The Zanna Function

The Zanna Function is about a very smart 14 year old girl who receive an acceptance letter to attend an exclusive academy named St. Pommeroy's School for Gifted Children. She of course accepts and soon relives this school is more than she would have ever imagined. Zanna ,the main character, is immersed into this school where powers are generated from math and science to manipulate time and space. The use of magic by math and science is use really cool and gives a since of realism. From generating water by condensing vapor from air and , a delivery man made from coat hangers to little cubes that shoot out from the wall to clean your mess I really enjoyed the forms of magic. But with all this magic there is a mystery Zanna must figure out, because there's someone who doesn't want her to attended the school and they will go to great lengths to make sure Zanna doesn't stay there with the scientist as the students call themselves.
This book is fun and entertaining.

I expected this book to be enjoyable, but very familiar. How many books are there about a kid getting an out-of-the-blue invitation to a school that teaches magical, mysterious or otherwise unusual skill set? <i>H.I.V.E.</i>, <i>Evil Genius</i>, <i>Spy School</i>, <i>The Girl Who Could Fly</i>, <i>Steel Trapp: The Academy</i>, <i>Harry Potter</i>, the <i>Tapestry</i> series... etc.<br>
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What sprang to mind instantly upon reading the synopsis for <i>The Zanna Function</i> was <i>Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper</i>, which has a very similar premise. I liked Simon Bloom, so I expected to like Zanna, and I was right! This book was enjoyable. But it was also much better than Simon Bloom. <br>
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First of all, I loved how Zanna told everything to her grandfather, and there was no annoying false life or facade to keep up. Mostly, though, the as-yet-unexplained mystery about <i>The Zanna Function</i>'s antagonist, and the book's concept of Self, added a level to the book that goes beyond the generic outline of a "special school, secret world" story. I look forward to seeing more.

I really enjoyed this book. Zanna is a younger girl (14) accepted to a school for gifted students. They are gifted alright. This book is quite different, no one has super hero powers, they can bend and manipulate science ( you'll have to read it to figure that out). She gets kidnapped, bullied, typical kids stuff. Underneath this amazingly descriptive story is a teenagers journey to discover things about herself, just told in an entertaining fictitious way. The characters are likable. The plot of the story is interesting (I didn't want to put it down). The places are described well. The story flows well. Excellent book for any age!

Zanna is accepted into the St. Pommeroy’s School for Gifted Children, where she learns that she is a Scientist, who can bend the rules of physics. A mysterious woman attempts to prevent her from attending the school, and Zanna must draw upon her new abilities, resources, and friends to fight her. The secret she discovers about the woman must be setting Zanna’s story up for a series.

This story sets up the conflict immediately with the mystery woman thwarting Zanna’s attendance at the school through scientific “magic,” carefully detailed by Wheatley. The capabilities taught in the school intrigue Zanna, and the reader needn’t be a scientist to follow along.

I was fortunate to receive a digital ARC through NetGally of this delightful story.

I will also share this review on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, and B&N upon launch.

I will start this review off by saying this is not the kind of book I normally gravitate towards. It's got magic and a whole different world. In the book, this world is unknown to all us magic-less people (the Control Group) except for the President (uh oh!). What drew me to it was the main character being a "gifted" child. I was considered one of those and so were some of my friends and it's always fascinated me to learn about what happens when "gifted" kids finally meet a challenge; what happens when they finally fail. Zanna Mayfield doesn't necessarily fail but she does come up against a whole lot of intense challenges.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
When fourteen-year-old Zanna Mayfield gets an acceptance letter from St. Pommeroy’s School for Gifted Children, she jumps at the chance to put her considerable intellect to good use. But nothing can prepare her for the first day, when she discovers that she is a Scientist —one able to see and bend the basic functions of the universe like velocity, gravity, and chemical reactions to her own purposes. 

As Zanna struggles to make friends and learn how to use her abilities at her new school, her troubles multiply when a mysterious stranger begins stalking her, dead set on keeping Zanna out of St. Pommeroy’s. If Zanna has any hope of finishing her first year, she’ll need to master every function she can get her mind around—including the one that defines Zanna herself.

