The Channeler (The Continuum Series #1) by Jenna Ryan
We received an advanced reader copy of this book.
Published: January 18th 2019 by TCK Publishing
Review:
Myth: 3/5
Caleb desperately wants to be a normal college student. Unfortunately for that wish, he sees angel-like beings and has visions of the future, so being “normal” is probably a no go. This doesn’t mean he’s got a bad life. Caleb has good friends and a godmother who loves him.
This is a traditional coming of age story, Caleb has been having visions of the future most of his life, but when the story starts he meets a girl who has featured prominently in his visions for years. It doesn’t take them long to discover a mutual uniqueness. Even though the characters are in college and not some type of school for the magically gifted, I did get “magical education” vibes when Caleb meets Lea and his family.
The story swung a little too much toward life drama instead of paranormal problems for my liking, but the characters, especially Caleb and Darla, were well rounded and compelling.
Magic: 3/5
As a first book in the series, I expect a lot of the larger questions to go unanswered, but in this case, I didn’t feel like we knew what magical questions to ask until the last few chapters. The basics were introduced, as far as Caleb and Darla’s powers, and the origins of those like them, but the specific problem of the story being told wasn’t really introduced until very late. While I do expect that approach with a series, I think a little bit more information about the conflict of this particular overarching story could have been set out.
Overall: 3/5
An intriguing start to a layered story. I hope that the next installment takes the story deeper into the fantasy side of the story now that we have a good grasp on the characters.
