WARRIOR'S BLOOD

In O’Neduncan’s SF/fantasy novel, youngsters discover superpowers they can use to prevent dark magic from encroaching into their universe.

Eighteen-year-old Sarah’s trip to a mall in the city of Blugree on Mature-Earth (one of many exotic settings in this space-hopping tale) turns into a horrifying ordeal when giant insects attack shoppers, abducting her mother, Katherine, and her uncle, Tommy. Sarah’s mom leaves her a sword and a corked bottle housing a fairy called Akili. It turns out Sarah has warrior blood, stemming from Core-Hub, a once-utopian planet now hidden by magic and corrupted by the Hate-Born-Being, an entity of pure evil. Sinister minions are now hunting shards of destroyed gemstone keys to set free the “hate-filled” magic contained behind the door of Spellbinding Unison. Sarah and Akili quickly track down Kanye, who is Sarah’s age, in Blugree; he possesses a newfound elemental power to control water, complementing Sarah’s ability to control earth. The superpowered teens battle pirates on another world called Brine to recover a key shard. They train to hone their abilities before visiting Zosar, yet another planet, to recruit a third “soldier,”Jabbar (who can manipulate sand),as they’ll need all the help they can get to keep the gemstone keys out of evil hands. The author’s character-driven superhero tale supplies detailed backstories for the characters: Kanye hails from a neighborhood that a thuggish “tribe” has long terrorized, and Sarah’s past includes an abusive biological father (“little Sarah was wondering why she didn’t feel safe around her birth father, he has a flashlight to protect her from monsters. Right?”). The author keeps the interplanetary story moving at a steady pace, though abundant run-on sentences can make some descriptions a bit perplexing. A handful of action scenes further energize the narrative and showcase the powers that the heroes are still learning to control. O’Neduncan also provides the book’s colorful, sparsely detailed artwork, which primarily accompanies helpful and entertaining profiles of the main characters.

A vibrant youthful cast headlines this diverting, magical fantasy.