The book starts off showing how much Zanna likes puzzles. She is obsessed with them. They challenge her in a way that school doesn't. But that's about to change for Zanna: she got into St. Pommeroy's School for Gifted Children. But once she finally gets there (after being lead to the wrong school at first), she realizes the school and who she is is much more complicated than she expected. She is a Scientist, which is pretty much the equivalent of a witch or wizard except instead of spells and wands, Scientists can see and manipulate elements, gravity, chemicals, and the basics part of our universe. There are multiple scenes where Zanna pulls carbon out of the air and uses it to help her get out of trouble. It is fascinating. But, as with any good fantasy book, I think, the story really revolves around Zanna and her relationships with other characters.

Zanna meets three girls her first couple days of school and they pretty much stick together throughout the story. Nora, Libby, and Beatrice are Zanna's best friends. If this was a Buzzfeed quiz, Nora would be the smart, Type-A one, Libby would the aggressive, tomboy one, and Beatrice would be the quiet, motherly, worrier one. They each hold a special place in Zanna's life and help her on her journey to discovering who she is and who is trying to hurt her. There is also Cedwick, who starts off as the snooty, legacy boy Zanna hates, but he soon turns into something more. (I ship them.)

There is also Zanna's relationship with her grandfather, Pops. Zanna lives with her grandfather because her dad is a pilot and travels all the time, and her mother died while giving birth to her. They have the sweetest, most heartwarming relationship. He is fully supportive of Zanna, even when she comes home talking about flying buses, talking lampposts, and playing with elements. He believes her every step of the way. He is never the clueless guardian. Also, when Zanna is hurt or in danger, he is one of the first people to be by her side to take care of her. Their relationship might be my favorite in the story. I could not get enough of Pops. The dialogue between the Zanna and him is wonderful.

There is also the relationship between Zanna and her magic. This is the first time Zanna has had to really try at school and there are definitely skills she finds harder to learn than others. The way the magic in the story works is that the Scientist has to picture the function in their head and focus it on it so thoroughly that they are able to bend the element to their will. The way I was picturing it was kind of like this gif:


To work with carbon, Zanna has to focus on the structure of it (C) and everything that affects it (gravity, pressure, etc.) so she can properly manipulate it. If she doesn't, bad things can happen. That being said, there are some parts of this book that are difficult to fully understand. Maybe it's because I haven't taken a science or math class in 5 years or because I am more of an English/History person than a Science/Math person, but there were definitely parts where I was a little confused. It doesn't take away from the story, but it did take me out it at times.

As we follow Zanna's journey, we see her skills as a Scientist grow. She repeatedly has to use them to get herself out of dangerous and precarious situations. It is pretty freaking awesome!

There is another relationship in the book, but talking about it would be a ginormous spoiler. I am usually not against spoilers, but this one shocked the hell out of me and I don't want to take that experience away from anyone. Let's just say, this person is the antagonist and Zanna has to fight them multiple times throughout the story.

The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger but it wasn't one I was angry at. It was a natural place to stop the story but I still wanted more (greedy!). I hope this is going to be a series because I would love to see how Zanna and her friends continue to grow up and how their magic develops.

As you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Out of 5 stars, I am giving The Zanna Function by Daniel Wheatley 4 out of 5 stars, The characters (especially Zanna) are well-developed and the storyline is a cool twist on the fantasy/magic stories we've seen in the past. The only problem I had was that parts of the story could be confusing to people not knowledgeable in science and math. If you know a girl who is into STEM, especially if she is young, get her this book! Either way, I would highly recommend The Zanna Function. It was a delight to read about Zanna coming into her own.

The Zanna Function comes out March 20, 2018.

Thank you, NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is so much fun, and so important too. I honestly wish I had this growing up as a girl wanting to pursue a STEM career. The Zanna Function is like Harry Potter meets science, and I can’t think of a better combination. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when I picked this up, but I was delightfully surprised with what I read, from the important themes of familial love and strong friendships right to the importance of philosophy and understanding ones self, and the role that has in science (something I find is wholly glazed over in most works regarding STEM). These themes mixed with the intriguing plot (although predictable in points) made for a fun and interesting read. The antagonist was definitely a stand out for me, and the author did a fantastic job of turning science into something more magical. I only wish Zanna’s friends were a little more developed, but other than that I absolutely adored this book. I really hope it will be the first in a series!

I really enjoyed this one.
More than I was expecting to as well.
Which is good, because I wasn’t expecting to like it at all if I’m being honest.

I love magic a fantasy with a passion.
The same amount of passion with which I hate math and science.
So a book using math and science as the basis of its magic system really didn’t seem like something that I would be able to get on board with.

