Triorion:Reborn (Parts I and II) Books 3 & 4 in the series

Triorion: Reborn 
(Parts I and II) (Books 3 and 4 in the series)
L. J Hachmeister

Reborn Part I available at Amazon
Reborn Part II expected June 2014

reviews here at abookadayreviews:

Triorion: Awakening (Book I) 
Triorion: Abomination (Book 2)

Jaeia, Jetta, and Jahx have always had a tough life.  Born (or so they believed) on the mining planet Fiorah, they worked and starved like everyone else, but they had an edge, one that they realized, even as small children, was definitely not normal.  They had abilities.  They could, to some degree, control events around them, change people's minds, or scare them witless  They could learn things by taking the knowledge directly from the minds of others, and they were growing at a very accelerated pace, both in size and in intellect.



It didn't take long for the powers that be to find these children, and train them (the alternative of continuing to starve on Fiorah was not attractive) in the ways of war.  They succeeded beyond anyone's dreams, but there were some serious side effects to their newly found fame.   Someone knew who they were and wanted to use their powers for their own ends, someone with significant powers of his own who needed just a bit more to corral all of the known universe under his dominion.

The cover jacket for Book 3 (Reborn, part I) describes this as a "Journey into the heart of the greatest evil..." and I do believe Hachmeister has created a villian to rival some of the greats.  Not only is he arrogant, self-centered and willing to do absolutely anything, however evil, to get his way, he's positively skin-crawling creepy.

The Triorion universe is populated with a lot of different characters, from the almost-a-pirate freewheeling trader Reht Jagger and his multi-alien crew, to a Algardrian healer, able to connect mentally to heal from the inside out, to the Scabbers, Agracia and Bossy, tougher than nails and able to survive on an earth plagued by radiation and complete breakdown of society that destruction always brings.  Stories intertwine and dance around one another, with unexpected connections appearing along with unexpected twists and turns.  Aliens of all varieties populate this universe.  Sentient beasts, shape shifters, and the powerful Motti with whom earth was at war -- a war it lost.

Jaeia, Jetta and Jahx are also very different from one another.  Jaeia is the planner and the one who thinks ahead, the cautious one,  Jetta is the headstrong one with the lethal temper that doesn't always have control over her emotions, but will take the risks that need taking, no matter what, and Jahx is the intuitive, able to see where folks are coming from and why and fit it all into something that makes sense.  They need one another, to stay focused and puzzle out what's really going on, yet fate and forces beyond their control keep pushing them apart.

That's one of the reasons I chose to review these two books together; the complexity of the story makes splitting up the books at a point that made sense clearly difficult, (it would be for any author in this complex universe, but especially for a new author) and I was left at the end of Reborn Book I with the feeling that the story was hanging, not as a cliff-hanger, where you know more will come later, but at a point where things just seemed to stop.  Once I got into Part II, things clicked back into place.  

The children (who appear much older than they actually are, and are treated as adults by everyone) still want to know where they came from.  Hints abound but they don't fit together.  It seems as though the only one who has a clue is the evil Victor, and he's only telling if he gets what he wants first.  And what he wants will destroy everything they've worked for and all the people they care about.  But by the time the reader gets to the end of Book II,  the triplets' place in history is clear, and the history that brought earth to its pathetic current state is finally brought to light.

There is yet another book to come, and I'll be interested to see where else the story goes.  There are some mind-bending concepts in this series.  Aliens are not always what they seem, technology (as all sci-fi readers know) is a double edged sword, and there are always those who would use technology for evil ends, and sometimes they win.  The trio are trying desperately to be sure it doesn't happen again.

If you like your sci-fi complex, and the universe that it lives in rich with variety, you will enjoy this series.  There are a few scenes you wouldn't want the kids to read, but by and large the focus is on the story, and it is a story writ large among the stars.  I recommend it.