*2 Stars*
Summary: An interesting concept that falls flat in writing style and likable characters.
This book started off well, but as time passed, I found myself not able to enjoy the story despite its interesting magic system because of the over the top writing and unlikable protagonist. The story is told in first person present tense from the perspective of Rion, a seventeen year old with unexplained telekinesis. Sadly, I found myself rolling my eyes one too many times. More about what I did and didn't like below.
Things I Liked:
- Magic System: This is the only thing I found interesting about the book, and even then there were issues with it. I thought it was a smart choice to have each of the powers have some relation to the mind. Some of the powers were really unique, like astral projecting into another's body or a new way of telepaths being able to read someone's mind.
Things I Didn't Like:
- Magic System: The issues I had with the magic system include the fact that the telekinetics seemed overpowered compared to the others, leaving the group unbalanced. This power inbalance was also never really explained. The telekinetics had no limits or setback to their powers, only the rest of the gifted people did, which was both annoying and confusing. I also felt like Rion "mastered" his powers way too quickly. The magic system at large was not as explained as I would have liked it to be.
- Writing Style: I grew tired real fast of the author's elaborate, flowery language and descriptors for everything and their mother. It made the writing feel clunky and made Rion's inner monologue sound like a museum tour guide instead of an actual teenage boy. The author also used random verbs and descriptions that make no sense in context. For example: "Her skin looks as delicate as an untouched pool of cocoa, and her eyes are large and round like coals;" "The word seems to squirt from my lips as if Ara had said something to provoke it;" "My eyebrow curls with worrisome intrigue. I fixate my bulbous pupils on Leo's crisp lenses." Delicate untouched pool of cocoa? Squirt? Bulbous pupils? Crisp lenses? This language and overuse of flowery descriptions was completely unnecessary and had no diegetic reason. It only served to be distracting and at times uncomfortable.
The main part of the writing that honestly started to anger me was the repetitive and incongruous use of the same facial expressions over and over again. Apparently, the author only knew a very narrow range of expressions, which were always: snarl, grimace, scowl, gnarl, and glare. These are all largely "negative" expressions/reactions, but the author even used these descriptors when the emotion or reaction of the character was not negative in the slightest. And in these cases, the use of those words would make the expression feel overdramatic. This was used so. Many. Times. Examples: "I can sense them perking up with scowls." How do you "perk up" with a scowl? If they're scowling, they're not perking up. Then there's: "How comical my confused, yet relieved, scowl must look." The word "scowl" makes no sense if you're confused but relieved. Then: "I shift my gaze to Pavo's enamored, but empathetic, scowl." I don't know how many times it needs to be said, but when you're enamored and empathetic, you're not scowling!! The author also used the word "grimace" way too often to describe an astonished or enamored expression. None of the author's choices made any sense, they were just confusing and distracting, so much so that it constantly took me out of the story because I had to try and visualize what the author was trying to say, and even then I wasn't able to figure it out sometimes. It honestly angered me by the time I was finished.
A few other things that bothered me about the writing included the random attraction and set up of potential love interests for Rion that happened with literally every main girl in the book, despite the fact that none of them made any sense or were very rushed. There was also a part where a character was retelling something that happened in the past, and he would randomly switch from present tense to past tense, going back and forth. Either this was poorly edited or done on purpose for some bizarre reason that escapes me. I also felt that the pacing of the last third was off, since the book felt like it was finished by the 80% mark, yet there was still a whole extra battle that could have been pushed to a sequel. Lastly, a lot of the characters' decisions didn't make any sense, like when a character would not use their powers to solve something that their powers could easily solve, or a character randomly deciding to not follow through with the plan they'd established, or a character deciding to kill people simply because they could.
- Unlikable Protagonist: I wasn't a fan of Rion himself. His attitude, actions, and mindset was at best annoying, at worst problematic. There was a point where he spoke badly of a group of kids that even he admitted he'd never spoken to, despite the fact that he said himself that he felt like he related to them. It was just a bizarre character choice. He also had severe anger issues that played off as being justified. For example, he immediately disliked someone he'd just met just because they disagreed with him and tended to be sarcastic. He got extremely offended at their sarcasm - and, sure, there are people who get annoyed by sarcasm and not-so-side comments, but Rion would physically attack this character because of this and then he would wish to make their body dangle from the ceiling in his inner monologue. It was unsettling and made me uncomfortable to be following this mindset and have it be completely justified. There was even a small part where he picked up a bug with his powers, and he called it stupid because it didn't know just how much its life was in his hands. That's... a superiority complex, which was shown constantly throughout the book. He was self centered and prideful, claiming that people were either threatened by him (when they had no reason to be) or adored him (which, again, they had no reason to). He also believed that he knew better than the people who were more experienced, trying to take things into his own hands. He was reckless and would risk people's safety if it meant his own personal goal was achieved. He also changed allegiances way too often and for no reason, going on to badmouth his old allies which had helped him. He also randomly had a desperate urge to please and prove himself to a bunch of criminals (that also liked to murder people). And literally none of Rion’s behavior or attitude was questioned or fixed.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book because of its excessive and overdramatic writing style and unlikable characters. Perhaps there is someone who can overlook these things, but I could not. My kindle notes have more specific examples of things that were bothersome.