CIRCLE OF FIVE by Jan Raymond
BLURB:
Circle of Five is the first book in the Pha-yul trilogy.
After a sudden lightning storm, Sam, Cassie, Ryan, Maya and Seb find that they’ve acquired strange and amazing powers. Confused and scared, they turn to Mr. Harris, a teacher in their school, who offers to help them control their powers.
But is there more to Mr. Harris than meets the eye? His cryptic explanations about their powers, how and why they manifested, leaves the five kids with more questions than answers. Can they trust Mr. Harris? Is he telling them the truth, or does he have his own reasons for helping them? What is the truth behind the secret society that he belongs to? The children try to figure out the answers as they work towards gaining control over their powers.
Unknown to them, danger lingers near. They have to face the threat and put their lives at risk. They must learn to trust one another and combine their powers to survive…will they make it? Are their powers strong enough? And will they finally find the answers they seek?
Gran-sdur:The Games, the second book in the Pha-yul trilogy is now available on Amazon.
MY REVIEW:
This is a fun, fast-paced, delightful story of 5 children who suddenly discover they are not like everyone else. They have superpowers, each with a different ability. True, this is a reoccurring theme in a lot of Young Adult books, but it’s the characters and settings that set them apart. And that’s what Jan Raymond did with her book. Each child has his or her own voice and character tracts, all the way down to each family dynamic.
Out of the 5 children, Maya and Ryan are the protectors of the group, and Sam, even though the youngest, is their leader. And you can’t help feeling sorry for Cassie as she takes last place, with her Mother, to her younger brother Sam. The way her Mother treats her corresponds to how Cassie relates to her brother, Sam. Then there’s Seb, the spoiled, rich kid, neglected and looking for acceptance. The Circle of Five doesn’t always get along, as they learn to adjust to their powers and each other, but they back each other up, without question, when danger rears its ugly head. I figured out the villain almost as soon as the character was introduced. No surprise there, at least for me. But then, this book was written for a younger reading level.
Sam’s character keeps the reader wondering, are they following the right path with Mr. Harris? What is his motive for helping and training them? These questions don’t get answered in this book.
Even though I immensely enjoyed the story, I was taken aback by the poor quality of the writing. It’s written in a simplistic style, which was fine for me, but it’s all the needless empty filler words and redundancies which will lead to my lower rating. The words “that”, “had” and “gotten” are used over and over. An editor or a good editing program would’ve eliminated most of these.
I do recommend this book and I give it 4 feathers.
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