Title: Freaks of Nature
Series: The Psion Chronicles (Book 1)
Author: Wendy Brotherlin
Publication: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Source: Netgalley
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
The global Ebola-X pandemic of 2022 lasted five months, two weeks, and six days before a cure could be found. In its wake, it left a generation of psionic freaks, who can turn a single thought into a weapon…or worse. Fifteen-year-old Devon McWilliams is one of those freaks, but Devon rates a big fat zero on the scale of cool psychic abilities. Days after escaping from his psionic detainment facility, the military intercepts him. Regaining consciousness, Devon finds himself restrained aboard a military airship headed toward certain death. Aboard this one-way flight to doom are six other psions. One of them, a telepath named Bai Lee Chen, claims to have the means to escape. All the others have to do is convince her that they’re worthy of freedom by allowing her to telepathically replay their memories. The last thing Devon wants to do is reveal his useless plant-talking prowess to this destroy-you-with-a-thought crew. To complicate matters further, he’s crushing hard on Alya, the group’s lovely healer. Devon knows he must keep his wits about him if he’s going to survive this wild ride. And that’s going to be a tricky thing to do around a telepath who seems to have a diabolical agenda all her own.”
REVIEW:
Picking up this book was a bit of a surprise for me. This is not a typical book I would choose to read over other options I seem to be drawn towards. However, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and the synopsis drew me in. This sounded like a post-apocalyptic type story without the zombies. I was all for it.
Wendy Brotherlin writes a story about learning to be yourself, trusting others to accept you, and battling your way to safety when people are out to get you. I loved this book about halfway in. I really started getting into it and enjoying the stories being told and the characters showing us a bit more about themselves. I will be honest and say the first part of this book was hard to get into. I was confused (and maybe that was the point) and frustrated by the lack of understanding. I also found some of the unnecessary comments from characters towards the opposite sex a bit of a turnoff. Not that they were inappropriate, but I felt they were unnecessary and added nothing but a immature point-of-view to the story. With that said, I loved the little messages written between the lines of this story. The main character, Devon, struggled with self-acceptance, which made it hard to allow others to accept him. His fear of rejection was felt all the way to your bones. In the end, Brotherlin does a wonderful job of making it clear that sometimes acceptance will come at the most unexpected times and places.
Originally I was going to give this book three stars. As the second half of the book hit I was drawn in though. I wanted to know how it was going to end and find out what happen to these characters I was beginning to become attached to. You instantly pick your favorite and suspect something bad from a few others. The way Brotherlin wrote these characters was intriguing and meant to leave you wanting more. I’m eager to see what happens in book two of the Psion series. A gradual build, but well deserved four stars.
Pick up “Freaks of Nature” on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Also mark it on your To Reads list on Goodreads. You can follow Wendy Brotherlin online at her website HERE!
