Full disclosure: I volunteered to read this book without having read the first book in the series in order to help gauge its readability by others in my same situation; I’ve had the series on my TBR forever, so this seemed like a good opportunity to finally dive in! A space opera series with telepaths and political intrigue and plenty of mystery? LET’S GO.
Considering I enjoyed it a lot, I’d say it’s perfectly readable even if you haven’t read the series opener. It’s semi-standalone-ish. Yes, you kind of get thrown into the middle of a situation at the beginning of the story and there are some things you feel like you may have missed out on, but there’s enough background info shared that you still get a sense of what happened and what’s currently going on. It was only when specific events from the first book were referenced that I’d go, “Hm, not sure what that’s about.” But all that did was make me want to go back and read the first one even more!
This book does start out a little slow, my primary reason for docking a star. There’s not a lot going on at first; much of the conflict and tension is interpersonal and political. But the world-building is rich and I loved the concept behind the telepathy (“magic system” if this was a fantasy book. The cast of characters is somewhat large, but each person played a distinct role and I enjoyed many of them. The main character, Langston, is in some ways not entirely likable—he’s cocky and brash, but he’s still got the skill to back it up. Considering he’s the best hope for the Gentle Hands (the telepaths who use their abilities for good) against the invading Archons, you can’t help but root for him. The Gentle Hands vs. Archons setup feels very Star Wars, a classic Jedi vs. Sith scenario. The last several chapters of the book consist of a final battle sequence between the two factions that I found very cinematic. I was picturing everything in my head exactly like a movie. There was also a juicy plot twist about halfway through the story that caught me by surprise (another good example of how I was invested in this book even without reading the first one). I was a little caught off guard by a couple of other things that happened toward the end of the story, but I think they’re things that will make more sense once I’ve read the first book and continued the series.
I actually ended up listening to the audiobook of this, and the narration by Son of Sonnet was absolutely phenomenal. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed so many of the characters; they were all brought to life in unique ways. The pacing and drama came across great. I did have a little trouble keeping track of some of the characters at first, but I mainly attribute this to me being a very visual learner and I wasn’t able to see the names written on the page.
I’m definitely looking forward to reading more!
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ABOUT BOWEN GREENWOOD
Bowen Greenwood grew up reading Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and other giants of science fiction. Born just in time to catch the tail end of the days when humans walked on the moon, he mourned with the rest of America at the Challenger and Columbia disasters. These days, he keeps on hoping that Elon Musk or someone will get us to Mars. He acknowledges, however, that with what he’s heard about ticket prices for private space travel, you all are going to have to buy more books!
Bowen lives in Helena, Montana. He’s a former reporter, studied Kajukenbo at Capital City Kenpo, and currently serves as the Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court.