But how wrong I was!

This was a fantastic, exciting, enchanting read, and the math and science didn’t put me off at all!
Yes there were a few paragraphs that I had to skim read a little unless I wanted my brain to melt, but these were very few and far between.
For the most part all the science added so much to the story and gave it a really interesting and different spin than most other fantasy novels.
It was new and exciting and I loved it!

The characters were all wonderful, and the theme of friendship and family that ran throughout the story was really heartwarming.
The main plot of the story definitely kept me guessing, with twists and turns aplenty, right until the very end!

I’m so excited to see what else is in store in this new series and can’t wait to carry on with the story and meet up with Zanna and her friends again.

Definitely give this one a read. You won’t regret it!

I liked the main character, Zanna, from the first moment. She’s a smart and unique girl, who was searching for her “right” place in the world to stay; it gave me strong Harry Potter vibes, with her starting to attend the new school and learning everything about how to use her own abilities.

I loved the world built by the author. It was so fascinating and refreshing from the usual fantasy or magic world. Sometimes I admit I struggle understanding how things work and are built in fictional worlds; in this case, however, everything was clear and new and exciting at the same time. I also think the characters were very well portrayed, Zanna in primis, as we learn a lot about her and her way of thinking while we read the novel. The other characters are all endearing and funny.

I enjoyed every moment I spent reading Zanna’s story. It warmed my heart multiple times and it also made me stay in suspense and eager to know what it would happen next. The only thing I didn’t really like is the way everything resolved in a short time. I think there was much more space to deepen characters and relationships and some things were left there hanging. As far as I know, this is a stand-alone, but I really think this would have worked better as a duology or as a series. There is much more to tell about this world and about Zanna’s future and I really hope that maybe, in the future, a sequel is announced. All in all, I think the ending was pretty good, I just hoped to see more development.

The Zanna Function is a middle grade fantasy read with a very interesting idea for magic. While I do have some bits and pieces to pick with this book, I overall enjoyed it very much and will eagerly await to see how this will continue. Because this cannot be a standalone!

Overal the Zanna Function was written well. I did find some of the descriptions a tad on the boring bit. They made me zone out a bit which is a shame because some of those descriptions did tap into the magic bit. This is a magic school but please don’t let that bit stop you from picking this up. The magic is basically science and I liked how that was approached.

Story wise I thought this was an interesting, action and adventure plot. There were certainly moments where I was sure Zanna was right in her assumptions and other times where I doubted her. This mostly in case as to who the protagonist really was. I did find that the jumps we made throughout the school year were too big. I just would have loved more of a slower line in that. It was hard to feel that the end of the book was also the end of the school year. It felt like we were fast forwarded.

I did find that I found it hard to really feel as if our protagonist was really a threat. Their intentions did not seem to be very clear or jointed. I think that did take some of the impact out of the story at the end. However I see a lot of potential here. For a great world building. Great characters and an interesting magic system.

Speaking of characters, Zanna was a delight of a main character. She is actually really smart. It isn’t just said that she is but you can actually see in her actions and thought patterns that she is. This counts for her class mates as well. But the author also doesn’t forget that they are also still just 14. I liked how she seemed to instantly gravitate towards the girls. There was no real animosity there which was a great fresh of breath air to other school books. She does struggle with a boy but that didn’t really turn a romantic way.

I have to say that I loved Zanna’s relationship with her grandfather. She lives with him because of her father’s job that takes him away often. He is so supportive of her and there are just bits and things that show how well they know each other.

3.25 stars

The Zanna Function is science-based magic book where everything is controlled through the use of its function (kind of the sum of its makeup, previous experiences, and presence), which Scientists, the people who can do this, learn through Chemistry, Physics, Self, and Maths. It follows a girl from our world, Zanna, who discovers that she is Scientist and attends their school, St Pommeroy's. She is being chased by this strange person, however, who attempts to stop her from attending this school. As Zanna goes through school, she must face this person in order to ensure her safety.

