Changers' Summer (The Changers Trilogy, #1) by Mike Lewis

Changers' Summer (The Changers Trilogy, #1) Reviews

• 
  Debbie

  This book was my monthly pick from the Amazon Prime Lending Library. I've enjoyed it well enough to buy the next book in the series when it's available. This is a young adult story that is interesting enough for all ages to enjoy. It is not a typical post apoc/dystopian tale as there is no single earth shattering disaster, and no overtly oppressive elements in this future society. This story is about the future created when deliberate changes to the environment go very wrong.
  
  The locale described seems to be in the US; it's either always been a rural area, or the landscape has been changed for so long that all traces of cities have vanished. The elapsed time in not indicated within the story. All of the changes described resulted from scientific projects intended to improve the quality of life. Instead, the environment was adversely affected in dramatic ways, most of them negative. As a result, human society is back to living in small villages with outlying groups of farms. One very interesting village is built entirely over water - all the buildings on pylons, with walkways connecting them. There are several references to the amount of water present; lots of buildings are on the bottom of lakes. While this vision of a very different future is well crafted with good description, the lack of a timeline makes it a bit difficult to relate to how it got that way.
  
  The main characters are children and the story is told through their eyes. They are good characters for the age group; they have a well defined sense of right and wrong, but can also be uncertain about their actions. They are old enough to enjoy an adventure away from home, but not too old to miss their families. Tom is homesick more than Allison, which is true to their characters. Tom has never left home before, but Allison's family are travelers. Neither of them can resist the chance to travel with Paul, the time traveler that appeared in a barn on Tom's family farm.
  
  Paul is a Changer; history has attached that label to the scientists that changed the environment. The only issues I had with the story was the portrayal of the Changers. First, it's made apparent that Tom's society has few details of the past before the changes; none of the current population have any memory of life ever being any different. Lacking a written history and facts, the population's fear of Changers long since dead seems unrealistic. Certainly they could not be expecting a time traveler, yet no one seems overly surprised to find one. Second, the Changers themselves - Paul finds more of his associates as he travels - have used time travel to escape their present, where their projects have made them unpopular. Observing what they have wrought firsthand, they seem pretty casual about the damage they've inflicted, and more concerned with whose experiment produced which result, like it's all a game. Their only goal is to go back to where they just escaped from to make yet more changes to "fix" things. It just felt very unscientific.
  
  However, it's not specified if these Changers were part of a large project, or a radical group working alone. Hopefully the next parts of the story will clarify some of the confusing elements and provide a clearer picture of the events that led to this future.
  
  In spite of these issues, I am intrigued by the setting and the developing story enough to want to read on. I do want to see where Tom and Allison's adventure takes them next.
• 
  Lyrical

  It is books like these that support my belief that in the realms of self publishing you will find stories that are just as good, if not better, than the fancy, hyped books you’ll find on the shelves of your local bookshop.
  
  In Changers’ Summer, Mike Lewis has created an intriguing post-apocalyptic world that merely hints at what went on to bring it to this point: rats that can build ladders, dogs that can talk, rain that falls in different colours. Although many of their changes are evident, there is a great mystery surrounding the Changers and your imagination gets a great work out as the reader to try to construct what happened. There’s a real sense of the reader being ignorant and a tantalising mystery that makes the story engaging. Clearly there has been a period where genetic modification and fiddling with nature has gone mad to create this dystopia but what I really like is that the reader is left to make up their own mind about this. There are no worthy opinions and no definite sense of whether the Changers were benevolent or evil, it all adds to the mystery and the chaos in your mind as you try to work out who is a good guy and who is a bad guy.
  
  The story develops at a perfect pace, with developments in each chapter and no lengthy periods of hanging around. What I really like is the way the adults in the story gradually drop out for one reason or another and it is then left up to the two children to take the lead and make the decisions about what they are going to do. Changers’ Summer really encapsulates what I love about teen fiction and that is an innate distrust of adults. They may think they are making the right decisions but adults are too full of the world to truly know what is the right thing to do. I think all world-saving ventures should be conducted by children because they have courage first above all things and they instinctively know what is good and what is evil. This may not be true in real life but it certainly is in teen fiction and it certainly is the case in Changers’ Summer.
  
