool, I'm instantly an expert on everything having to do with it. He actually had to learn and experiment and find his own limits. Something I found refreshing, especially in a YA book.
Like I said before, this is a book that is not afraid to treat young adults like the adults that they will soon become. It shows some pretty harsh and heavy things, and I, for one, feel that it taught me a few things about life. Now, remember, I read this book back in 1992, a decade before 911. Terrorism is something that is so commonplace today that every child in the USA likely knows what it is and fears it. Back then, things were different. Sure, I had heard of terrorism, but to actually see it in a book that I was enjoying, happening to characters that I liked, was a very shocking thing for me. And the way that it is done in this book is soooo good too. You go through all of Davy's emotions with him, all of the anger, the rage, the sorrow, the desire for vengeance and finally the acceptance. In this day and age, a lot of people seem to have become a little complacent when it comes to terrorism. This book really brings it home to you, making it real and terrible, and something that you cannot forget or ignore. Which is something that I think just about anyone could use a little reminder on every now and then, lest we forget how terrible it really is.
The bad? I had to wait almost an entire decade for a sequel!!!
...and, I suppose, this book is not for everyone. There are graphic descriptions of child abuse, gory terrorist attacks, emotional turmoil like you will find few examples of in YA books, and a scene of child rape (which is thankfully cut short before anything truly horrible can happen). If you have a hard time reading these things, you may want to avoid this book. It is very dark, very violent, and it does not pull any punches. A friend of mine back in high school couldn't stand to read through it. I later learned that he had been abused as a child and all of the emotion was described so perfectly that it brought all of his own back to him and he just couldn't read it. So yes, if you have trouble with some of the things I have discussed, this book may not be the best of things for you to pick up.
In conclusion, I loved this book. Back when I was a teen it was the first book I ever found that was written for people my age, and treated me like an adult. I have read it many times since over the years, and I can't recommend it enough. If you're looking for a novelization of the movie, you may be a bit disappointed, as there are very few similarities between the two. On the other hand, you might be pleasantly surprised to find a far more entertaining story than the one you thought you had picked up.
Check out my other reviews.
By Steven Gould
A Retroview by Eric Allen
When this book came out, back in 1992, I was in my teens, had just finished the latest installment of The Wheel of Time, and I was looking for something else to read. So, I did the thing that all geeks do, and asked the librarian for a recommendation. She handed me Jumper with a wink and told me that I had better hurry because the book was about to be banned at that library. Being a teenaged boy at the time, these were the exact words needed to sell me on it. And I must say, I was really blown away by it. It was a book written for someone my age, that wasn't afraid to treat me like an adult, showing such things as homosexual child rape, child abuse, alcoholism, graphic terrorist attacks, and it even used the dreaded F word like FOUR WHOLE TIMES!!! No wonder that behind Catcher in the Rye, it is the most banned children's book in history. A fact that the author is extraordinarily proud of.
When I heard that a movie was going to be made of this book I was extremely excited. Given the post 911 sentiments in the United States toward terrorism, I had been crossing my fingers and hoping that this book would get a movie adaptation. You can't know how incredibly disappointed I was when I left the theater. The movie has a kid named Davy in it, who can teleport, and there is where the similarities between the two end. The movie is COMPLETELY different from the book. They're not even close to the same story. It is as if the Filmmakers heard two or three sentences about the basic premise of the book, and then decided to toss out everything else. And to make matters worse, Davy, a childhood hero of mine, was played by the miraculous walking, talking piece of wood himself, Haydin Christiansen. Talk about adding insult to injury. Where the movie is about a complete douche canoe abusing his gifts and rightly being chased and punished for it, the book is about a child abuse victim learning to come to terms with life, and the murder of his mother... all while kicking terrorist ass with his magic teleporting powers.
Jumper begins with Davy, a child who has spent the entirety of his life being verbally and physically abused by his alcoholic father. When his mother left, unable to deal with the abuse she suffered anymore, it only got worse for him. Feeling abandoned by the only person in the world who ever cared for him, and left with the man who frequently beat him bloody, Davy finally finds escape when he discovers his ability to Jump, or teleport, to any place that he has previously been, and can remember well enough to picture in his mind. He runs far away and tries to make a new life for himself. But it's not easy for a seventeen-year-old out on his own, with no money or identification. Out of desperation, he finally decides that the only way he can survive is to rob a bank using his powers. This happens in the movie as well, one of the few similarities between the two. However, where Davy's desperate circumstances and real need are deeply delved into in the book, and he is forced to steal the money just to survive, promising to himself one day to pay it back, something he actually, eventually does, the one in the movie uses it to live like a king and abuse his powers. He doesn't even really seem in all that big a need for cash. He's still living at home when he steals it.
When he meets a girl named Millie whom he falls in love with over the course of the rest of the novel (not at first sight, thank god) he finds someone who is willing to listen to his story, all of the horrible, terrible things that he has had to live through, and has kept pent up inside himself his entire life. She urges him to seek out his mother, and he does just that...
The good? This book is not the movie. And thank god for that. That movie freaking sucked! It is a COMPLETELY different story that has very little to do with that crapstorm of a cinematic failure.
Davy as a character is extremely well written. You get all of the pain, the horror, and the pent up anger over a life of abuse, leading to his hatred of bullies, which then shifts to a hatred of terrorists and anyone else who would push him around, or try to take anything from him. His journey from frightened, abused child, to hero is a long, and painful thing that is described so perfectly by the author that you would almost think he had a very similar childhood himself to draw upon for inspiration. You see him brought as low as he can be brought, sink into the darkness of his situation, and finally overcome. There is real thought and emotion put into him. He learns and grows as a character, overcoming the shackles of abuse, grief and anger that held him down for so long, unlike the so-called heroes of some other young adult books I've had the displeasure to read. I'm looking at YOU Twilight!!!
The teleportation is very well incorporated into the story. Davy goes through a lot of the reactions to it in the beginning as I think anyone else would. At first he thinks he's hallucinating, then he experiments with it, and then he really learns to use it as part of his life, like being able to move an arm. I thought the progression was very well done. It wasn't, oh, I have magical powers, cool, I'm instantly an expert on everything having to do with it. He actually had to learn and experiment and find his own limits. Something I found refreshing, especially in a YA book.
Like I said before, this is a book that is not afraid to treat young adults like the adults that they will soon become. It shows some pretty harsh and heavy things, and I, for one, feel that it taught me a few things about life. Now, remember, I read this book back in 1992, a decade before 911. Terrorism is something that is so commonplace today that every child in the USA likely knows what it is and fears it. Back then, things were different. Sure, I had heard of terrorism, but to actually see it in a book that I was enjoying, happening to characters that I liked, was a very shocking thing for me. And the way that it is done in this book is soooo good too. You go through all of Davy's emotions with him, all of the anger, the rage, the sorrow, the desire for vengeance and finally the acceptance. In this day and age, a lot of people seem to have become a little complacent when it comes to terrorism. This book really brings it home to you, making it real and terrible, and something that you cannot forget or ignore. Which is something that I think just about anyone could use a little reminder on every now and then, lest we forget how terrible it really is.
The bad? I had to wait almost an entire decade for a sequel!!!
...and, I suppose, this book is not for everyone. There are graphic descriptions of child abuse, gory terrorist attacks, emotional turmoil like you will find few examples of in YA books, and a scene of child rape (which is thankfully cut short before anything truly horrible can happen). If you have a hard time reading these things, you may want to avoid this book. It is very dark, very violent, and it does not pull any punches. A friend of mine back in high school couldn't stand to read through it. I later learned that he had been abused as a child and all of the emotion was described so perfectly that it brought all of his own back to him and he just couldn't read it. So yes, if you have trouble with some of the things I have discussed, this book may not be the best of things for you to pick up.
In conclusion, I loved this book. Back when I was a teen it was the first book I ever found that was written for people my age, and treated me like an adult. I have read it many times since over the years, and I can't recommend it enough. If you're looking for a novelization of the movie, you may be a bit disappointed, as there are very few similarities between the two. On the other hand, you might be pleasantly surprised to find a far more entertaining story than the one you thought you had picked up.
Check out my other reviews.
July 8, 2013
It's actually interesting to note the timing for my reading of this book. I'd just finished Larry Correia's Hard Magic and jumped (pun intended) right into Jumper by Steven Gould, the new SFWA president.
