The Ables

Written by Jeremy Scott

Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer

I did have fantastic hearing, mostly by virtue of being blind. But that couldn't actually mean that he's trying to tell me I have super powers, right? Because that would be ridiculous.

It wasn't the "sex talk" he expected. Phillip Sallinger's dad has told him he's a custodian-a guardian-and his genetically inherited power is telekinesis. He'll learn to move objects with his mind. Excited to begin superhero high school until he discovers he's assigned to a "special ed" class for disabled empowered kids, he suddenly feels like an outsider. Bullied, threatened, and betrayed, Phillip struggles, even as he and his friends-calling themselves the Ables-find ways to maximize their powers to overcome their disabilities, and are the first to identify the growing evil threatening humanity. As vital custodians disappear and the custodian leadership is mired in indecision, a mysterious and powerful figure taunts Phillip, and the enemy is poised to strike. But what if the next "one who does all," the multi-gifted custodian predicted to come, is one of the Ables?

The Ables is a fast-paced, captivating debut novel from Jeremy Scott, a bold new voice in fantasy and science fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977344380

Jeremy Scott

Jeremy Scott was born into the eccentric decaying upper classes, he had a spectacularly successful life in advertising in the 1960s and 1970s until reinventing himself, first in Provence and then as an ascetic, whose life was saved by Marcus Aurelius 10 years ago.

Reviews for The Ables

[RedeemingEndeavor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great book in the best format. Since the book is being told by a blind person you should be able to hear what they hear which is how this book feels. Great story telling well written and voiced.

[Ranakkuma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

AMAZING. I love how disability is represented in this book. It's such a masterpiece!

[jamestomasino · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Review for the audiobook:

The story is pretty good, but the author's reading made it very difficult to follow. He didn't pace himself well or allow for pauses for emphasis and understanding. I stopped listening after a couple hours. I think this book deserves to be read instead of listened to. It will likely result in higher ratings once I get the chance.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is for a younger audience than I thought. It's a simple comic book plot, but a decent one. It's got some cliches. Doesn't break out of a mold or do anything to distinguish itself. It's no "Steelheart" or "Soon I Will Be Invincible". It's supposed to be about disabled superheroes, but the disabling doesn't come up much. It's fun to see them come up with ways around it (like hooking a telepath to a viewscreen of the blind guy's POV). But they find ways around it quickly and it ceases to be an issue. Katawa Shoujo did a better job of dealing with the day-to-day hardships and it had a variety of characters -- thematically exploring who lets their disability define them and who doesn't. There isn't much of the daily life struggles they face, like the handicapped guy getting stared at. That's the sort of thing I wanted to see. In fact, I think one guy gets his arm back at some point. And my biggest complaint? No girls.

[strider66_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Ables by Jeremy ScottPros: highly unique pov, great cast of characters, dry sense of humour, Cons: several small errors ruined immersion, some aspects of the story were hard to believeFor Parents: some swearing, some violenceThe day before starting grade 7 at his new school in Freepoint city, Philip Sallinger’s dad takes him aside for ‘the talk’. But it’s not the sex talk Philip expected. He, his parents, and most of the people in their remote city, are superheroes, or as they call themselves, custodians. But Phillip’s blindness creates an obstacle with regards to using his power, and he finds himself in the special education class with others who have physical and mental differences.Along with his new friends, Phillip must overcome the prejudices of those around them, and help protect the city from a dangerous enemy.The novel is told from Phillip’s point of view and while much of the book includes visual clues to what’s happening, there are a lot of auditory and other sensory descriptions as well. The book takes Phillip through a variety of challenging experiences and it’s great watching him grow up, even if he does make a lot of mistakes. The group of kids on the whole was excellently written.  They’ve each got a disability (two are blind, one's in a wheelchair, one has down syndrome, one has extreme athsma and one has ataxic cerebral palsy), but they’ve obviously learned to adapt and end up doing a large number of remarkable things throughout the book.  The author never forgets that certain things are more challenging for them, but also shows that those challenges are surmountable by determined individuals.I really appreciated the book’s dry sense of humour, especially Phillip and James’s so called ‘blind humour’. There were a number of problems with the novel, some of which are probably not things regular readers will notice or care about.For example, we’re told early on in a mini history lesson that a pre-Biblical group of superheroes, who faced off with a supervillain, called themselves “the Ables”. This made no sense to me. We’re given the etymology for the use of the term ‘custodians’, so it struck me as wrong that a late middle English word would be used to describe an ancient group (especially by themselves). Yes, you could argue that it’s the modern translation of the word they would have used, but then why not use that word, or at least tell us that word? English didn’t exist as a language when this group was alive, and it would have made the superhero world’s history sound more authentic if an older word had been introduced with it, a la: “They called themselves ‘ipa’, which is Aramaic for ‘having the means to accomplish a task’. We call them the Ables.”Occasional imprecise use of language kicked me out of the narrative. By which I mean that something was implied in the text that’s later explicitly refuted. There’s a scene where something embarrassing happens and Phillip wakes up wondering what rumours would be circulating. The impression I got from the scene - from the language used - was that this was the next morning after the event happened, but a few pages later I learned that several weeks had passed. I was left wondering why he’d be worrying about rumours that he must have heard by now and were likely dying down by this point. Each time this happened I found myself rereading the earlier section to figure out if I’d read it properly and/or had missed something. On one occasion I realized that Phillip had assumed something that turned out to not be true, but on others the text really did contain a contradiction.I also spotted a few minor continuity errors, but these didn’t impact the story at all.There were some aspects of the story that I didn’t really believe. There’s only been one death in a SuperSim over numerous years - despite the variety of powers on display and lack of training many of the kids apparently had - and that one death was caused by an inability to see? the SuperSim seems like the kind of activity that would, at the least, injure several people each year, regardless of how careful everyone tried to be. I was surprised that grade 7 students were allowed to participate at all, considering they were just gaining their powers and hadn’t had much training yet. The kids in the book learn so much more about their powers outside of school than inside of it that I wondered what official superhero training they were receiving, beyond history lessons, that would even prepare them for the superhero life. I thought that the fallout from Donnie’s accident was overblown, considering his down syndrome had nothing to do with what happened, though this was pointed out by Phillip in the text.Certain aspects of the plot were a little predictable, but on the whole the book went in directions I didn’t expect, with the SuperSim and other actions.Despite these issues, the writing for the most part was smooth and entertaining. There’s a lot of variety in the action and the book is never boring. There are a few swear words used - in a realistic context - at the end of the book and minor violence a certain points in the book.While I enjoyed the book, particularly the unique point of view and characters, the number of times I was jolted from the story due to small errors decreased my immersion. There’s a lot to like here - especially protagonists not generally seen in fiction at all, let alone a superhero story, and I do recommend it. Just try not to read it, as I had to, with a critical bent.