  This is definitely a book for those who love post-apocalyptic/dystopian reads with a dollop of time travel, plenty of mystery and an accessible sci-fi edge. As for the ending… AMAZING! But I’m not going to spoil that, you’ll have to read it to find out. All I’m going to say is my favourite books are always the ones that end with a beginning…
  
  
  Lyrical Reviews
  
  @LyricalReviews
  
  Goodreads Group: No Dark Romance Allowed
• 
  OpenBookSociety.com

  Brought to you by Annabell
  
  The Changers’ Summer is a vastly interesting post-apocalyptic story that tells the tale of a young boy named Tom who lives in a world where rats can build ladders, his dog can talk and rain falls in different colors. I love the childlike imagination behind the story and the fact that the heroes of the tale are twelve year old children instead of the adults.
  
  I really enjoyed the concept of the yellow and green rain. The story had a very Amish-like lifestyle feel to it since Tom lived on a farm with his family and everyone in the small village knew one another. Tom was a great lead because he still believes in magic and doesn’t question the existence. He is curious but smart about his decisions and he’s brave. I also really liked Bess, Tom’s talking dog. The relationship Tom and Bess have is very sweet.
  
  The way the Changers come into the story was brilliant! Right from the beginning the reader is thrown into the suspense and action of the story. The Timegate was such a great element and so were the knifeback fish. Tom’s world is wonderfully described so the reader is taken on a very detailed journey as Tom fights to save the world he loves.
  
  Mike Lewis is an author who knows how to cater to his audience and create an enthralling world of ordinary characters who find the courage to become heroes and a story full of fantastically crafted magic.
  
  Changers’ Summer is a novel better geared for ages 12 and under. If you are a parent looking for a book to give to your child, Changers Summer is a great gift! It’s a fun world to share with the family.
  
  
  http://openbooksociety.com/article/ch...
• 
  Annabell

  The Changers’ Summer is a vastly interesting post-apocalyptic story that tells the tale of a young boy named Tom who lives in a world where rats can build ladders, his dog can talk and rain falls in different colors. I love the childlike imagination behind the story and the fact that the heroes of the tale are twelve year old children instead of the adults.
  
  I really enjoyed the concept he yellow and green rain. The story had a very Amish-like lifestyle feel to it since Tom lived on a farm with his family and everyone in the small village knew one another. Tom was a great lead because he still believes in magic and doesn’t question the existence. He is curious but smart about his decisions and brave. I also really liked Bess, Tom’s talking dog. The relationship Tom and Bess have is very sweet.
  
  The way the Changers come into the story was brilliant! Right from the beginning the reader is thrown into the suspense and action of the story. The Timegate was such a great element and so were the knifeback fish. Tom’s world is wonderfully described so the reader is taken on a very detailed journey as Tom fights to save the world he loves.
  
  Mike Lewis is an author who knows how to cater to his audience and create an enthralling world of ordinary characters who find the courage to become heroes and a story full of fantastically crafted magic.
  
  Changers’ Summer is a young adult novel better geared for ages 12 and under.
  If you are a parent looking for a book to give to your child, Changers Summer is a great gift! It’s a fun world to share with the family.
  
• 
  S.J.

  Concept/World
  The world grabbed me straight away with the description of life under green and yellow rain. It was almost medieval in feel but with remnants of technology.
  
  Story
  The story starts brilliantly. The Changers’ appearance is enthralling and I was on the edge of my seat during the visit to Westbridge. The last third of the book (no spoilers) was riveting too. I did feel it wandered a little in the middle but that might have been because I was impatient to find out what the Changers were up to.
  
  Characters
  The characters come across as believable. I particularly liked Bess, the talking dog.
  