The novel makes for something of an adventure novel, as very little of it is actually based at the school. It keeps your interest pretty well because of its relatively brisk pace and short length; the story always seemed to be moving. The characters, while kind of wooden, were each unique, none feeling like a filler. I wasn't surprised by what Zanna chooses at the end, but it made the book go up half a star because it fit perfectly with the whole story. My only qualm with the story is that I don't see many kids being familiar with things like friction, Newton's laws, or atomic structure (among other things), so I think that this book may be a little off-putting when it hits the school section. A lack understanding, however, does not impede the progression or fun of the story, so it isn't too much of an obstacle. I enjoyed this a lot, and I think this book is perfect for kids who like reading and science.

A digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Book: The Zanna Function
Author: @danielwheatley
Publisher: @jollyfishpress
My rating: 🦋🦋🦋/5
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A fourteen year old girl, Zanna Mayfield gets an invitation to join a magical school for gifted children. However this isnt a typical magical, wizards school. Every student at St. Pommerys is gifted with a unique ability to bend and mend with science. Zanna is put through some really hard times throughout her first year which gives her a chance to learn the depth of her abilities.
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So i wont say this book was as good as Harry Potter but it was definitely close, if you’re a HP fan then you will definitely enjoy this magical read. The book is well written, very different from other fantasy books, the places and characters are well described and very easy to like.
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One of the books that leaves you with this-shit-was-lit feeling. Must read, recommended to readers of all ages ❤️
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*This book was sent to me by @netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Writing: 4 Plot: 3 Characters: 3
Context / world building: 4

A YA adventure story based on Scientists who use their superior intelligence to engage with the world via direct manipulation of the Functions that comprise any object (or person). Students at St. Pommeroy’s School for Gifted Children (which is a kind of Hogwarts for Scientists) study a combination of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Self, where the latter is an exploration of the extremely complex function that describes a unique human being.

Zanna is thrilled when she is invited by mysterious letter to attend the school due to her promising intellect. However, things start to go wrong even before she makes it on the first day. Someone is trying to kidnap her and even the Primers (the Scientist police force) appear to be stymied.

The writing is good and the story is interesting. I wonder if the author served a stint as a middle school science teacher because he does a good job of making the science approachable and interesting. He does a plausible job of explaining how any object is kind of the sum of the functions that describe and engage with it. To me the characters act more like middle school kids than high school kids. And I found the random, non-essential asides about who liked whom and who was dating whom to be completely gratuitous and jarring with the rest of the pure adventure oriented plot. I don’t understand why the author (a man) decided to write a book about a female protagonist, but the lines about dating and the constant reference to “the girls” really didn’t ring true to me. And although the situation is resolved at the end, we don’t actually get closure as to the “how” and “why”. Perhaps this is leading up to another book, but I’m not really happy with the way things were left.

You know how a really great book will make you do one of those sighs of satisfaction that start from somewhere near your toes after you're done? The Zanna Function was one of them for me. Its hard to sort out my thoughts on the book because I don't think I've quite returned to the real world yet. So, bear with me for a somewhat rambling review.

I described this book until about the halfway point as "Harry Potter - but a girl - with science instead of magic". And, honestly, I feel like that's a fairly accurate summation of it. And not a bad way to recommend a book at all, in my opinion. Look, I skip around with middle grade stuff. I've read Harry Potter, of course, and Percy Jackson. So I know that 'the special school for gifted/different kids' is a fairly commonly used thing. I know that for the first part of the book, I was unconsciously comparing the characters in the books to their Harry Potter equivalents. And I also know that I moved past that fairly quickly. Like many books, much of The Zanna Function is familiar. However, a good writer can take the familiar and turn it into a story that still feels engrossing and enjoyable. This is where Daniel Wheatley excels. 

The Zanna Function has a fast pace, solid dialogue, and just enough hints of teen hormones to engage its intended age range. The author spent just enough time on the world-building to give us a watercolor of what St. Pommeroy's looks like, and it was fascinating. I loved the set-up, the mishmash of buildings and the chaos of ridiculous irons everywhere. It felt like a hidden world that could have been set at any time in the future. 

I loved, too, that the characters were the curious, the intelligent. It's not magical ability per se, but a thirst to take things a step further. To learn and learn and learn some more. (Okay, yeah, there is an element of special ability to it, but still.) That there was a hidden place for children who needed an environment that was meant to push them to their limits. It says something about my opinion of today's society that a book about a place where kids with special abilities in math, physics, and chemistry need a protected place to learn resonated with me. When common sense feels decidedly uncommon, when people to choose to believe things that we proved wrong centuries ago, it's hard to maintain hope for the forward progress of humanity. When we know better, when we could do better, and we don't. Yes, part of me could very easily believe that the people with the thirst for knowledge and the push to know more could face a modern day version of what Giordano Bruno went through. 