I absolutely loved Hard Magic and Correia's book dealt with a wide variety of different magics, from the Pale Horse who can make people die to the Heavies who can use magic to move objects (and much more as we find out) and even teleports who can disappear and appear anywhere they want. Jumper, on the other hand, only deals with one power, teleportation. How could this book even compete?
And yet as complicated and well-thought-out as Hard Magic is, even going so far as to explain what happens when you teleport into a bug (it melds with your skin and really hurts), Jumper was an excellent story in its simplicity. Jumper explains some of the nuances of the powers of teleportation, but not nearly as in-depth as Correia (I know, even with all the other powers it deals with).
Davy learns about his powers through some pretty brutal circumstances. His dad is an alcoholic who regularly beats him, but in the middle of one episode, he suddenly "jumps" away to his local library. From there, he decides not to go back, but that doesn't mean he understands or even knows how to use his newfound skills Davy gets into more trouble out on his own with scumbags who try to rape him and again he accidentally teleports out of the situation and back to the library.
And so begins Davy's use of his powers and his fledgling understanding of what he is able to do. This, this right here, is the genius of this story. I can't imagine finding myself with these powers, especially at a young age and with such brutal circumstances, but I'm sure it would be something very similar to this. Okay, with a few less problems because not everyone encounters one problem after the next, but overall it works so well.
I'm also happy to report that the book is leaps and bounds better than the movie. With such a cool premise and such great previews, how did that movie suck so much? Oh yeah, they got the worst actor in the world to be the lead.
On the topic of the movie, if you are one of the poor souls who sat through it (it did have it's moments of not being terrible I have to admit), the movie follows the book pretty well for the most part although there are some things that are added But I'm wondering if those elements don't appear in the sequels to this book which I'll have to read and get back to you about.
To recap. Jumper is much better than the movie and works well because of its simplicity. It's nothing that will change the world in terms of ideas or writing, but it's great for what it's meant for - action and exploration. It displays a power we all wish we could have and does so brilliantly and realistically.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
I absolutely loved Hard Magic and Correia's book dealt with a wide variety of different magics, from the Pale Horse who can make people die to the Heavies who can use magic to move objects (and much more as we find out) and even teleports who can disappear and appear anywhere they want. Jumper, on the other hand, only deals with one power, teleportation. How could this book even compete?
And yet as complicated and well-thought-out as Hard Magic is, even going so far as to explain what happens when you teleport into a bug (it melds with your skin and really hurts), Jumper was an excellent story in its simplicity. Jumper explains some of the nuances of the powers of teleportation, but not nearly as in-depth as Correia (I know, even with all the other powers it deals with).
Davy learns about his powers through some pretty brutal circumstances. His dad is an alcoholic who regularly beats him, but in the middle of one episode, he suddenly "jumps" away to his local library. From there, he decides not to go back, but that doesn't mean he understands or even knows how to use his newfound skills Davy gets into more trouble out on his own with scumbags who try to rape him and again he accidentally teleports out of the situation and back to the library.
And so begins Davy's use of his powers and his fledgling understanding of what he is able to do. This, this right here, is the genius of this story. I can't imagine finding myself with these powers, especially at a young age and with such brutal circumstances, but I'm sure it would be something very similar to this. Okay, with a few less problems because not everyone encounters one problem after the next, but overall it works so well.
I'm also happy to report that the book is leaps and bounds better than the movie. With such a cool premise and such great previews, how did that movie suck so much? Oh yeah, they got the worst actor in the world to be the lead.
On the topic of the movie, if you are one of the poor souls who sat through it (it did have it's moments of not being terrible I have to admit), the movie follows the book pretty well for the most part although there are some things that are added But I'm wondering if those elements don't appear in the sequels to this book which I'll have to read and get back to you about.
To recap. Jumper is much better than the movie and works well because of its simplicity. It's nothing that will change the world in terms of ideas or writing, but it's great for what it's meant for - action and exploration. It displays a power we all wish we could have and does so brilliantly and realistically.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
January 8, 2022
Although a bit whiney at times, tis still a decent effort. 6 of 10 stars
July 7, 2009
Well, this is a rare situation where the movie was better than the book. In fact, the writers of the script decided the book was too dull and changed the plot about 75%.
The book is pretty dull. the main character, who I could not help but visualize as a wimpy darth vader, basically sat around crying the whole time while his way too old hot girlfriend held him and then had sex with him he stopped.
It had a lot of promise (as demonstrated by the movie) but it just bogged down the personality of the main character who jumped around trying to work out his dysfunctional childhood.
Obviously there is some kind of broken family, alcoholic, domestic violence message here, but I was not prepared for it, and it was way to repetitive. This book was sold as escapist sci-fi. In that respect it fails. It is more akin to a Lifetime channel movie drama with teleportation. Even in that respect it fails because the story is just not that interesting, and I failed to really sympathize with the protagonist.
I should probably give it one star, but I usually reserve that ranking for books I throw down in discussed. But I actually finished this one, in part because I kept waiting for the paladins from the movie to show up.
Humbug.
The book is pretty dull. the main character, who I could not help but visualize as a wimpy darth vader, basically sat around crying the whole time while his way too old hot girlfriend held him and then had sex with him he stopped.
It had a lot of promise (as demonstrated by the movie) but it just bogged down the personality of the main character who jumped around trying to work out his dysfunctional childhood.
Obviously there is some kind of broken family, alcoholic, domestic violence message here, but I was not prepared for it, and it was way to repetitive. This book was sold as escapist sci-fi. In that respect it fails. It is more akin to a Lifetime channel movie drama with teleportation. Even in that respect it fails because the story is just not that interesting, and I failed to really sympathize with the protagonist.
I should probably give it one star, but I usually reserve that ranking for books I throw down in discussed. But I actually finished this one, in part because I kept waiting for the paladins from the movie to show up.
Humbug.
August 1, 2016
Executive Summary: A cool concept that is uneven in its execution. This is one that really needs a half star rating as it's more 3.5 than 3, but not good enough to get a 4.
Audio book: Macleod Andrews is a pretty good narrator. He does some voices and accents. This is a good way to do the book, but not a must listen.
Full Review
I watched the movie and liked the concept, but little else. As a result I picked up the audiobook when it was a daily deal on Audible.
The book is definitely better, but it's pretty uneven. The start was a bit dark for my liking. It's definitely got some adult themes though nothing too graphic.
My main issue is the protagonist is often unlikable. Now this isn't bad writing on my Mr. Gould's part. In fact the actions and anger of Davy makes total sense given his age and background. I just found it a bit wearing by the end.
I do wonder what I would do if I was in Davy's position. Maybe I'm judging him too harshly. Being a teenager is trying under even the best circumstance I imagine. The book alternates between fun coming of age/romance and darker issues of both Davy's past/family issues and the larger implications of his abilities in the world.
I will likely continue on with the series, but I'm not in a rush to do so.
Audio book: Macleod Andrews is a pretty good narrator. He does some voices and accents. This is a good way to do the book, but not a must listen.
Full Review
I watched the movie and liked the concept, but little else. As a result I picked up the audiobook when it was a daily deal on Audible.
The book is definitely better, but it's pretty uneven. The start was a bit dark for my liking. It's definitely got some adult themes though nothing too graphic.
My main issue is the protagonist is often unlikable. Now this isn't bad writing on my Mr. Gould's part. In fact the actions and anger of Davy makes total sense given his age and background. I just found it a bit wearing by the end.
I do wonder what I would do if I was in Davy's position. Maybe I'm judging him too harshly. Being a teenager is trying under even the best circumstance I imagine. The book alternates between fun coming of age/romance and darker issues of both Davy's past/family issues and the larger implications of his abilities in the world.
I will likely continue on with the series, but I'm not in a rush to do so.
December 6, 2017
Davy Rice has a special gift: the ability to transport himself to any spot he wants, which he discovers when being beaten by his abusive father or about to be raped by a long-haul trucker. He flees his small town, moving to NY, where he settles down after jumping into a bank and taking almost $1 million. He falls in love with a college student in Oklahoma, and eventually decides to find his mother, who deserted him. But, disaster strikes and Davy begins to use his gift to find the culprit, drawing the unwanted attention of the NSA and NY Police Department. Improbable, of course, but Davy is a moral, sensitive protagonist, dealing with complex issues.
