K.M. Ruiz

Twenty years after the child prophet Aisling foresaw the future the human mutant psions, Threnody Corwin and her partner Quinton Martinez are dispatched to what remains of Los Angeles, now known as ‘The Slums of the Angels’ on a suicide mission for failing to obey orders on Corwin’s last mission. The two are part of the Strykers Syndicate, enslaved solders contracted out on the most dangerous missions.
Psions came in various class and strengths, armed with telepathic strengths with the ability to teleport at a moment’s notice. This time they were to hunt down and eliminate Lucas, the rogue son of Nathan Serca, a high-level, gene-trash human who was posing as a genetically-registered human. Serca, who was in charge of gathering the humans for a journey on the Arc to Mars. Earth was seriously depleted of all its natural resources after The Border Wars. The World Court convened and decided who is worthy to travel to the colony and Earth will be left to the mutants and unregistered masses.
Lucas has another plan in mind, rescuing those that deserve to be, those who will make this world a better place. Once he can arrange to have the neurotrackers cut out of the necks of the four Strykers he recruits, once he convinces them that his powers and skill levels are superior to theirs, they take on the project of protecting the followers Lucas has gathered together.
Serca pulls out all stops to get the remaining Strykers to bring in the fallen four and a pitch battle over human rights on Earth takes place during the twenty-fourth century. With the help of matron they raid the Gene Bank and the Seed Bank in an effort to save humankind. Will the destiny that Ailing prophesized come to pass or was it just the ramblings of mad child?
… (meer)

Pros: lots of psionic action, complex post-apocalyptic world, political intrigue

Cons: little character development, repetition

Roughly 250 years after the nuclear war that destroyed the world, humanity is still picking up the pieces. DNA clean humans run the World Court, governments and businesses, while unregistered humans struggle to survive. Out of the radiation fallout rose a new race, those with psionic abilities. Those the government controls with an implanted kill switch are called the Strykers Syndicate. They fight against unregistered psions and a well organized group called the Warhounds.

Nathan Serca is head of the Serca Syndicate and unknown to the World Court only one of two triad psions. The other triad is his eldest, now renegade, son, Lucas. For two years his other children have been unsuccessful in tracking and killing Lucas. Nathan's patience is running out as important plans come to fruition.

Meanwhile Lucas is amassing a team of psions to help him with his own plans.

The action is plentiful and varied, showing the various powers off. While relegated to a handful of powers (telepaths, telekinetics, teleporters, empaths, pyrokinetics, psychometrists, precognitives and elctrokinetics), the characters use their powers in creative ways. The limit on their powers (the more they use them, the sooner they die) was a nice touch.

Action scenes are offset by political intrigue between several groups of players, all of whom think they know everything that's going on, none of whom actually do.

The world is realistically complex and detailed: from the towers and bunkers where rich humans live to the slums of the poor and uninhabitable deadzones. The characters are a mix of colours and nationalities, denoting the chaos and integration after the Border Wars.

Give the number of characters it's impressive that there was never any confusion as to who the reader is following at any given time. Having said that, there's little opportunity to get to know characters, so the reader is constantly told things about each character with no opportunity to see the truth of these statements in their actions. The book takes place over a short period of time, making character development a moot point.

As with James Knapp's Revivors trilogy, you have to pay close attention to what's going on. Ruiz repeats several important points which, given your frame of mind, are either helpful or irritating over time. Similarly, if you liked the action and spunk of Those Who Walk in Darkness by John Ridley, you'll love Mind Storm.

This is the first book of the series and is ultimately merely set-up for what comes next. But what a set-up!

Like X-Men, only more brutal.… (meer)