The Psychonaut (Book Review)

The Psychonaut (Book One of the Psychonaut Trilogy)
by Tom Adams
Writing in Starlight

Occult societies. Global conspiracies. Multiple worlds.

Yeah, I’d say this book is right in my sweet spot.

The set-up is simple enough. Merrick Whyte is a corporate mercenary with a gift for reading people. Intuition, as he calls it. What he doesn’t know is that it is his latent gift, his third eye, beginning to manifest. Soon, he is recruited into an occult war between the Hierophants and the Ukurum in a battle not only for this world, but for all the worlds combined. He learns more about his powers and his limitations, and must decide to embrace this new life or retreat back into the mundane.

The stakes are personal, however, as Whyte’s girlfriend is soon captured by the enemy, and the press is on to not only rescue her, but to prevent an invasion of this world by the forces of evil.

The best part of this book is when the camera narrows in on Merrick and his interactions with those around him. Adams does a fantastic job dealing with the interpersonal conflict and Merrick’s sense of being thrown into the deep end over his head. At no point does he treat his characters as anything less than human, with all the strengths and weaknesses therein. The writing does fall a bit short when it comes to depicting the huge sweeping conflicts near the end (epic battles are a challenge for most writers, I feel).

I wouldn’t recommend this book for people who have trouble with depictions with torture or outright violence, as Adams doesn’t shy away from the blood, or the sex for that matter.

I also commend Adams for writing distinct, culturally diverse characters who truly come to life on the page.

You can be sure I’ll be on the look out for the rest of the books in this series.

You can find more of Tom Adam’s work on his blog.