Review: Fantastically Fantastic!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2013
Mr. Leito’s first installment in The Academy series was a fantastic read, set in fantastic times. In the same way as I enjoyed the magical education of Harry Potter, standing by to watch as Asa comes of age in a time of pandemic and shifting world powers was enthralling.There is a fair amount of mystery and “who-done-it?” as well as clever characters with secretive pasts. I was immediately drawn to Asa as the book opened on a resilient boy was recently orphaned. I cheered for him for the rest of the book, watching as he learned as much about the world around him as he did the boy-becoming-man within him.This book has a heavy salting of genomics-based plot, a smattering of commentary on the ethics of a future where genetic manipulation has led society astray, and a light icing of young adult-level romance. All together, the layers of this delectable sci-fi/fantasy/futuristic young adult novel are utterly satisfying. I look forward to reading the second book of the series and expect it will be similarly charming and creative.A fair warning (no spoilers here): there is a fair amount of death, murder and violence and a moderate amount of description of the ill-treatment of animals. Personally, I am usually very sensitive to these types of topics and find them difficult to read about. However, as was also the case for me in the Hunger Games trilogy, I was OK with these elements of the story because of Mr. Leito’s writing talents. He was respectful in how he brought these elements into the story and delicately weaved their contributions into the story line in such a way that these mature topics didn’t obtuse or obnoxiously prevalent.Well done, Mr. Leito. I look forward to reading more from your pen soon.