The final book of the Places of Power series, taking the story to an epic end.
With the convergence upon the world, SC and friends band together to stop Sialia's evil plans for remaking humanity. In their greatest challenge yet, they'll discover new powers, unleash abilities rumored only in myth, and form the final resistance against the Instructors. Join them in the exciting conclusion of Places of Power.
Leonard Petracci is a recent graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology currently living in Los Angeles. In his spare time you can find him hiking, at the beach, or enjoying the outdoors.
Feel free to direct any questions or comments to his reddit account, LeoDuhVinci, or his gmail, leonardpetracci@gmail.com
TL; DR: Though not perfect, Gravity Trap brings together the entirety of the Places of Power universe together in its conclusion, putting a nice bow on the stories and characters we’ve come to know and love.
What a finale; as per usual here, nothing is breaking new ground, there’s no ultimate unknown where I went “oh my gosh how brilliant,” but I did enjoy myself. In much the same fashion as the previous stories, there is a healthy dose of new people and situations to go with the classic people of the former stories. Incidentally, I actually found that I enjoyed the penultimate chapters rather than the full ending itself, not complaining for sure, but certainly something to be aware of.
Characters: The usual suspects are present and as is par for the course, they shine. I didn’t find myself over committed to any of their plights, but I wasn’t offended by any of the directions things went. I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I could find some inconsistencies in character expression, but I plowed through this one. It was pleasant, but again, everyone felt strangely shallow. Still great though.
Setting: Boy howdy are there some good ones. The first half at the convergence was significantly better in my eyes, but everything was well described and nicely done. Nothing to complain about here and I appreciated the creativity of the different locations.
Story: Predictable, but positive; I’m glad Petracci returned to his specialty. The fights and creative go to’s were a positive and the story flowed well. As I stated previously, there were no surprises and I doubt anyone is caught off guard by the way the story finished, but it’s nice, a pleasant end to the saga and a neat bow on each character’s arc.
Writing: Not his strongest, but still a contender. I think the story suffered a bit with how much he wanted to get done and I felt it all felt a little shallow. As I said earlier in the review, the penultimate chapters were good and offered a glance into the finale without pulling too far away from everything else. The epilogue/last chapters were a bit murky for me. I didn’t appreciate the gray morality that some of the characters adopted when it came to titans and their friends. It felt a little off-putting given the previous behaviors and understandings. It’s ok, but left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
The book was good, conclusion was good, story was good. It’s a finish to a story and world I’ve grown to love, so I’m happy. Pieces drag it slightly below that 5 star rating for me, but it’s still an enjoyable read. Now, I’m going to go enjoy some other audiobooks for the first time in a while and ponder the what-ifs of myself in the world of Places of Power.
Not a bad ending. Not a bad series. Pretty typical superhero comfort food—nothing groundbreaking, but entertaining enough to keep me hooked. And honestly, that’s the best recommendation I can give any series.
For the finale, it was your standard "final boss battle" setup—the whole crew, plus all the allies they’ve picked up along the way, joining forces to take down the big bad. Not exactly a scenario I haven’t seen before in books or movies, but still enjoyable, and it wrapped up the story well enough. One thing that did bother me, though, was the lack of real consequences for the victory. The buildup made it seem like something truly devastating had to happen for them to win… but nope. 🤷🏽 Happily ever after it is, I guess. (😴😴😴)
There are still some lingering issues that held the series back for me. Arial and SC’s romance never developed beyond surface-level attraction, which felt like a wasted opportunity. The team’s ability to constantly evade exposure—to both the public and authorities—was far too convenient, robbing the story of some much-needed tension. And Lucio? His recklessness should have definitely come back to bite him, but he skated by without any real consequences. A missed chance for character growth.
That said, if superheroes are your thing, and you want to support a self-published writer with solid storytelling chops, this series is worth a look.