January 19, 2009
This book is definitely a favorite. Jumper is a tale of David Rice, who realizes his special ability to "jump" from one place to another, and his trials of life. It begins with his first jump, after escaping a drunkard dad, and describes his journey through New York as a 17 year old with nothing but the money he came with.
As the story progresses, more conflicts arise, from a relationship to advoiding the grasp of the government, and then it all brings about changes to David, with more clarity on the limits of his jumping abilities, and emotional/mental progress he doesnt realize is there.
It's a touching and gripping story that remains to be seen as a 17 year old boy's life, only with a special ability. Unlike many other books of this genre, Steven Gould brings about life and a sense of real-ness in David. I give this book an outstanding rating for its authors capabilities and its grand story.
As the story progresses, more conflicts arise, from a relationship to advoiding the grasp of the government, and then it all brings about changes to David, with more clarity on the limits of his jumping abilities, and emotional/mental progress he doesnt realize is there.
It's a touching and gripping story that remains to be seen as a 17 year old boy's life, only with a special ability. Unlike many other books of this genre, Steven Gould brings about life and a sense of real-ness in David. I give this book an outstanding rating for its authors capabilities and its grand story.
Read
December 26, 2020I call it science fiction though the jumping is probably fantasy, but the book is treated like SF. The original book, not the novelisation for the movie, was heart-wrenching, funny, fast-paced, poignant, and so very real in all the good ways, as the teen protagonist discovers he can teleport from place to place, at first to escape his abusive dad. Then he wants to do good . . . and discovers that there are consequences--from both sides.
I'm sorry that the movie appears to have removed all the heart from it, leaving just the violence, without much motivation, judging from the novelization that appeared afterward. No doubt many readers liked it, but that was not my cuppa.
I'm sorry that the movie appears to have removed all the heart from it, leaving just the violence, without much motivation, judging from the novelization that appeared afterward. No doubt many readers liked it, but that was not my cuppa.
November 14, 2024
first read in early 90s
I love Love LOVE this book! I first read it when it FIRST came out in 1992 and I've read it at least 4-5 times since then.
So, when they announced there'd be a movie, I was exstatic! Then they started publicizing changes. Changes? Why!? It's PERFECT just the way it is. Regardless, I went to see it the premier weekend, on Feb 16, 2008. Grrrr I left steamed! I saw a very few movies in theatres in 2008 -- Jumper made me mad, The Mist had me frothing at the mouth and I predicted the end to The Happening as soon as "we" figured out what was causing the weirdness (and still can't figure out why this movie got an R rating).
Oh, well. Maybe next year?
re-read 10/27/2011
re-read 3/9/2013 (now I have it with Reflex & "Shade" as e-book Jumpers
re-read 4/15/2015
I love Love LOVE this book! I first read it when it FIRST came out in 1992 and I've read it at least 4-5 times since then.
So, when they announced there'd be a movie, I was exstatic! Then they started publicizing changes. Changes? Why!? It's PERFECT just the way it is. Regardless, I went to see it the premier weekend, on Feb 16, 2008. Grrrr I left steamed! I saw a very few movies in theatres in 2008 -- Jumper made me mad, The Mist had me frothing at the mouth and I predicted the end to The Happening as soon as "we" figured out what was causing the weirdness (and still can't figure out why this movie got an R rating).
Oh, well. Maybe next year?
re-read 10/27/2011
re-read 3/9/2013 (now I have it with Reflex & "Shade" as e-book Jumpers
re-read 4/15/2015
November 18, 2011
A really terrific book...until it turned into another one entirely. Review to come.
November 16, 2011
First half: 4 stars.
Second half: 2 stars.
I am behind on my reviews again:-/
Second half: 2 stars.
I am behind on my reviews again:-/
September 11, 2024
Placerón, chim pon!. Incapaz de juzgar el libro con una mínima apariencia de objetividad. Imposible. Ando toda "entusiasmá". Pero qué requete bien me lo acabo de pasar!.
Genial.
Y yo me pregunto ¿Cómo es que de este libro tan divertido hicieron esa birria de película?. A lo mejor la película adapta otro libro de la saga y no este, porque es que ni se le parece. En nada. Sobre todo el estropicio que hicieron con su madre (en la peli), que es particularmente sangrante. Y esos tontorolos fanáticos del film🙄 Nada qué ver. Qué manera de cargarse una historia!.
Bueno, que peli y libro ni siquiera se parecen.
Pero con esta novela me lo pasé muy bien y rabio por seguir con la saga. Qué buen rato, oye!. Pues a ver cómo se apañan ahora después de la que liaron. Autores en GL Bis
Genial.
Y yo me pregunto ¿Cómo es que de este libro tan divertido hicieron esa birria de película?. A lo mejor la película adapta otro libro de la saga y no este, porque es que ni se le parece. En nada. Sobre todo el estropicio que hicieron con su madre (en la peli), que es particularmente sangrante. Y esos tontorolos fanáticos del film🙄 Nada qué ver. Qué manera de cargarse una historia!.
Bueno, que peli y libro ni siquiera se parecen.
Pero con esta novela me lo pasé muy bien y rabio por seguir con la saga. Qué buen rato, oye!. Pues a ver cómo se apañan ahora después de la que liaron. Autores en GL Bis
July 1, 2015
This is marketed as a science fiction novel, but it's really a superhero story. But a superhero story written as a "serious" science fiction novel, in which the premise is that the "superhero" is the only one of his kind. Ever thought "Yeah, superpowers in reality would change the world, not just lead to a bunch of costumed gangs beating on each other in the streets of New York?" This book explores that a little, though Davy, our would-be hero, doesn't change the world, much.
Davy is a teleporter. By the usual standards of superhero teleporters, he's very powerful - he soon learns he can teleport anywhere he's been before, anywhere in the world, in literally a blink. He can also teleport other objects and people with him, and when he experiments with velocity (i.e. jumping off of cliffs and teleporting), he learns there are some weird nullification of momentum effects as well.
Davy's powers drive the book, but Davy's history and personality make it more a book about a guy with a superpower than a book about a superpower. Davy's father is a violent alcoholic, and he discovers his power for the first time when he jumps away from a beating. Then he runs away, and uses his power for the second time to escape a bunch of would-be rapist truck drivers.
Here and a couple of other places are where the author gets a bit cliched - yokel lowlife truck-drivers that seem to have walked off the set of Deliverance, there is some soapboxing about freedom and government abuse of authority when Davy winds up crossing the NSA, and they find out about his powers, and a few ruminations on how terrible it is to be poor and/or homeless as callous rich people walk past you. Davy is hardly perfect, though - he is generally benevolent and tries to do good with his powers, but that's after pretty much the first thing he does, once he figures them out, is empty a bank vault.
Davy is flawed and human and kind of annoying. He is very realistic as a child of abuse, compounded by the issue of a runaway mother, so in this sense his "broken-ness" was understandable, but it also made him kind of a wimp, and while I suppose his fumbling, adolescent infatuation with his older girlfriend was also believable, it made me wince.
Jumper gets more interesting as Davy finds himself drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists and the NSA. The latter is a pet peeve of mine, which also showed the author's biases and ignorance (the NSA does not chase US citizens around on US soil! Even if they are considered terrorists, that would be a job for the FBI!). And it was a bit Stephen King-ish with the government playing the usual role of sinister, unsympathetic Men In Black. (Davy even references Firestarter explicitly, which is another thing that made the book great - Davy is pretty genre-savvy.)
I really liked the book, despite not much liking Davy. It's a great story that tries to take a "realistic" view of what would happen to someone who's the only super-powered person (so far as he knows) in the world, and the human interaction makes it much more than an action-adventure story.
Davy is a teleporter. By the usual standards of superhero teleporters, he's very powerful - he soon learns he can teleport anywhere he's been before, anywhere in the world, in literally a blink. He can also teleport other objects and people with him, and when he experiments with velocity (i.e. jumping off of cliffs and teleporting), he learns there are some weird nullification of momentum effects as well.
Davy's powers drive the book, but Davy's history and personality make it more a book about a guy with a superpower than a book about a superpower. Davy's father is a violent alcoholic, and he discovers his power for the first time when he jumps away from a beating. Then he runs away, and uses his power for the second time to escape a bunch of would-be rapist truck drivers.