There are problems, though. Ones that I hope get rectified in later books. Zanna's friends don't stand out in any particular way. The author skims scenes that the potential to develop the relationships between the school mates. He also skips through large chunks of time for no apparent reason other than just wanting to move the story along. And, while part of me did appreciate the ending, I have to wonder if most readers are going to get it. Basically, Zanna (and her relationship with her grandfather) is interesting, the world has a good foundation in place with great potential for later, but where some of the story is a finished painting, the other parts are still a rough sketch. 

Overall, while I'm willing to admit that The Zanna Function does have it's issues, I'm still sticking with a 5* rating. Even if the writing was a bit rough, the story itself still swept me away. You've got to give this a shot.

I am a huge fan of world-within-the-world (or -behind-the-world) books, in which self-described "average" or "outsider" characters who have always felt lost suddenly find out that the world is much bigger/different/stranger than everyone realized and that their outsider status in the *real* world was due to their exceptional positioning in the bigger/different/stranger world. When I started reading this, I sort of thought I'd be in for the usual ride on that train - then things rapidly got even bigger/more different/vastly stranger, and that's when I was completely hooked...

The Zanna Function is a fascinating sideways trip into a world of science that is more magical than most worlds of magic. There are truly unique elements (pun intended) at play here, and their intermingling with scientific principles and phenomena make for a very original and highly entertaining read. Zanna herself is a fascinating character. This is, in many ways, a personal growth tale as much as anything (as most YA stories tend to be), and while Zanna may doubt how much growing she's done throughout the course of this book (which, although not labeled as such, quite clearly felt like a Book One to me), I as a reader feel that it was both significant and a signal of even greater things to come. But the book didn't read like a lesson in growing up. It read like a tale of the frustration every one of us has felt when we've stumbled up against something bigger than ourselves that doesn't make sense or fit into our worldview, and that requires us to contemplate not only our own position in the world but also our own position within ourselves. Sorry if that sounds oblique, but it is a heartfelt obliquity, and one that I've been thinking about quite a bit both throughout my read and afterwards. There is, as again I find so often in YA novels, MUCH more going on here behind the scenes than a casual read might suggest, and that's where I think this novel really stands out for me. I found myself thoroughly engaged throughout the story, flipping pages as I wondered what on earth would happen next. I expect that in a well-written adventurous tale about worlds within worlds. What I don't expect, and what I was delighted to find, was myself equally engaged in thinking through many of the Self lessons that Zanna and her friends encountered, both at St. Pommeroy's and in the course of their travails with The Variable.

"A pile of rubble is stronger than a house, only because it cannot collapse again. One cannot be destroyed if she never rebuilds."

Read that one again - it's worth it. Then stop and think about what that says, and the depth and breadth of what it means. Then remind yourself you're reading YA fiction, not self-help or non-fiction or philosophy. Rather, you're reading a back-and-forth between Zanna and a teacher, handled bedside, after a rather seismic event in the course of the novel - and realize that it felt entirely organic to the story and the characters and not at all like self-help or non-fiction or philosophy injected into the midst of a magico-scientific (I don't know how else to describe it) story. The writing was strong and clear and the images burst of the pages. You can find that in stories like this one easily enough, if you look. But what you don't often find is that kind of self-reflection - and especially not positioned in such a way that it leaves the reader, not just the characters, contemplating its ramifications long after the "words" are uttered...

Then there's The Variable herself - and if there's a more fascinating villain this side of Voldemort, I am not sure if I can describe him/her/it. There is delicious evil here - and in the manner of all truly delicious evil, it's not ubiquitous, but rather couched in concern and humanity and a sense that maybe, just maybe, it's all a big misunderstanding and she's not *really* evil after all... Then things take several sharp left-right-back left again turns, and villain once again seems to be the operative term. But then again... Sound confusing? It is, in the best possible, mind-bending way. And it's all wrapped up in Zanna herSelf (capitalization intended), and that's where the delightful mysterious bizarreness really takes it's best turn - and where I seriously hope a sequel (or two) will come in!

This was a magnificent find and a great read. My review will be featured on my blog (www.Jill-Elizabeth.com) in February 2018. I schedule approximately a month out and don't have an exact date at the time of this review).