Review: The PSIONIC Pentalogy reaches new heights in its third part
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2013
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions below are entirely my own."Lesser Gods" is the third book in the PSIONIC series, and as such, if you haven't read the first two books, you may find yourself a little lost. The author doesn't sacrifice pacing to catch up new readers, so jumping into the middle is discouraged. This review may contain spoilers for the previous books, so if you'd rather skip it (or my ridiculously long reviewing style!) head on down to the last full paragraph, my "bottom line". It'll be safe there, honest!Picking up where "The Tower" left off, "Lesser Gods" is quick to demonstrate how the protagonist, Adrian, will be in for a rough war, even after all of the training in the prior book. The author delves into some dark places in this book, and as Adrian grows up, hopefully the readership will as well - this series is moving into solidly teenage territory, meaning younger readers might need some parental guidance. However, the evolving maturity of both the series and its characters are to their credit, weaving an engrossing and emotional tale at a generally-smooth pace.The development is quick and well-timed, greatly trimming complains of pacing from the prior two entries in the series - there are still a few quiet points, but they are short enough and endowed with enough character development to make them more of a welcome respite from high action, and a way to ease into the next battle. It's not quite perfect yet, but the improvement is clear and welcome. That said, there were a few instances where the plot felt rather contrived, and while I will name no examples here (spoilers!) it did, in some instances, come off rather awkwardly.The cast, growing more and more nuanced with each page in the series, is beginning to take on a life of its own as side characters are fleshed out and main characters find new ways to grow. It is genuinely exciting watching them go, and their trials and tribulations evoke genuine emotion.As is the usual high point of the series, the author's style of writing is clear and concise, yet descriptive and only pointedly impressive when it needs to be (as compared to the pretention of constant flowery language). He says things simply and effectively, able to evoke complex ideas with an economy of language. One of my favorite demonstrations of this comes after a particularly devastating blow:~"Emptiness. Despair. These are just words that describe feelings. They're not the same as real feelings. Real feelings are beyond words."~While the "real feelings" are left to the reader's empathy, the idea nonetheless comes across astonishingly well, especially considering that the point of the lines was that something could not be put into words.As to the editing and layout of the book, I received a .pdf for review, so I can't speak to layout of the Kindle Edition in practice, but it certainly looked good in theory. In "Lesser Gods", there were a few "accidents" that an editor ought to have caught. These were few and far between (in fact I can only think of two) but are worth noting, if only so that their rarity might serve as credit to the editor.The bottom line is that "Lesser Gods" is a marked improvement over "The Tower", standing alongside (and possible surpassing) "Wild-born". If you enjoyed the first two, you'll enjoy this one, and if you haven't started yet, know that this series won't convert anyone who's no fan of fantasy or YA-fiction, but will almost certainly please those who are.If anything needs clarifying, please feel free to use the comment box below, or contact me at SeanOnAmazon@gmail.com