I did the age old thing and chose this book purely because of the cover. I'm sad to say that this was all style over substance. The mystery element was only engaging for the first 100 pages or so then was completely forgotten about until right at the end. The author went off on meandering tangents which ruined the pacing. I wasn't too impressed with the author's very 'male' way of describing women in the book either. For a story that was nearly 600 pages there was very little happening, it needed some serious editing. A real flop unfortunately.

I initially wanted this book based on the incredible cover. Then I read the synopsis and was even more intrigued. I had some issues with the story itself, though. There was a definite pacing problem. When you would be on the cusp of an exciting reveal, the book meandered off somewhere else. This book had a ton of potential, but it never quite lived up to it.
2 stars

From a young age Brandon Chambers has been seeing things: people in his house, hares with gas masks. But suddenly these visions aren't important: there is a huge biological explosion at the base his father is working on. In the aftermath, his father takes responsibility and Brandon is bullied at school. But life just gets worse: his parents disappear and he is made to live with an army sergeant who treats him like one of his underlings. Brandon struggles through this life while dealing with visions. In an effort he starts studying psychology, but that doesn't prepare him for the truth of his visions.
The book is compelling and fast paced. I always wanted to know more and was less interested in his studies because I knew psychology was not the answer. Following Brandon's life gets tedious though, chapters skip around. One chapter can be now and then three weeks later. Even ones in a short time span very rarely flow which made me feel almost like I was reading several novella in one.
Even though I didn't like the disjointed feeling, I enjoyed the plot and was fascinated but the science fiction it presented.

A Bunny With A Gas Mask!!

I have to be honest, I chose this book because I loved the cover. The Strange Life of Brandon Chambers is not my "normal" type of book choice. As I began to read, I first thought it was more of a Y/A book, but as I continued reading, I couldn't really place it in a category at all. It’s a fun, strange mix of science fiction, young adult and adventure. It’s very fast paced and a good story, but I wanted more character development. The characters were extremely interesting and I wanted to know more about them.

The book is a little predictable in the path Brandon’s life took as far as escaping his problems, but the book itself is definitely not predictable. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it for those who like suspenseful, fast moving (almost too fast moving) stories.

I thought this story was strange. Just when I was getting to a part I thought was going to take off, it ended up falling flat. The characters and story line had tremendous potential.

Every time I thought the story was starting to get good, it would take a disappointing turn into something trite. There were some inconsistencies in formatting and sequence.

I had high expectations for this book and was let down. I felt like the core of the book was good, the storyline and the basics of what it was about. I felt like there were a lot of good moments but there was never any real follow through. It left me feeling like I was missing key information, because every time I got excited about what would happen next, it just trailed off into a different part of the book. I felt connected with the main character, Brandon, because we got to witness him grow up from a young age, and I really wanted to be invested in the rest of the story and what was going on, but I just couldn’t get into it unfortunately.

I picked this up based on the strange cover and it was a good read. The plot was unique and interesting. It kept me reading until the end. I would recommend it to others.