Triorion: Abomination

Triorion: Abomination

Book II in the Triorion series

Published by L. J. Hachmeister (2012)

www.triorion.com

Available at Amazon

As we learned in Book I, the Alliance, in their efforts to gain military advantage over an invading alien force, put together a program to train children, not only as soldiers, but as tacticians and military thinkers. Three children, taken from Fiora where they worked in the mines, barely staying alive, were an unexpected surprise, more brilliant than even their best adult members, in spite of their peculiar aging process -- this brilliance came from children under 8 years old who looked like young adults..

In Book II we find Jaeia and Jetta well established in the military chain of command (looking more like 23 than the 8 year olds they are), in positions of responsibility but without their brother Jahx, a traumatic loss.

The Alliance is on the verge of sorting out their unique genome when a new threat appears, leaving a swath of dead and dying planets across the galaxy. Can they still fight back without their triplet Jahx when total concentration is required, fighting an enemy that not only has mental abilities that match and even exceed their own, but who is unchecked by any sense of right and wrong?  Jetta's always been mercurial, and feels responsible for Jahx's death but without Jahx, can Jaeia keep her grounded when the mental onslaught from their enemy comes?

Book II carries the story arc forward and answers many questions left from Book I,  See our review of Triorion: Awakening (Book I) here. but as often happens with books in a series, there aren't a lot of pertinent flashbacks that tie the story together, and sometimes the reader can be held back trying to recall details when the author references events from Book I. Questions arise like "Do I remember who the Motti were and why they were bad?" " What happened to Jahx again?" and "The exiles are mentioned...who are they exactly?"

 Authors live day and night with the tale they are telling. They know every nuance, every character, every event, but readers, especially prolific ones, may well have read through a great many other books before the new book in a series is released, and the full impact cannot be obtained from a single sentence, as when a character remembers "how awful is was when I was mistreated by the Motti" (not a direct quote, but close), without a full flashback to bring back the feelings associated with the event. The very astute reader may recall the details and how they fit in with the current expansion of the story, but most won't. They may miss, especially in a tale with a complex plot, many characters, lots of secrets, hidden agendas and past histories, details critical to the story line. Then again, it might just be me.

Having said that, I think the Triorion series is an interesting set of new ideas. The children are strong characters that stay with you, the story line is unique (bearing at the start a resemblance to "Ender's Game" but going far beyond it), and at this writing, Book III is well on the way.   I definitely look forward to reading it. There is lots of action, and lots of story left to tell, because many questions remain tantalizingly unanswered, in a universe rich with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. I highly recommend it.