Here and a couple of other places are where the author gets a bit cliched - yokel lowlife truck-drivers that seem to have walked off the set of Deliverance, there is some soapboxing about freedom and government abuse of authority when Davy winds up crossing the NSA, and they find out about his powers, and a few ruminations on how terrible it is to be poor and/or homeless as callous rich people walk past you. Davy is hardly perfect, though - he is generally benevolent and tries to do good with his powers, but that's after pretty much the first thing he does, once he figures them out, is empty a bank vault.
Davy is flawed and human and kind of annoying. He is very realistic as a child of abuse, compounded by the issue of a runaway mother, so in this sense his "broken-ness" was understandable, but it also made him kind of a wimp, and while I suppose his fumbling, adolescent infatuation with his older girlfriend was also believable, it made me wince.
Jumper gets more interesting as Davy finds himself drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with terrorists and the NSA. The latter is a pet peeve of mine, which also showed the author's biases and ignorance (the NSA does not chase US citizens around on US soil! Even if they are considered terrorists, that would be a job for the FBI!). And it was a bit Stephen King-ish with the government playing the usual role of sinister, unsympathetic Men In Black. (Davy even references Firestarter explicitly, which is another thing that made the book great - Davy is pretty genre-savvy.)
I really liked the book, despite not much liking Davy. It's a great story that tries to take a "realistic" view of what would happen to someone who's the only super-powered person (so far as he knows) in the world, and the human interaction makes it much more than an action-adventure story.
August 29, 2009
"Jumper" is about David Rice, a seventeen year old boy who lives in an apartment with his alcoholic father who beats him. His mother fled from their violent home when he was a young boy, and now his father only has him to abuse. One day Davy forgot to mow the lawn and his father gets extremely angry. He takes out his belt to beat him, and then suddenly, poof! Davy teleports (jumps) to the local library in which he spends a lot of time at, this making it a safe haven. So that starts off the rollar coaster of events which are all related to Davy's jumping ability, whether it be falling in love with an older woman, fighting terrorists, or dealing with the government.
I saw part of the movie for this book and thought that the action scenes were really good. And so when my friend recommended this to me, I thought it would be worth a shot. I was not dissapointed. This book grabbed me and did not let go. It is a pageturner, and has lots of conflict and suspense and noteworthy action. The characters were well-developed as well. The only thing I did not like about the main character was that in the middle portion of the book he seemed to be crying almost every other page. It was like," I cried about this event. Then I jumped. Then I cried in her arms again". Although, this wasn't very noticeable and only irked me slightly.
Another thing I found rather lazy of the author is that he seemed to be using Davy's "jumping" to the extreme. It was somewhat of a cheap shot, to me. Superman has his kryptonite, but their wasn't any real explanation of Davy's power. Maybe this will be explained in later books, I'm not sure. But either way, if you're looking for a book that has a protagonist with a cool power and uses it to combat others and make his way through the world, then this is the book for you.
I saw part of the movie for this book and thought that the action scenes were really good. And so when my friend recommended this to me, I thought it would be worth a shot. I was not dissapointed. This book grabbed me and did not let go. It is a pageturner, and has lots of conflict and suspense and noteworthy action. The characters were well-developed as well. The only thing I did not like about the main character was that in the middle portion of the book he seemed to be crying almost every other page. It was like," I cried about this event. Then I jumped. Then I cried in her arms again". Although, this wasn't very noticeable and only irked me slightly.
Another thing I found rather lazy of the author is that he seemed to be using Davy's "jumping" to the extreme. It was somewhat of a cheap shot, to me. Superman has his kryptonite, but their wasn't any real explanation of Davy's power. Maybe this will be explained in later books, I'm not sure. But either way, if you're looking for a book that has a protagonist with a cool power and uses it to combat others and make his way through the world, then this is the book for you.
January 9, 2015
This is the best YA Sci-Fi book I've read in a long time. If were written today, and all the fan girls where to jump on board, it would have a rating close to 5 stars. However since it was written in the 90s and mainly read by adults now, it does not get the fan girl love. Writing YA novels has to be tough, because you are dealing with a crowd that grows up and forgets about you to be replaced by a new group that knows nothing about you. Talk about a fickle audience.
Anyway, the story is very well written, and deals with terrorism as we saw it back in the 90s, and from all sides. Some of the views expresses in this book would be considered sacrilege in todays ultra militaristic United States, and cause one to really become aware of how far our country has gone.
The characters are constructed very well, and seem realistic.
Anyway, the story is very well written, and deals with terrorism as we saw it back in the 90s, and from all sides. Some of the views expresses in this book would be considered sacrilege in todays ultra militaristic United States, and cause one to really become aware of how far our country has gone.
The characters are constructed very well, and seem realistic.
January 5, 2022
I need to be sure to get the original book, not the novelization of the movie....
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And I did. And yes, it has plenty of heart, and themes of revenge, family, the definition of a terrorist, etc. It has Sense of Wonder and What If. But still, it's much more adventure & thriller than sciency SF, and for that reason I will not continue the series.
Character is 18 for most of the fast-paced book, but 17 during the beginning, when some very brutal things happen to him to set up all this exterior, and interior, action. I recommend it for age 16 up... I don't like kids to completely lose their innocence too young. It's also 'fun' for adults, imo, and my library did shelve it in adult fiction.
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And I did. And yes, it has plenty of heart, and themes of revenge, family, the definition of a terrorist, etc. It has Sense of Wonder and What If. But still, it's much more adventure & thriller than sciency SF, and for that reason I will not continue the series.
Character is 18 for most of the fast-paced book, but 17 during the beginning, when some very brutal things happen to him to set up all this exterior, and interior, action. I recommend it for age 16 up... I don't like kids to completely lose their innocence too young. It's also 'fun' for adults, imo, and my library did shelve it in adult fiction.
August 14, 2024
This was a fun read that was even better than I expected. Like many people, my first exposure to this was the film, which I remember little about other than it wasn't very good, but was entertaining enough with the special effects and Sam Jackson.
The book is not only better than the movie, but the story is totally different. Really, the only things they have in common are a boy named Davy who can teleport, who robs a bank at one point early on with his newly discovered powers and who has a girlfriend named Millie.
In a nutshell, Davy Rice is a 17-year-old living in some town in Ohio with his alcoholic and abusive father until, right before another episode of drunken abuse, Davy teleports to the history section(if I remember right) of the local library. He becomes a runaway and narrowly avoids some rough situations with his teleportation power that he still doesn't quite understand.
He tries to do things honestly by going to New York and attempting to find work, but faces hurdle after hurdle. Would hire ya, but you need a GED. Okay, you can take the GED once you provide your Social Security number, and so on. During this time, Davy figures out that his teleportation only lets him travel to places he's been and that he can visualize clearly.
It's only from reading the book that I appreciated what a great teleportation story this is. While the movie focused on cool superpowers and fights, the book follows Davy as he tries to mature and develop. The ability to teleport, but only to places he's already been, is a perfect allegory for a boy with arrested development from his abusive upbringing who tries to become a new person but constantly falls back into old habits.
This was a great character story with an interesting ability that went to some unexpected places. It read quickly since it's written for a young adult demographic and it's also paced pretty well. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a good YA fantasy about a boy who can teleport.
The book is not only better than the movie, but the story is totally different. Really, the only things they have in common are a boy named Davy who can teleport, who robs a bank at one point early on with his newly discovered powers and who has a girlfriend named Millie.
In a nutshell, Davy Rice is a 17-year-old living in some town in Ohio with his alcoholic and abusive father until, right before another episode of drunken abuse, Davy teleports to the history section(if I remember right) of the local library. He becomes a runaway and narrowly avoids some rough situations with his teleportation power that he still doesn't quite understand.
He tries to do things honestly by going to New York and attempting to find work, but faces hurdle after hurdle. Would hire ya, but you need a GED. Okay, you can take the GED once you provide your Social Security number, and so on. During this time, Davy figures out that his teleportation only lets him travel to places he's been and that he can visualize clearly.
It's only from reading the book that I appreciated what a great teleportation story this is. While the movie focused on cool superpowers and fights, the book follows Davy as he tries to mature and develop. The ability to teleport, but only to places he's already been, is a perfect allegory for a boy with arrested development from his abusive upbringing who tries to become a new person but constantly falls back into old habits.
