Stars: 2.5 out of 5
This was entertaining enough that I felt engaged with the story and cared about what happened to Lance and Leah, so I feel that a 2.5-star rating is earned. However, there are a few problems with this book that put me on the fence as to whether I will continue with the series.
First, this book is listed as the first in the series, but it starts with Lance on the run from something horrible that happened in his hometown. Something that probably killed his mother. This is very confusing for a first-time reader who doesn’t know that there is a prequel novella about these events. It can be frustrating because it feels like we are missing a big chunk of the story.
The second issue is that Lance doesn’t exactly think things through before he rushes headfirst to fight evil. This results in him being more of a damsel in distress who needs help and rescue from others, be it Leah, her father, or the paramedic. And people get hurt because of that. I would have liked him better if he had displayed at least some semblance of planning before rushing into the unknown. Also, he is no superhero; heck, he admits that his powers don’t work on demand, so this recklessness is rather jarring with the rest of his character. My hope is that, being the first book, he will grow out of it as he matures.
The insta-love between him and Leah was also a bit cringe. In fact, I found that a lot of interactions between Lance and other characters were rather far-fetched. He just seems to “feel” which people are good and trustworthy. And these people just take his crazy stories at face value and agree to help him with everything he needs. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way.
Also, it feels like everything comes too easily for him. He senses great evil in the town, and lo and behold, he meets Leah, who is EXACTLY the person to help him with that. He gets hurt in the car crash, but not to worry, because Leah’s friend is a paramedic, who patches him up and doesn’t even think about reporting him to the cops, even though he fled the scene of an accident where a cop was killed. He gets trapped by the big bad… and once again is rescued by somebody else. If you look at it, Lance didn’t DO anything to defeat this evil. He just showed up in town, created havoc by stumbling around like a bull in a China shop, and then let other people rescue him and save the day.
We are told over and over that he is special, but none of his actions in this book illustrate that. Again, this being the first book in the series, I hope that Lance evolves as a character and matures in subsequent books, but I am not sure I want to invest my time in finding out.
