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A review by shaun11
Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans
3.0
Psion Beta is a young adult novel about an exceptional 14 year old who is rescued from a life on the streets to be trained by the government to master his telekinetic abilities. While immediate comparisons to Ender's Game are likely, I found this book more akin to Ender's Shadow, the parallel novel to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. These books begin on the streets, move on to "battle school" and culminate with the youngsters putting their skills to the test.
Psion Beta is an easy read full of action, drama, surprises and suspense. It's similarities to the works of Orson Scott Card make it immediately accessible, but also hinder it, as Psion Beta doesn't quite capture the dramatic arc that Ender's Game/Shadow manage to envelope. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the sequel, Psion Gamma.
Some questions related to the world that the book takes place in arose that remained unanswered in Psion Beta - hopefully those answers will come in the future. I certainly found it odd that the two rival governments seemed to exclusively recruit people with specific anomalies. All the people with telekinesis fight for this side, all the people with drunken rage fight for the other side. Really? Of course the book says that this is all, "as far as we know" ... so perhaps there will be some revelations forthcoming.
As an aside, it was interesting reading a self-published novel. There was a rawness in some areas that allowed the author's personal touches to survive what I would guess an editor would try to pare down. The book is still very readable and the minimal typographical errors are forgiveable. Amusingly, this book takes place decades into the future, but the kids watch "an X-men movie" and "Rocky IV" during a movie night. Dystopia indeed!
Psion Beta is an easy read full of action, drama, surprises and suspense. It's similarities to the works of Orson Scott Card make it immediately accessible, but also hinder it, as Psion Beta doesn't quite capture the dramatic arc that Ender's Game/Shadow manage to envelope. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the sequel, Psion Gamma.
Some questions related to the world that the book takes place in arose that remained unanswered in Psion Beta - hopefully those answers will come in the future. I certainly found it odd that the two rival governments seemed to exclusively recruit people with specific anomalies. All the people with telekinesis fight for this side, all the people with drunken rage fight for the other side. Really? Of course the book says that this is all, "as far as we know" ... so perhaps there will be some revelations forthcoming.
As an aside, it was interesting reading a self-published novel. There was a rawness in some areas that allowed the author's personal touches to survive what I would guess an editor would try to pare down. The book is still very readable and the minimal typographical errors are forgiveable. Amusingly, this book takes place decades into the future, but the kids watch "an X-men movie" and "Rocky IV" during a movie night. Dystopia indeed!