This was a great character story with an interesting ability that went to some unexpected places. It read quickly since it's written for a young adult demographic and it's also paced pretty well. I would recommend it for anyone looking for a good YA fantasy about a boy who can teleport.
July 10, 2010
This is a well written, interesting book that will definitly give you lots to think about. What if you could jump(teleport) anywhere that you'd been before just by thinking about it? Where would you go? What would you do? The possibilities are endless and that was the main reason I liked this book, it got me thinking.
Published in the early 90's Jumper is now slightly dated but this doesn't deter from a good story, you just have to try and remember a time before cell phones, computers and the internet. New York is still a crime infested, dangerous place before it was cleaned up during Rudy Giuliani's reign. Terrorism plays a huge role in this story and in one ominous moment David drops a terrorist off the deck of the World Trade Center.
One of my biggest problems with this story would have to be the way David is written. He is meant to be an 18 year old boy who has been abused by his father and isolated from life, spending his days reading books. After he learns that he can "Jump" he transforms into a Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer anti-terrorist type character while tricking the FBI and police along the way. I also found his character to be written more like a forty year old man than a teenager; interested in finding a decent high tea and wearing linen suits. His girlfriend Millie was particularly annoying and although she is meant to be a collage student and only a few years older, she reads more like his mother than his lover, always quick with the voice of reason. I think the author although writing a Young Adult book had trouble finding the voice of a YA and both characters read older to me.
I would give the first half of this book 5 stars and the second half 3 stars, having grown tierd of the Jason Bourne anti-terrorism trickery by the end. Still a fun, exciting read that I would recommend.
Published in the early 90's Jumper is now slightly dated but this doesn't deter from a good story, you just have to try and remember a time before cell phones, computers and the internet. New York is still a crime infested, dangerous place before it was cleaned up during Rudy Giuliani's reign. Terrorism plays a huge role in this story and in one ominous moment David drops a terrorist off the deck of the World Trade Center.
One of my biggest problems with this story would have to be the way David is written. He is meant to be an 18 year old boy who has been abused by his father and isolated from life, spending his days reading books. After he learns that he can "Jump" he transforms into a Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer anti-terrorist type character while tricking the FBI and police along the way. I also found his character to be written more like a forty year old man than a teenager; interested in finding a decent high tea and wearing linen suits. His girlfriend Millie was particularly annoying and although she is meant to be a collage student and only a few years older, she reads more like his mother than his lover, always quick with the voice of reason. I think the author although writing a Young Adult book had trouble finding the voice of a YA and both characters read older to me.
I would give the first half of this book 5 stars and the second half 3 stars, having grown tierd of the Jason Bourne anti-terrorism trickery by the end. Still a fun, exciting read that I would recommend.
Shelved as 'to-buy'
June 8, 2023One of those movies that kept me wondering what happened next... the cast and movie were great. I really wanted another movie.
Let me tell you about my day so far. Coffee in Paris, surfed the Maldives, took a little nap on Kilimanjaro. Oh, yeah, I got digits from this Polish chick in Rio. And then I jumped back for the final quarter of the N.B.A. finals - courtside of course. And all that was before lunch. I could go on, but all I'm saying is, I'm standing on top of the world.
December 3, 2017
The idea here is better than the execution. The dialogue is clunky, the plot is thin, and the characters are sketches more than anything.
The film based on this book was better, despite its flaws. (Namely the studio-dictated narration at the beginning explaining things to the dumb people in the audience.) They took the basic elements of this book and gave them a high-quality shine while amping up both the stakes and the action.
The main character in the movie is more of an anti-hero, whereas here he's more of a whiny YA mouthpiece. There are some things in the book which were unnecessarily graphic, bordering on grimdark. In the film, for instance, the first time Davy teleports -- or "jumps" as he calls it -- it's the result of school bullying gone wrong. In the novel, it happens while three truckers are attempting to rape him. That's a really dark choice. The rest of the book follows suit.
The other part I found irksome was Gould's thinly-veiled preaching. When he has the government agents go on about how not all Muslims are terrorists, explaining the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite beliefs, it was clunky exposition. I mean, I agree with him, but it's so eye-rollingly heavy-handed. Although props to Gould for delving into all of this before the original attack on the World Trade Center was carried out. Jumper was released about 8 months before the 1993 WTC bombing, and the towers feature prominently when Davy confronts a Muslim terrorist.
It gets better once the story kicks into the final part, but it wasn't enough to lift it to 3 stars.
The film based on this book was better, despite its flaws. (Namely the studio-dictated narration at the beginning explaining things to the dumb people in the audience.) They took the basic elements of this book and gave them a high-quality shine while amping up both the stakes and the action.
The main character in the movie is more of an anti-hero, whereas here he's more of a whiny YA mouthpiece. There are some things in the book which were unnecessarily graphic, bordering on grimdark. In the film, for instance, the first time Davy teleports -- or "jumps" as he calls it -- it's the result of school bullying gone wrong. In the novel, it happens while three truckers are attempting to rape him. That's a really dark choice. The rest of the book follows suit.
The other part I found irksome was Gould's thinly-veiled preaching. When he has the government agents go on about how not all Muslims are terrorists, explaining the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite beliefs, it was clunky exposition. I mean, I agree with him, but it's so eye-rollingly heavy-handed. Although props to Gould for delving into all of this before the original attack on the World Trade Center was carried out. Jumper was released about 8 months before the 1993 WTC bombing, and the towers feature prominently when Davy confronts a Muslim terrorist.
It gets better once the story kicks into the final part, but it wasn't enough to lift it to 3 stars.
February 1, 2024
The movie was one of my favorite movies while growing up. I found the concept of jumping all over the world so fascinating. So when I learned that it was based on a series of books, I immediately went to get myself a copy. I loved the books even more. I decided to reread the first book for nostalgia stake and it still holds up! I still felt that same sense of wonder and excitement wishing I had the same ability as David.
June 16, 2011
It all began when David Rice was seventeen years old and was being abused by his father. Then it was immediately followed when he was almost raped after he ran away from their house. He knew it was teleporting, but he preferred to call it jumping and he considered himself from then as … a Jumper.
Though he knows that he will be alone in the street, he is still willing to pursue running away from his alcoholic father. He is determined to find his mother. But how when the world as if turned its back from him and all he can afford to trust is just his ability being a Jumper?
I knew this book before I bought it not because I heard or knew someone has read this but because I already watched the movie version of this book. But I wouldn’t have still picked this one, though I already watched the movie, if I didn’t fall into loving Orson Scott Cards books. However, given the chance that I already watched its movie, it’s another factor for me to pick this up now that I’m already starting to become obsessed of sci-fi books.
My admiration to Steven Gould is new but solid just because of this book. No matter what they say negative about this book will just be nullified from me. But to study the whole story, it just flow as normal as single thread—no twist and no surprise--just plain. Furthermore, I know that Gould wrote this book without making first a pattern or an outline which basically a way of creating a book I commonly dislikes. Well, what I said above is, I think, a suggestion that I totally admired this book with the way of creating a book I mentioned above. So the realization just came to my mind recently that it’s not the way how the author creates a story nor just how an author fills a story with exploding twists and turns that would make a reader like a book to the extent of dreaming over it, but it is how the author really pushes and masters himself harder at becoming a proficient story-teller.
Teleportation is commonly considered by some people to be at the paranormal line since they say that it’s one of the abilities of extra sensory perception that theoretically work of neurons. Since I’m aware of this thing, the first thought that came to my mind when I read this book is why labeled as sci-fi? But because I haven’t read yet the second book, I’m very much hoping I would find an answer from that book. On the other hand, there was still an associate of scientist’s theory on the things like Davy’s unexplainable landing when he’s doing his jumping that opposes this theory. But all of these theoretical sciences have nothing to do with the reason behind his ability to teleport. So still my question, why sci-fi? Nonetheless, the aura of the book is sci-fi.
One reason I admire Gould because despite of being overused of teleportation in novels, Gould still made out a new dress for it by calling it in different name. I also admire at how Gould really creates a very much normal world and put a special human out of it. In movies, once a superhuman fell to the earth, a super enemy would follow him. But it is very much rare for this like of story that even though the whole theme of the book is fantasy, Gould pulled back still the world in it as normal as he could by creating spark between supernatural and deadly terrorists.
