Book Review: Terminal Point by K. M. Ruiz

*  Note, this is a review for the second book in the series and as such contains spoilers for the previous book.

Pros: lots of action, powerful characters had limitations, complex plot gets resolved

Cons: hard to believe just how much Lucas's group achieves with so little rest and time to heal from previous injuries

This is the second volume of the Stryker Syndicate duology that started with Mind Storm.  The action starts directly where Mind Storm ended, with Lucas and his group heading to the Arctic while their actions in Buffalo cause problems for the Strykers, the Warhounds and the World Court.  The World Court continues their preparations for leaving the Earth, even as Lucas undermines their efforts.

This is a quick moving book with a lot going on.  Lucas pushes his people on mission after mission, which, considering the amount of damage they take each mission gets a bit hard to believe.  On the other hand, it makes the psions less uber powerful, so the fights have more of a challenge to them.  Indeed, I really liked the fact that psions as powerful as Lucas and Jason had limits to their abilities.  I also liked how lower powered psions could link their abilities, making their enemies powerful as well, even though they're not as highly ranked.

There's non stop action in this book, with so many missions and so many plot threads that all come together in a final, climactic battle that no one, neither psions nor the humans around them, is left unscathed.

If you like post-apocalyptic societies and characters with super powers, you'll love this duology.

Book Review: Mind Storm by K. M. Ruiz

Pros: lots of psionic action, complex post-apocalyptic world, political intrigue 

Cons: little character development, repetition

Roughly 250 years after the nuclear war that destroyed the world, humanity is still picking up the pieces.  DNA clean humans run the World Court, governments and businesses, while unregistered humans struggle to survive.  Out of the radiation fallout rose a new race, those with psionic abilities.  Those the government controls with an implanted kill switch are called the Strykers Syndicate.  They fight against unregistered psions and a well organized group called the Warhounds.

Nathan Serca is head of the Serca Syndicate and unknown to the World Court only one of two triad psions.  The other triad is his eldest, now renegade, son, Lucas.  For two years his other children have been unsuccessful in tracking and killing Lucas.  Nathan's patience is running out as important plans come to fruition.

Meanwhile Lucas is amassing a team of psions to help him with his own plans.

The action is plentiful and varied, showing the various powers off.  While relegated to a handful of powers (telepaths, telekinetics, teleporters, empaths, pyrokinetics, psychometrists, precognitives and elctrokinetics), the characters use their powers in creative ways.  The limit on their powers (the more they use them, the sooner they die) was a nice touch.  

Action scenes are offset by political intrigue between several groups of players, all of whom think they know everything that's going on, none of whom actually do.

The world is realistically complex and detailed: from the towers and bunkers where rich humans live to the slums of the poor and uninhabitable deadzones.  The characters are a mix of colours and nationalities, denoting the chaos and integration after the Border Wars.

Give the number of characters it's impressive that there was never any confusion as to who the reader is following at any given time.  Having said that, there's little opportunity to get to know characters, so the reader is constantly told things about each character with no opportunity to see the truth of these statements in their actions.  The book takes place over a short period of time, making character development a moot point.

As with James Knapp's Revivors trilogy, you have to pay close attention to what's going on.  Ruiz repeats several important points which, given your frame of mind, are either helpful or irritating over time.  Similarly, if you liked the action and spunk of Those Who Walk in Darkness by John Ridley, you'll love Mind Storm.

This is the first book of the series and is ultimately merely set-up for what comes next.  But what a set-up!

Like X-Men, only more brutal.