  Presentation
  The front cover is attractive but slightly puzzling. It shows blue sky, which Tom has never seen, and an idyllic rural scene which isn’t the way I envisioned Tom’s world from the description in the book. There are a few typos of the kind which aren’t picked up by spellcheckers (eg, seem for see) but spelling, punctuation and formatting are excellent.
  
  Overall
  I really enjoyed this book. I let a group of kids in my class (reading age 12+) read the start of the story on my kindle and they asked to carry on reading it at playtime. Highly recommended!
  
• 
  Craig Hansen

  CHANGER'S SUMMER by Mike Lewis presents a bit of difficulty. The novel combines elements of environmentalism, science fiction, and a British setting to come up with its unique storyline, and on a conceptual basis, there's a lot that fascinates about Changer's Summer.
  
  Unfortunately, the novel spends a lot of time - tens of pages, it seems, at times - in telling mode, rather than in scene and action that advances the plot. And the plot moves at a glacial pace.
  
  I was fully a quarter of the way into the book before it was revealed with certainty that Changer's Summer involved time travel. As a fan of Doctor Who, that reveal was a big plus, as I'm always up for a time travel story.
  
  Unfortunately, Changer's Summer lacks the strong pacing and action of the best WHO novelizations. And while the environmental plot element was interesting, other than the fact that it rained in different colors in this world, the significance of this color variance of the rain was so slowly unveiled that by the time it was finally detailed, I'd lost interest in the why aspect of it all.
  
  So it's with regret that I can only offer Changer's Summer a lukewarm review. Had the plot and pace been picked up, it was easily a novel I'd have been more enthused about.
• 
  Maria

  This book started out slow for me. I hate to say that because there was an event that was so totally creative at the beginning, it held a lot of promise. However, I felt the writing of it did not hold up to that promise. I won't say what it was because I hate spoilers!
  
  
  The adult characters were a bit too two-dimensional for me, but as the story was meant to be focused on the children, it was fine. Tom was a great young protagonist, ready to jump in and get things done.
  
  
  Some things I absolutely loved in this book: Bess, the talking dog (should have used her more!); rats that build tools; colored rain; and time travel! Mike Lewis, the author, did a good job with his editing. Many authors I find tend to write books that are too long, fill them up with a lot of "stuff" that doesn't really need to be in the book.
  
  
  This is a good book for young adults. I think their natural curiosity and creative minds will find the story fascinating.
  
  
  *Disclaimer: I received this book from the author through Librarything. I was not required to write a positive review.
  
  
• 
  Sandra Stiles

  the past, scientists experimented and changed the environment and animals through technology and then they vanished. We slowly figure this out when a changer begins to materialize one piece at a time in a barn. There are several unique things about the world the author has created. Rain is either green and goopy, or yellow acid rain. Crops must be grown inside of barns. animals talk, rats are able to reason and build ladders from crop material. Changers have been traveling through time to"look" at their accomplishments. Now they plan on making changes to "fix" their mistake. When Tom and his friends realize the plans will make things worse. they have to find a way to stop them. The world was wonderful The characters were great, the plot was slow but still interesting enough to make me want to read the second one. I read this as an ebook, so I will wait until the second on comes out before I purchase them for my shelves at school. The kids hate, as much as I do, waiting a year for a sequel.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Kristen Byers

  Tom lives in a future that has been altered by Changers, people from the present day who experimented with technology to create fantastic machines and to genetically modify crops and animals. Tom is growing up on a farm where the corn grows inside barns and rats have opposable thumbs. One day, he and his friend Jordan discover a time traveler in one of the barns -- Changers have been transporting themselves to the future in order to see how their changes have affected the world. Tom ends up having a very adventurous summer tagging along with a couple of the Changers.
  
  This book kept me entertained even though I suspect I am much older than the target age group. I'm excited to read the other books in the trilogy!
  
  I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it.
• 
  Julie Witt

  I won a copy of this book in the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
• 
  Taneeka Smith

  Review to come
• 
  Rebecca Graf

  This was an okay book. I'm really not into futuristic books but it was interesting and the cliffhanger at the end does have me wanting to read more.