Psionic Books Four & Five: The Quest & Guardian Angel by Adrian Howell

 

The Psionic series is a pentalogy revolving around a highly detailed world of humans and Psionics. Psionics refer to people who have acquired extra mental capacities such as telekinesis, mind control and a whole range of completely original abilities too.

The Pentalogy follows the story of Adrian Howell who coincidentally shares the name of the author. (Henceforth if I refer to Howell I mean the author and Adrian, the character.) After initially discovering he has the power of telekinesis he is plagued by headaches sent by an agent of the Angels. After his parents are murdered and his sister goes missing Adrian is alone with two rival factions vying for his allegiance.

I decided to review books four and five together as I read them without a break. A testament to the building of plot and suspense: I simply could not wait to find out what happened next after I turned the final page of The Quest.

The first three books set up and build upon the endearing characters of Adrian, Alia, and Cindy. As they inhabit the world of Psionics so they accumulate other equally rounded characters (Mark and Terry as examples). By the time you reach book five, every character whether minor or major are recognisable. The cast is truly staggering but each character Howell chooses to embellish with back story and personality is integral to the finale.

Book four had an unusual plot structure with most of the dramatic action happening at the beginning and then journey-style action happening in the middle. The final portion of the book slows down a beat or two but Howell still manages to keep the intrigue high. Although unusual the plot structure works immensely well. A whole host of new characters are introduced. I was concerned at first that they would overshadow the existing characters but they get roped into the overall story well and Book Five could not have worked without them. Although introduced towards the latter part of the series Howell gives enough time and attention to each character so that they do not get disregarded as another name or faceless character.

Book Five was a satisfying solution to the pentalogy. All loose ends were seen to and all plot points were given ample attention. Again a few more new characters were introduced with ample amounts of detail balanced with keeping the plot moving forward. Unlike Book Four, Guardian Angel had no let up of action. A points there may have been a little less action and a little less life-in-danger at points but the pace was unforgiving. After all the building of tension between the factions, high drama was to be expected and Howell definitely did not disappoint.

I do not want to say too much more about the series as I do not want to give any more away about the plot than I have already. The whole pentalogy is truly worthwhile reading. For anyone who wants to try a book by a self-published author this is definitely the place to start and the bench mark to set against the others in the market. Just because it is self-published Howell has proved quality does not need to be compromised.

On a personal note I’m a little sad that I’ve finished the series. Back to Lord of the Rings I guess!

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The complete series is now available for download via Amazon.

If you want to know more about the author or the series you can read Howell’s blog here. It is not written in character but he has retained his pen name for the time being. There you will find details and links to all of the books in the Psionic Series and more detailed information about the author and contact details.