The Shapeshifter, by Ali Sparkes

Hello!

The complete series

This week, I will be reviewing The Shapeshifter, a series of books written by Ali Sparkes. It was popular in the local area when I was growing up (multiple friends of mine read the series), though it seems to have faded from the public recollection somewhat. Like a family-friendly, less famous version of Twilight! (No offence intended to Twilight fans...) There's also a spin-off series called Unleashed, situated between the penultimate and final books, which will be included in the review.

The Shapeshifter series is similar in essence to Harry Potter: young boy develops unique talents and is taken away to a boarding school where there are others like him. Except the talents in question are different: in The Shapeshifter, Dax Jones (the titular shapeshifter) is one of one hundred and eleven teenagers across Britain who have suddenly developed extra-ordinary powers -- to quote the narration in the second book, "healed a friend's sprained ankle with a touch" or "upping and giving over messages from the deceased". There's a wide range of powers; various psychic powers including telepathy, clairvoyance and the ability to communicate with ghosts, healing, telekinesis, and 'glamour'. That last being the ability to conjure illusions. There's also shapeshifting -- just as Harry Potter is the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse, Dax Jones is the only shapeshifter. Shapeshifting (self-evidently) refers to the ability to change into a different animal; Dax can shift into a fox, a falcon and, eventually, an otter. In addition, there is teleportation, though the only character that can do that is introduced quite late in the Unleashed series. Another power -- wielded by only two characters, is parasitism; the ability to draw the energy from other living things; parasites can also steal talents. Such as the ones possessed by the Children of Limitless Ability (COLAs). One is introduced in the second book, being the long-lost triplet of Gideon and Luke Reader (both telekinetics); she dies a pretty grisly death later on. The other is an adult relative of one of the healer characters -- he's introduced midway through Unleashed. 

The Unleashed series

The series is basically how Dax and his friends live their lives with their powers -- most of it takes place at a special boarding school, lest ordinary people find out about their powers and freak out. The third book is not set at said boarding school, the climaxes of the fourth and fifth books take place away from the boarding school, and most of the sixth book is set elsewhere to the boarding school. Also, Unleashed essentially explores the premise of various COLAs not being in the college. There's a subplot running through the whole series about the risks of ordinary people finding out about the COLAs -- their powers make them highly useful, as 'assets'. They're kept at the college 'for their own safety' by the government, but personally, I think the COLAs would be safer separated throughout the UK; every threat faced by the COLAs involves an insider in the project. In fact, in the sixth book, the threat is the governmental project; COLA project comes under new management, which accordingly categorises the COLAs by danger level and places them accordingly. The most dangerous, Cat A, (telekinetics, essentially) are locked in a concrete bunker; Cat B (glamorists, some telepaths and Dax) stay put at the college; Cat C (least dangerous -- telepaths, healers, clairvoyants and so on) are taken to a different building. Another sub-plot in the series is the origins of the COLA powers; this origin is not what you might expect (so no mutations or radiation -- the powers came naturally). In the fifth book, Dax discovers the truth, in part aided by a message from his mother. This in itself is key; no COLA mother survived to their child's fourth birthday, and none of the mediums can contact them, so Dax receiving something is quite major. Though he technically receives it from his father, who received it from his (Dax's) mother.

Ratings:
Sci-finess: Quite high, given the powers. Eventually gets higher, as actual aliens turn up towards the end of the series.
Magic versus science: Mostly leaning towards science. I do like to think that The Shapeshifter exists in the same universe as Harry Potter. I'm aware there's no evidence for that, but I've always liked that idea; if we go by my opinion, there would be a healthy dose of magic in the setting as well. Though it's up to you whether you want to accept my daft ramblings.
Sarcasm levels: Not as high as other series, though several characters are quite good at snarking. Lisa Hardman (clairvoyant, seer, medium, pretty much everything psychic) has a major sarcastic streak; she's the world's most powerful psychic, and not happy about it -- she channels constant frustration in the form of sarcasm.
Resurrection levels: Somewhat; dead people can and do communicate with mediums (as well as non-mediums, occasionally!) A character gets the Jesus treatment (if you've read the Bible, you'll know what I mean), and has a near-death encounter. Disappointingly at no point does a main character die and then return in spirit form.
"My best friends really like each other but can't seem to spit it out" levels: Present to a lesser extent than in Harry Potter, but still there. Throughout the series, Dax and Lisa (the aforementioned sarcastic medium) are rather intimate in a way most people could never achieve: they are both capable of telepathy, so they communicate with each other telepathically -- instinctively, on occasion. From my perspective, it forges a close bond between them, so when the final book rolls round and they actually kiss, it's not surprising. Ironically, this rating applies in-universe as well; when they kiss, Gideon notes that the entire school knew about their mutual crushes. For double irony, neither realised how the other felt about them, despite both being telepathic.
Overall rating: 8/10. The series is pretty good; it's not as child-oriented as it may seem -- multiple gory deaths and injuries. In my opinion, quality is dragged down somewhat by the final book, which doesn't seem to fit easily with the rest of the series. There's also a spin-off series of sorts, called Night Walkers; it's set in the same universe.