This is an excellent series; I've read all five and they remain consistently entertaining and thought-provoking. Howell (author) treats his characters with respect and gives them depth and complexity. On reading the last book, a post-script reveals that he wrote all of them before publishing any of them, giving him the opportunity to revise earlier books for consistency. He also had details for the characters that never actually even made it into the books, showing the comprehensive nature of his thought process while he was writing.
The themes he goes into are deep and well-done -- loyalty, family, duty, the ethics of war, forgiveness, perseverance and more are all given serious consideration. He doesn't use trite platitudes, and considers them from multiple angles and from different character's perspectives, giving a more profound treatment than you'd find in almost any YA book (at least any that would have any popularity).
The world Howell creates is vast and interesting, giving a sense of a full society. He might have furthered this by more fully developing the ideas behind the factions other than the Guardians and the Angels. However, there is a sense of a developed psion culture with social rules and expectations.
The action scenes are engaging and some have great visuals. Despite being a "powerful" psion, Adrian never becomes overpowered and there's always a sense that he could fail (and in fact, he often does fail).
There are deaths in this series, including some of primary characters. Because things are treated realistically, in an almost "gritty" way (in a good sense), this series has some dark parts and is probably suitable for kids who are at least 13. Older kids would benefit more from the themes anyway, and honestly I wouldn't be at all upset if this series showed up in a high school reading list -- besides being fun to read, it would be a great springboard for a lot of discussions.
All in all, this is probably one of the best series I've read in a long time.
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Reviews with images
Highly recommended, entertaining and we'll written
Highly recommended, entertaining and we'll written, the characters are well ,and smorgasbord of good and evil and everything in between, can't wait to get the next in the series. Mike..
Top reviews from other countries
Ms. L. M. Egden
but once over that hurdle I thoroughly enjoyed this book
Reviewed in Canada on May 21, 2017
Keith Hebbard
It's not often i can't stop reading a book.
Reviewed in Australia on April 1, 2018
Laura
To-date the best produced ebook I've read with a great story and characters
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2013