Children of the Sun by R.B. Holbrook – 4 stars
The Structure is a secret civilization made up of seven houses that pursue enlightenment by attempting to understand the nature of energy. The structure of the Houses that insists upon learning and growing together is collapsing. In its place begins the seeds of infighting. Soon, without their notice, the people of the Houses begin losing their special powers. The Oracle, the leader of the Structure, hates to see what had become of her people. But she’s dying and can do little to help them. Now, as the Structure begins tipping deeper into darkness, a new leader is needed to prevent conflict among the Houses from escalating into an all-out war. Ollie could be the key to finding the next leader, but she has her family to think of and a life to live. So she must remain unnoticed. As power hungry factions hunt for Ollie, however, she has no choice but to get involved. She’ll do whatever’s necessary to protect her loved ones.
I greatly enjoyed this book overall. The story is interesting and engaging, and there was a point when I just didn’t want to put it down, ever again. This is the first book in a series, and I plan to read the other two. Holbrook’s writing style is enjoyable. It did have several typos, but not enough to detract from the story.
It starts slow, and there are a lot of names thrown at you. I got easily confused in the beginning about who was who and did what for whom and where. Including a glossary was a brilliant idea, but it would have been helpful to have all of the siblings were listed there, too. Some of the story confused me quite a bit, and I’m still uncertain about a few points. Presumably, they will be sorted out in the subsequent books of the series.
Ollie is an odd character to choose for the protagonist, in a good way. She’s solidly in the bold tradition of Strong Female Lead, though has a dark side that some may find a little too dark for sympathy. In her favor, often the story is less about her than it is about the people she loves dealing with her. Fair warning that this book includes a lot of remorseless killing.
I recommend this book to anyone that likes modern fantasy.