It is also admiring that behind of unrealistic ability; Gould stamped it with realistic situations. The question in our dream that “what if we can teleport” has been successfully answered by Gould through this book. Though I understand why this book is one of the most banned books way back then, I still love it the way I love sci-fi books I read before. As what it says, there is more than to know than page 9. And of course there’s nothing makes a book more popular than being banned just because it is just read by mass of people around the globe.
Though he knows that he will be alone in the street, he is still willing to pursue running away from his alcoholic father. He is determined to find his mother. But how when the world as if turned its back from him and all he can afford to trust is just his ability being a Jumper?
I knew this book before I bought it not because I heard or knew someone has read this but because I already watched the movie version of this book. But I wouldn’t have still picked this one, though I already watched the movie, if I didn’t fall into loving Orson Scott Cards books. However, given the chance that I already watched its movie, it’s another factor for me to pick this up now that I’m already starting to become obsessed of sci-fi books.
My admiration to Steven Gould is new but solid just because of this book. No matter what they say negative about this book will just be nullified from me. But to study the whole story, it just flow as normal as single thread—no twist and no surprise--just plain. Furthermore, I know that Gould wrote this book without making first a pattern or an outline which basically a way of creating a book I commonly dislikes. Well, what I said above is, I think, a suggestion that I totally admired this book with the way of creating a book I mentioned above. So the realization just came to my mind recently that it’s not the way how the author creates a story nor just how an author fills a story with exploding twists and turns that would make a reader like a book to the extent of dreaming over it, but it is how the author really pushes and masters himself harder at becoming a proficient story-teller.
Teleportation is commonly considered by some people to be at the paranormal line since they say that it’s one of the abilities of extra sensory perception that theoretically work of neurons. Since I’m aware of this thing, the first thought that came to my mind when I read this book is why labeled as sci-fi? But because I haven’t read yet the second book, I’m very much hoping I would find an answer from that book. On the other hand, there was still an associate of scientist’s theory on the things like Davy’s unexplainable landing when he’s doing his jumping that opposes this theory. But all of these theoretical sciences have nothing to do with the reason behind his ability to teleport. So still my question, why sci-fi? Nonetheless, the aura of the book is sci-fi.
One reason I admire Gould because despite of being overused of teleportation in novels, Gould still made out a new dress for it by calling it in different name. I also admire at how Gould really creates a very much normal world and put a special human out of it. In movies, once a superhuman fell to the earth, a super enemy would follow him. But it is very much rare for this like of story that even though the whole theme of the book is fantasy, Gould pulled back still the world in it as normal as he could by creating spark between supernatural and deadly terrorists.
It is also admiring that behind of unrealistic ability; Gould stamped it with realistic situations. The question in our dream that “what if we can teleport” has been successfully answered by Gould through this book. Though I understand why this book is one of the most banned books way back then, I still love it the way I love sci-fi books I read before. As what it says, there is more than to know than page 9. And of course there’s nothing makes a book more popular than being banned just because it is just read by mass of people around the globe.
March 12, 2013
3.5 Originally posted at FanLit:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The first time Davy jumped was when his dad was beating him. The second time was when a trucker tried to rape him. Both times Davy ended up in his favorite place — the local public library. Soon Davy learned that he could control his teleportation, so he left home and started a new life in New York City. His new skill, the ability to instantly transport himself to any place he’s ever visited, helped him achieve the freedom he always desired. At first Davy lives for himself, happy to be away from school and his father, but when a terrorist attack affects him personally, he decides to use his talent to get revenge.
Jumper, by Steven Gould, is an action-packed exciting adventure about a likeable teenager who has an awesome superpower. Davy is mostly easy to believe in. He’s a little too urbane for his age and experience — he quickly transforms from high school dropout to fine-dining connoisseur, and I’ve never met a teenager as well-read as Davy — but other than that he acts like a normal kid. He’s a bit selfish and makes some impulsive mistakes, but he genuinely wants to be a good guy. He’s got an emo streak that’s a little annoying, but that’s understandable since he’s dealing with abuse and abandonment issues. He’s also worried that he could become an alcoholic like his father and he feels guilty about not telling his new girlfriend the truth about himself.
What I liked best about Davy’s story is that what Davy decides to do with his power is completely believable. Sometimes I read stories about people with really cool superpowers and I think “if I had that power, I’d do such and such” and I’m usually disappointed that the character didn’t think of that. Often the problem is that the character is just too ethical to do the fun stuff that normal teenagers would fantasize about doing if they had superpowers. But not Davy. Some of the things Davy does are selfish, some are vengeful, and some are just fun.
And fun is about all there is to Jumper. There’s an exciting plot and lots of cool tricks with the jumping, but there’s not much depth beyond that. There’s no explanation for the teleportation and there aren’t any other speculative elements, so the book hardly deserves the classification of “science fiction.” Nothing about Jumper changed me or made me think, but it definitely entertained me. When I finished Jumper I started the sequel, Reflex.
Jumper takes place around 1990 and was first published in 1992, before 9/11, so the way that Islam and terrorism were viewed and dealt with is very different than they are today. This, plus the lack of cell phones and Internet, will make Jumper feel a little dated to teen readers, but to me it just felt nostalgic since I was around Davy’s age at the time when the story takes place. However, Reflex takes place ten years later (published in 2004) and a third book, Impulse, was just published last month.
I listened to Audible Frontier’s version of Jumper which was narrated by the incredibly awesome Macleod Andrews. Macleod is so good that I’d forget he was narrating. It just felt like Davy was telling me his story — totally convincing. If you’re an audio reader, I’d recommend Jumper on audio. If you’re not an audio reader yet, this would be a good one to start with.
Jumper has been marketed to a YA audience but I won’t be giving it to my kids. The abuse and attempted rape are disturbing, it’s rather violent, and the language and sex aren’t really appropriate either. By the way, you probably know there is a movie based on Jumper. I haven’t seen it, but have heard it’s pretty bad, and those who have seen the movie and read the book report that the book is much different and much better.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The first time Davy jumped was when his dad was beating him. The second time was when a trucker tried to rape him. Both times Davy ended up in his favorite place — the local public library. Soon Davy learned that he could control his teleportation, so he left home and started a new life in New York City. His new skill, the ability to instantly transport himself to any place he’s ever visited, helped him achieve the freedom he always desired. At first Davy lives for himself, happy to be away from school and his father, but when a terrorist attack affects him personally, he decides to use his talent to get revenge.
Jumper, by Steven Gould, is an action-packed exciting adventure about a likeable teenager who has an awesome superpower. Davy is mostly easy to believe in. He’s a little too urbane for his age and experience — he quickly transforms from high school dropout to fine-dining connoisseur, and I’ve never met a teenager as well-read as Davy — but other than that he acts like a normal kid. He’s a bit selfish and makes some impulsive mistakes, but he genuinely wants to be a good guy. He’s got an emo streak that’s a little annoying, but that’s understandable since he’s dealing with abuse and abandonment issues. He’s also worried that he could become an alcoholic like his father and he feels guilty about not telling his new girlfriend the truth about himself.
What I liked best about Davy’s story is that what Davy decides to do with his power is completely believable. Sometimes I read stories about people with really cool superpowers and I think “if I had that power, I’d do such and such” and I’m usually disappointed that the character didn’t think of that. Often the problem is that the character is just too ethical to do the fun stuff that normal teenagers would fantasize about doing if they had superpowers. But not Davy. Some of the things Davy does are selfish, some are vengeful, and some are just fun.
And fun is about all there is to Jumper. There’s an exciting plot and lots of cool tricks with the jumping, but there’s not much depth beyond that. There’s no explanation for the teleportation and there aren’t any other speculative elements, so the book hardly deserves the classification of “science fiction.” Nothing about Jumper changed me or made me think, but it definitely entertained me. When I finished Jumper I started the sequel, Reflex.
Jumper takes place around 1990 and was first published in 1992, before 9/11, so the way that Islam and terrorism were viewed and dealt with is very different than they are today. This, plus the lack of cell phones and Internet, will make Jumper feel a little dated to teen readers, but to me it just felt nostalgic since I was around Davy’s age at the time when the story takes place. However, Reflex takes place ten years later (published in 2004) and a third book, Impulse, was just published last month.
