LIGHTPORTER, IDIA BOOK #2, IS OUT TODAY!!!
Now I know I’ve been doing a lot of not-Star Wars and not-Tolkien things on this blog lately, even though the reason this site exists is to share the love of those two fandoms with the world. But I do like to sometimes take a light break from Star Wars and Tolkien in related stories, and the IDIA books are definitely worth it. Besides, C. B. Cook, the author of this superhero series, is a huge fangirl, so it totally counts!!
About the Book
Albany and her twin sister, Brooklyn, have gotten more comfortable in the superhero world. But when Blaze starts acting secretive and weird monsters attack, the girls realize there is more going on that they still don’t know about. Before long, they discover that Blaze is hiding something—or someone. With FOE still hiding in the shadows, the girls must decide who they can trust… before it’s too late.
About the Author
C.B. Cook is just a girl trying to find out where her King is guiding her, while writing the stories of the people she creates, the worlds she wants to live in, and the adventures she dreams about. Also known as a mysterious creature called an “author.” She’s a Christian and a homeschool graduate dedicated to changing others’ lives through the power of the written word.
Links
- C. B. Cook’s Blog.
- Goodreads.
- Pinterest.
- IDIA Group Pinterest Board.
- C. B. Cook’s Amazon Author Page.
- Twinepathy (IDIA #1) on Amazon.
- Lightporter on Amazon (available today for $.99!!).
Yay, hobbit party time!!
(I don’t usually use GIFs on this blog, but as I’m in a mood and because this book deserves it, I’m making an exception.)
Anyway, for those who haven’t been around this blog for awhile, you may not have yet read my review for the pilot book in this series, Twinepathy. If this is so, please check it out here! Hopefully, that review will convince you to check out the series and snag Lightporter now while the ebook is less than a dollar on Amazon. Trust me, you won’t be sorry. 😉
Now before I really dig into my thoughts on this book, I should preface this by letting you know that I love this series. I really, really do. I’m very invested in the characters and their prospective storylines, and it’s sooo hard to survive the wait between the books. So if I judge it a bit hard in places, please don’t take this to mean that I dislike the book; please know that I’m holding it to a high standard because of my love for it. Translated – I’m a bit grouchy at myself for finishing it so fast and at the Laws of the Creation of Books for determining that I will have to wait at least a year to get my hands on the next one.
In Lightporter, most of the characters are already established. There are a few additions to the principal cast, but for the most part, we know everyone on the team from Twinepathy – Albany York (aka Jazz), the main character and POV character, and her sister, Brooklyn York (aka Pop), with whom she shares a telepathic connection. Maddie, the little girl who has the ability to lift mountains with her mind. Data, the leader and creator of IDIA, who can “read” any object or being to know their history, and the metal-controlling Anvil who’s always at her side. And of course, Blaze, the “lightporter” himself, with the ability to teleport anywhere he wants in an instant based on the power of light. But Blaze isn’t quite the chipper, always-grinning, annoyingly-bright-and-witty charmer that we met in book one. Nope, something’s definitely up with this superhero, and Albany and the rest of the team are determined to get to the bottom of it.
Some of the characters who were pretty prominent in the first book weren’t in Lightporter very much, the most notable of these being Volt (aka Ezra), a superhero with power over electricity and who also happens to be the girlfriend of Albany and Brooklyn’s older brother. She’s around, but she plays a pretty small part in comparison to her role in Twinepathy. This is both a pro and a con, in my opinion, as it gives other, sometimes newer, characters a chance to shine, but it also means that we don’t get any further development on some storylines that were opened in the first book concerning her relationship to Denver York (Albany’s aforementioned brother) and the twins. Plus, I really love this purple-haired college kid who just so happens to share a name with a favorite Star Wars character of mine, so I’m hoping we get to see lots more of her in the book #3.
Because of Blaze’s distance from Albany in this book, we didn’t get a ton of one of the things that I loved so much from the first book. Although they definitely interact over the course of this installment, and there are a couple really good scenes between them, many aspects of their relationship that I love so much in Twinepathy are missing here. And to get it out of the way here and now, yes, I do ship them. (Sorry, C. B. 😛 ) But whether you ship Blaze and Albany or not, there’s a lot of what makes their relationship as friends so great, as well as what made me love Blaze in the first place, missing here. So this book does feel rather different from Twinepathy. Is this bad? No, not necessarily. It’s just a new thing to get used when you read this one. And besides, the absence of these aspects actually work very well for the story, helping the reader to directly feel the difference in the team that the characters within the story are struggling with as well.
Honestly, I’ve got a feeling that Blaze will be back to normal in the next book, but that just seems soooo faaaaar awaaaay, so I needed to rant a bit about how I felt about his place in this book. But let’s give the poor guy a break and get back to the actual book review.
Because of the cutting down on some of the less-important characters this time around, I think Albany had a much better chance at standing on her own. We got a lot more time to listen to her thoughts about everything and get a better grip on who she is as a person. Conflict with those near to a person always draws out who they are deep down inside, and Albany is no exception. We get to see a lot of her thoughts and reactions to topics related to trust in this book, and it helps to flesh her out as a character. I still feel so much connection to this girl, I relate so well to almost everything she says and does. It’s a bit uncomfortable at times because as all characters must, she slips up at times. And I feel this very awkward bit in my conscience telling me that I would end up doing the exact same thing if I was in her situation. *cringes* But I still love her and enjoy the way C. B. writes her as a fully relatable human being, something of a nerd, bookworm, and fangirl, an imperfect superhero who we can all relate to.
