FreaklingTitle: Freakling
Author: Lana Krumwiede
ISBN: 9780763659370
Pages: 309 pages
Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press, c2012.

“You might as well accept it,” Taemon said to Da. “I have no psi. None.”
“Shh!” The door slammed shut with Mam’s psi. “If someone heard that, you’d be carted off before first light.”
Taemon frowned. “Don’t worry: no one will know. I’ve faked it this far, haven’t I?” […]
“Still, I’m not sure you can pull this off,” Da said. “We should work on finding your psi.”
“It’s not like I’ve misplaced it,” Taemon said, frustrated. “It’s gone.” Completely. (56-58)

Everyone in the city of Deliverence has a form of telekinesis known as psi. If you don’t, then you are sent to the Powerless Colony where everything has to be done by hand. Taemon has never felt lucky to have psi, just normal, until an accident caused by his brother Yens results in him loosing his psi. Now simple things like eating and getting dressed are incredible difficult and dangerous as he must learn to do things without controlling objects with his mind. But a very public mistake forces him to the Powerless Colony, where he learns that the people there aren’t so powerless after all. In fact, they might have more power than they think when Yens is granted a position of power and will stop at nothing to get more.

I’m sensing a theme here. I read Island of Silence just before this one. Both have one gifted brother and one not so gifted brother. Both have the brothers fighting each other. Both stories ultimately involve the different worlds that the brothers inhabit. Neither war escalates like gang warfare would where an increasing radius of people are affected, but instead the wars escalate quickly and involve the whole community. And again, a lot of the political maneuverings that happen to facilitate this conflict are glossed over so quickly, you’re left with a confused idea of what exactly they’re fighting over. This time around, we’re cheering on the non-magical brother, as opposed to Island of Silence where the magical one was the hero. I feel like there’s a fascinating discussion just waiting for whoever wants to tackle the comparisons and fantasy tropes/archetypes.

Looking at this book specifically though, it feels like the lessons are laid on a little thick. Taemon’s inner dialogue doesn’t sound like a scared, confused kid, but more like a philosophy or religion professor’s lecture. “…Anyone else who had a mind to do evil. But he’d need a way to distinguish the good people from the bad ones. How would he do that? And did he really have a right […]? That sounded awfully like something the priests would do.” (303) But I thought the idea of people using only telekinesis to do everything, basically rendering their arms and hands useless, was unique and well thought out. The details were definitely there for Taemon’s life, and the humor was in the little things, like when Taemon’s mom actually yells at him for picking up his dirty socks with his hands.

I thought the cover was really cool, with allusions to events in the book with the clockwork and water intermingling, but the clockwork on the cover made me think that it would have steam punk elements, which it really doesn’t. I think overall this book was just so similar to Island of Silence that it was hard for me to really dive in and enjoy the book to the fullest. I think other readers will find the concept unique and enjoy it because the idea of not lifting a finger to do chores is just so tempting. The possibly too-tidy ending will definitely give readers something to talk about, although apparently there’s also a sequel scheduled for this book in 2013, so maybe the ending wasn’t as final as I thought it was.