I listened to Audible Frontier’s version of Jumper which was narrated by the incredibly awesome Macleod Andrews. Macleod is so good that I’d forget he was narrating. It just felt like Davy was telling me his story — totally convincing. If you’re an audio reader, I’d recommend Jumper on audio. If you’re not an audio reader yet, this would be a good one to start with.
Jumper has been marketed to a YA audience but I won’t be giving it to my kids. The abuse and attempted rape are disturbing, it’s rather violent, and the language and sex aren’t really appropriate either. By the way, you probably know there is a movie based on Jumper. I haven’t seen it, but have heard it’s pretty bad, and those who have seen the movie and read the book report that the book is much different and much better.
July 21, 2012
I read this book right after it first came out. I thought I remembered the basic plot, but I had opportunity and need to read it again, so I took it off my shelf, dusted it off, and dove in.
Turns out, I didn't remember the plot much at all except in vague terms. I remembered the "inciting incident" that causes the main character, David Rice, to learn about his ability to teleport. I remembered him testing the limits of what he could do. Something vague about a camera and teleporting to and from airports a lot.
And that was it. (I also erroneously remembered a scene that isn't in the book, and now I want to know where I read that scene, because I enjoyed it.)
It's a very enjoyable book, and a quick, satisfying read. The main character is a wee bit too good to be true, but if you were a well-read, intelligent, 18-year-old kid who suddenly discovered the ability to teleport, what would it do to your personality? I liked his ingenuity and resourcefulness coupled with his naïveté (he didn't know you could get a copy of your birth certificate). I enjoyed his relationship with Millie (his girlfriend) and his simultaneous disregard for authority and deep caring for other people in need. (He'll rob a bank without much remorse, but gives several thousand dollars to a disabled homeless man he happens to see on the street.)
The only thing I found annoying was the pat ending where everything wraps up nicely, the government promises to mostly leave him alone, and the bad guys get what's coming to them. I mean, that's what I wanted as a reader . . . but it felt a little hurried. It felt like he didn't have to work hard enough for it.
As I said, though, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book, and I fully intend to get the others in the series and read them, as well. I'm glad I rediscovered Mr. Gould's work.
Turns out, I didn't remember the plot much at all except in vague terms. I remembered the "inciting incident" that causes the main character, David Rice, to learn about his ability to teleport. I remembered him testing the limits of what he could do. Something vague about a camera and teleporting to and from airports a lot.
And that was it. (I also erroneously remembered a scene that isn't in the book, and now I want to know where I read that scene, because I enjoyed it.)
It's a very enjoyable book, and a quick, satisfying read. The main character is a wee bit too good to be true, but if you were a well-read, intelligent, 18-year-old kid who suddenly discovered the ability to teleport, what would it do to your personality? I liked his ingenuity and resourcefulness coupled with his naïveté (he didn't know you could get a copy of your birth certificate). I enjoyed his relationship with Millie (his girlfriend) and his simultaneous disregard for authority and deep caring for other people in need. (He'll rob a bank without much remorse, but gives several thousand dollars to a disabled homeless man he happens to see on the street.)
The only thing I found annoying was the pat ending where everything wraps up nicely, the government promises to mostly leave him alone, and the bad guys get what's coming to them. I mean, that's what I wanted as a reader . . . but it felt a little hurried. It felt like he didn't have to work hard enough for it.
As I said, though, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book, and I fully intend to get the others in the series and read them, as well. I'm glad I rediscovered Mr. Gould's work.
May 14, 2008
I went and saw this movie and was really underwhelmed. It had a good idea behind it but it seemed like it was too smooshed, like there was too much back story and explanation they hadn't been able to adequately fit into the movie. So I got the book. My dad and sister thought I was crazy since the movie was so mediocre, but I really wanted to see what the story was REALLY supposed to say. Boy was I surprised.
This book is NOTHING Like the movie! If you liked the movie, don't read this book it will probably disappoint you. If you didn't like the movie so much, give this book a shot. Those crazy jumper hunting guys with their whole "You're an abomination to g-d" speech weren't even in the book, just good old NSA agents trying to figure out what they're dealing with. The book deals with the more emotional and "human" aspects of Davy than the supernatural "jumping" aspect of his personality. Honestly, except for the fact that his Dad's a drunk who beats him and his mom left them when he was young (and the bank robbery) there is virtually nothing else the same in both the book and movie. Including how "jumping" works. I really liked this book and am going to read the sequel now.
This book is NOTHING Like the movie! If you liked the movie, don't read this book it will probably disappoint you. If you didn't like the movie so much, give this book a shot. Those crazy jumper hunting guys with their whole "You're an abomination to g-d" speech weren't even in the book, just good old NSA agents trying to figure out what they're dealing with. The book deals with the more emotional and "human" aspects of Davy than the supernatural "jumping" aspect of his personality. Honestly, except for the fact that his Dad's a drunk who beats him and his mom left them when he was young (and the bank robbery) there is virtually nothing else the same in both the book and movie. Including how "jumping" works. I really liked this book and am going to read the sequel now.
October 10, 2014
By the title, cover art, and description Jumper has all the markings of a YA novel, but after David almost gets raped, his alcoholic father beats him, his mom is blown to bits on a tarmac, and the word fuck appears over and over, you start to think it may not be appropriate for little Suzy.
I really enjoyed the novel. I found myself eager to get started again each time I stopped reading. The first half of the novel is very different from the second half. The first half covers Davy's discovery of his jumping ability, his trying to figure out how to survive on his own, his interaction with kids his age, and his falling in love. The second half covers his coming to terms with his rage against his father, the government, and the man who killed his mother. I would guess some readers will like one half better than the other. I was entertained by both.
Gould has an easygoing writing style. His descriptions are excellent while his dialogue is sketchy in places. It's a little strange that Davy never figures out how he got his jumping ability, but it didn't distract me too much. The novel wasn't about the ability itself, but what a young man would do with such an ability. I'm looking forward to reading another Gould novel.
I really enjoyed the novel. I found myself eager to get started again each time I stopped reading. The first half of the novel is very different from the second half. The first half covers Davy's discovery of his jumping ability, his trying to figure out how to survive on his own, his interaction with kids his age, and his falling in love. The second half covers his coming to terms with his rage against his father, the government, and the man who killed his mother. I would guess some readers will like one half better than the other. I was entertained by both.
Gould has an easygoing writing style. His descriptions are excellent while his dialogue is sketchy in places. It's a little strange that Davy never figures out how he got his jumping ability, but it didn't distract me too much. The novel wasn't about the ability itself, but what a young man would do with such an ability. I'm looking forward to reading another Gould novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2008
I read this as a young teen and was impressed by both the grittiness and the realism of the main character's world. A movie came out recently that was based on this book, but I was almost offended by the movie version because it did such a crap job of capturing that "everyday life of an extraordinary person" feeling that the book did so well.
The main character is a teen who discovers he has teleportation powers and starts using them to make a life for himself. What's nice is he actually does the things you'd expect a kid to do if he had power; he steals and goes places he's not supposed to go. Seems too often "having powers" suddenly makes someone turn into either a superhero with squeaky-clean morals or a villain who has some kind of tragic past. Davy? He's not bad at heart, but he does some bad things sometimes, and behaves in irresponsible ways.
There were aspects of this book that bothered me a little, and sometimes it seemed a little uneven, but overall Davy was a character I could believe in, and I really enjoyed reading about him.
The main character is a teen who discovers he has teleportation powers and starts using them to make a life for himself. What's nice is he actually does the things you'd expect a kid to do if he had power; he steals and goes places he's not supposed to go. Seems too often "having powers" suddenly makes someone turn into either a superhero with squeaky-clean morals or a villain who has some kind of tragic past. Davy? He's not bad at heart, but he does some bad things sometimes, and behaves in irresponsible ways.
There were aspects of this book that bothered me a little, and sometimes it seemed a little uneven, but overall Davy was a character I could believe in, and I really enjoyed reading about him.
September 11, 2014
My first knowledge of this book came from the movie. And after watching the movie I didn't really have any intention of reading the book. But over the years I've seen it pop up again and again on peoples list of to-read sci-fi. Lots of authors whose work I love cite it as an inspiration. So finally I picked it up.
Firstly I didn't realise it is as old as it is. I thought it had come out a couple years before the movie. Until I started seeing all the references to VHS players. The start of the book almost put me off. I did not like Davy at all. He really annoyed me. Thankfully it got better to the point that I would have liked more. The differences from the movie are many and the book is a lot better. It was worth reading and enjoyable but from what I hear the sequel (written over 10 years later) is not as good.