Another character who got a chance to shine in this book was Anvil, a favorite of myself and many other fans of these books. This book continues the tradition the first started of dropping lots of hints about his dark past but never goes much of anywhere as far as revealing things about that history. His relationship with the twins is still total gold, almost a surrogate older-brother who fills in for Denver on the superhero side of things. He acts as something of a mentor towards Albany, and I really love this relationship that C. B. has set up between them. I also still enjoy the relationship between Jen and Anvil; he always has her back and is more-or-less her second in command over IDIA. I think I may low-key ship them as well, but we’ll have to see how things play out…
And while we’re talking about Anvil, I should tell you all that in the middle of reading this book, it suddenly popped into my head that he should be played by David Oyelowo. I honestly have no idea how C. B. imagines him looking in her own mind, and I can’t remember if there was an explanation of his appearance already in the books somewhere that would contradict the one my mind made up, but now that Shay’s Brain has decided that he looks (and sounds!) like this, I can’t make it stop.
David Oyelowo (and yes, you’re right, it’s the guy who voices Kallus in Rebels) – Credit: IMDb.com
And while we’re on the topic of fan-casting, my very Star Wars obsessed mind has decided that Keller is a slightly older version of Erin Kellyman…
Erin Kellyman – Credit: IMDb.com
I’m not going to talk too in-depth about some of the new characters introduced in Lightporter because that would mean giving away key plot points, but I will say that there a few new peeps that I’m really intrested to see the future of!! And one EPIC new-ish-eh-can’t-say-more super-person who comes into play who’s known as Singe… no more, though, my lips are sealed on the rest. OH! And we may have a time-traveler in the mix now, too! And he’s charming and I think I might love him though I need to know more before making a final verdict on that…
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m talking A LOT about characters in this review. That’s because, as you probably know pretty well by now, characters are the most important thing to me in any story. Also because I can’t talk a ton about the plot without giving things away. But I’ll try to go into my thoughts on it.
People have compared the IDIA series to a superhero TV series, with Twinepathy starting us off into the story like a fast-n-fun pilot episode. I would wholeheartedly agree with this comparison. Lightporter begins to further many of the storylines that were set up in Twinepathy, as well as setting up the beginnings of new ones. One bit in the book that at first glance seems like a throwaway “filler subplot” seems to me to promise a much bigger part later on in the series.
This time, FOE (the not-so-subtle big baddie group for IDIA to fight) is still forging ahead at their plans of… well, world domination, or whatever they’re after. That’s still a bit unclear. All we know for sure is that they really want to take out Jen and her agents, and basically everyone else associated with IDIA. They’re still trying to destroy the IDIA headquarters, and they’re up to some shady dealings at other places around the world as well. They’re also still practicing those techniques they’ve figured out on how to steal/exploit the abilities of powered people and use those abilities to their own nefarious means.
There’s also a new character thrown into the mix who is something of a double agent, someone who has played on both sides and really sees the entire thing as a big game for their own enjoyment. I must say, I do not trust this person, and I really want them to start staying away from another certain person. Call me selfish, but I don’t like where this could lead…
In the end, I must come out with the same verdict I reached in the past about Twinepathy. This series is a great new spin on the superhero subgenre, keeping things familiar, but still making its own place with a unique story. I think of it as something like “Marvel Lite”; not as intense or emotionally-draining as something like Infinity War, but a fun, pretty light read to enjoy over a weekend or binge-read the series of during a break from school. Lightporter is only book #2 of a series of undefined length, so there’s not very much resolution in this book. Of course, I have mixed feelings about that at this moment, because the time between now and the next book and eventually the resolution of all these threads seems like an eternity. But I think it’s all going to play out in the end with an epic-sized story that hopefully has many, many more amazing installments to come (not to mention lots more awesome cover art!!)
Now that you’ve endured my rambly, fangirly review, do the other participants in this blog tour and favor and check out what they had to say about this book!
Monday, June 11th
Writefury – Character Interview and Lightporter Review
Dreams and Dragons – Twinepathy & Lightporter Reviews
Light and Shadows – Book spotlight & Author Interview
Tuesday, June 12th
Reading Anyone – Lightporter Review
Wednesday, June 13th
Home With Hummingbirds – Character Interview and Book Spotlight
Thursday, June 14th
Ashley Bogner – Author Interview
Faith Blum – Book Spotlight
The Page Dreamer (Deborah O’Carroll) – Lightporter Review
Friday, June 15th
Lights And Shadows – Friday 5s: IDIA Edition
Purely By Faith Reviews – Lightporter Review and Book Spotlight
Saturday, June 16th (Release day!)
Marlene Simonette – Lightporter Review and Book Spotlight
Dreams and Dragons – Character Interview
The Elven Padawan – Lightporter Review
This article was written by Shay S., Creator, Chief Editor, and Podcast Host for The Elven Padawan, and first appeared on ElvenPadawan.com
Have you read Twinepathy yet? Are you planning to read Lightporter? Do you have a favorite superhero character who you love to follow and fangirl over?
The Elven Padawan 