Review: Superhuman thriller with a great heroine
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2011
Chasing Power is a fairly typical superhuman story: two opposing organizations of powered individuals, a new Talent (Sam, the heroine) trying to reach sanctuary, and a host of allies, enemies, potential romance, twists and turns.  Pearson (the author) executes the story itself pretty well; the writing's decent, the pacing's good, and the adrenaline keeps flowing from one near escape to another.  Where this book stands out is in the portrayal of Samantha.  With a somewhat rough background that gets explored further as the book progresses, she is tough, clever, determined and above all vicious enough to survive.  Rather than mewling in fear or depending on her protectors, she is constantly attempting to turn the tables and ambush her pursuers.  I know this sounds pretty stereotypical for one of these contemporary fantasy heroines, but Pearson makes this aggressiveness far more believable and implements it within the story far better than most other authors.  My one problem with this book was that far too often, Sam would succeed and have her enemies knocked out or trapped, but rather than delivering the coup de grace, she would allow her friends to convince her to let them live.  Furthermore, these enemies have already taken out bystanders, cops, and attempted to kill her; they are highly dangerous and predictably, they rest up and try again.  I had issues reconciling this unbelievable, unrealistic comic-book style "good guy" action with either her situation or personality.  That said, the novel was otherwise enjoyable and realistic (as far as supernaturally gifted people can be).  I'd recommend to fans of contemporary or urban fantasy and superhero novels.