Firstly I didn't realise it is as old as it is. I thought it had come out a couple years before the movie. Until I started seeing all the references to VHS players. The start of the book almost put me off. I did not like Davy at all. He really annoyed me. Thankfully it got better to the point that I would have liked more. The differences from the movie are many and the book is a lot better. It was worth reading and enjoyable but from what I hear the sequel (written over 10 years later) is not as good.
August 28, 2019
I’ve had Jumper on my computer for a while now and never got around to reading it, not sure why. Sometimes with books like that, I feel extra trepidation going into it. Why haven’t I read it yet? Is it because I can sense it’s bad? What if I don’t like this book?? I’m on vacation; I want my reading to be good!! Fortunately, although by no means a home run—by dint of Gould’s somewhat blah narration—Jumper managed to captivate me and keep me reading right until the end, and I’m almost tempted to pick up the sequel now.
Trigger warnings in this book for scenes of child abuse and domestic violence, child sexual abuse, terrorist attacks (particularly hijackings), alcoholism, and discussions about parental abandonment/neglect.
David Rice first discovers he can teleport while being beaten, again, by his alcoholic and abusive father. David quickly becomes more adept at jumping, as he calls it, and runs away from home, ending up in New York City at seventeen with no diploma, no ID, and no money. So he robs a bank! Set up with riches, David quickly discovers life isn’t that simple. He falls in love, but being an autodidact with a lot of money isn’t enough. It doesn’t fill the hole left in his heart, the one asking him to search for his mother, who left him and his dad when he was younger. And then, of course, government agents get involved….
I do have to give Gould credit: teleportation is a fun superpower to have, but it would be so easy to screw it up as a plot device. Instead, Gould gets creative and fairly practical with the ways in which David exploits his ability. There are sensible limitations on it, but Gould also considers how the ability would shape David’s understanding of how he should navigate the world. For example, at one point David starts constructing a little hideaway house in a remote part of the Texas desert. For a long time, he doesn’t bother building a bathroom (and thus figuring out all the attendant plumbing requirements); when he needs to go, he just jumps somewhere else with a bathroom. It makes sense. Similarly, Gould writes combat/fighting that David engages in with an eye for how teleportation would help (or hinder) the experience.
I also really liked how Gould doesn’t shy away from David’s mental health considering his abuse and abandonment issues. More than once, Millie suggests that David should see a therapist—this is a good idea. And it’s clear from their interactions, as well as a lot of David’s other dialogue, that he is aware of his issues. He wonders if he has an inclination towards alcoholism like his father. He realizes when he isn’t “being rational” about something. Although running away and living independent forces him to grow up and act more adult than his years might credit, deep down he is, in many ways, a scared kid.
My major critique, though, is about David’s narrative voice. It’s just so flat. I spent the first half of the book wondering if Gould was intentionally trying to make David come off as psychopathic, because it almost felt like he was faking his feelings. He’s so cold and logical, the way he describes all his decisions. Eventually he exhibits a lot more emotion—but even that’s portrayed in a flat way that makes it feel hyperbolic or somewhat disturbed. And it took me a while to decide whether that was intentional or not. I’ve landed on the side of it being fairly unintentional, of it being Gould’s style and skill (or lack thereof) in establishing a narrative voice. It’s a shame, of course, because the entirety of the novel gets filtered through David’s head, and so I can understand why someone might toss this book just because of this issue.
I also don’t know why David and Millie are together beyond reasons of plot. What, exactly, do they have in common? David tells us he loves her and is basically obsessed with her (Millie is much better at boundaries). But after that initial meet-cute at the musical, we don’t actually observe them sharing many common interests. Millie is a university student and David is a somewhat younger high school dropout who, yes, has educated himself fairly decently, but still … what exactly does his do with his free time, other than read and practise his jumping?
Gould is great at describing how David overcomes the practical challenges of living on his own and how jumping factors into this. He is not so good at describing David’s emotional journey, despite this being such a core motif in the book. Gould aims for a powerful theme—something along the lines of how having more power doesn’t necessarily let us get what we want, because sometimes the things we really want, like the return of a loved one, are unattainable no matter how much power you have. Yet the execution feels bumpy and inconsistent.
Jumper is a book where the concept is so fascinating you almost wish you could distill that and only that, but no, you have to wrap it up in a plot and characters so you can have a story. And the story itself is only so-so, hampered by a writing style that just does very little for me. Lest that sound too harsh, consider that I still enjoyed reading this over two days while on vacation in Montreal, when I could very easily have abandoned it to something else on my Kindle. So there’s that.
Trigger warnings in this book for scenes of child abuse and domestic violence, child sexual abuse, terrorist attacks (particularly hijackings), alcoholism, and discussions about parental abandonment/neglect.
David Rice first discovers he can teleport while being beaten, again, by his alcoholic and abusive father. David quickly becomes more adept at jumping, as he calls it, and runs away from home, ending up in New York City at seventeen with no diploma, no ID, and no money. So he robs a bank! Set up with riches, David quickly discovers life isn’t that simple. He falls in love, but being an autodidact with a lot of money isn’t enough. It doesn’t fill the hole left in his heart, the one asking him to search for his mother, who left him and his dad when he was younger. And then, of course, government agents get involved….
I do have to give Gould credit: teleportation is a fun superpower to have, but it would be so easy to screw it up as a plot device. Instead, Gould gets creative and fairly practical with the ways in which David exploits his ability. There are sensible limitations on it, but Gould also considers how the ability would shape David’s understanding of how he should navigate the world. For example, at one point David starts constructing a little hideaway house in a remote part of the Texas desert. For a long time, he doesn’t bother building a bathroom (and thus figuring out all the attendant plumbing requirements); when he needs to go, he just jumps somewhere else with a bathroom. It makes sense. Similarly, Gould writes combat/fighting that David engages in with an eye for how teleportation would help (or hinder) the experience.
I also really liked how Gould doesn’t shy away from David’s mental health considering his abuse and abandonment issues. More than once, Millie suggests that David should see a therapist—this is a good idea. And it’s clear from their interactions, as well as a lot of David’s other dialogue, that he is aware of his issues. He wonders if he has an inclination towards alcoholism like his father. He realizes when he isn’t “being rational” about something. Although running away and living independent forces him to grow up and act more adult than his years might credit, deep down he is, in many ways, a scared kid.
My major critique, though, is about David’s narrative voice. It’s just so flat. I spent the first half of the book wondering if Gould was intentionally trying to make David come off as psychopathic, because it almost felt like he was faking his feelings. He’s so cold and logical, the way he describes all his decisions. Eventually he exhibits a lot more emotion—but even that’s portrayed in a flat way that makes it feel hyperbolic or somewhat disturbed. And it took me a while to decide whether that was intentional or not. I’ve landed on the side of it being fairly unintentional, of it being Gould’s style and skill (or lack thereof) in establishing a narrative voice. It’s a shame, of course, because the entirety of the novel gets filtered through David’s head, and so I can understand why someone might toss this book just because of this issue.
I also don’t know why David and Millie are together beyond reasons of plot. What, exactly, do they have in common? David tells us he loves her and is basically obsessed with her (Millie is much better at boundaries). But after that initial meet-cute at the musical, we don’t actually observe them sharing many common interests. Millie is a university student and David is a somewhat younger high school dropout who, yes, has educated himself fairly decently, but still … what exactly does his do with his free time, other than read and practise his jumping?
Gould is great at describing how David overcomes the practical challenges of living on his own and how jumping factors into this. He is not so good at describing David’s emotional journey, despite this being such a core motif in the book. Gould aims for a powerful theme—something along the lines of how having more power doesn’t necessarily let us get what we want, because sometimes the things we really want, like the return of a loved one, are unattainable no matter how much power you have. Yet the execution feels bumpy and inconsistent.
Jumper is a book where the concept is so fascinating you almost wish you could distill that and only that, but no, you have to wrap it up in a plot and characters so you can have a story. And the story itself is only so-so, hampered by a writing style that just does very little for me. Lest that sound too harsh, consider that I still enjoyed reading this over two days while on vacation in Montreal, when I could very easily have abandoned it to something else on my Kindle. So there’s that.
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