Borgne's world building is fantastic. Her characters are complex and real, the details about Mars rich. She really got it right with Ian's character. He was smart but a bit naive about the realities of life on Mars. He is at the age where he has two things on his mind: girls (especially the one in his dreams), and questioning everything. His confusion and pain as the story progresses is also real. I found myself wondering how he would find Kayla and Borgne didn't use any of the ways I thought up. I love it when I guess and am wrong.

The turns and twists are wonderful, the fight scenes great. One of the themes I really enjoyed was one of forgiveness and acceptance. There are lots of things that could stand in the way of Ian and Kayla's happiness but they both have a forgiving heart and are willing to accept other people. Sometimes this is what gets them in trouble, but it also shows the hope and potential for the people of Mars.

The only thing that bothered me, and it wasn't a big deal, was that I'm not sure I understood the two opposing views. One wants to go back to earth and one to another planet? I missed why they couldn't go back to earth and why would you have to choose one place or the other? I'm guessing it's tied to the resources available, but I wanted to know more about the other planet and why they want to go there so bad. ( )

Borgne's world building is fantastic. Her characters are complex and real, the details about Mars rich. She really got it right with Ian's character. He was smart but a bit naive about the realities of life on Mars. He is at the age where he has two things on his mind: girls (especially the one in his dreams), and questioning everything. His confusion and pain as the story progresses is also real. I found myself wondering how he would find Kayla and Borgne didn't use any of the ways I thought up. I love it when I guess and am wrong.

The turns and twists are wonderful, the fight scenes great. One of the themes I really enjoyed was one of forgiveness and acceptance. There are lots of things that could stand in the way of Ian and Kayla's happiness but they both have a forgiving heart and are willing to accept other people. Sometimes this is what gets them in trouble, but it also shows the hope and potential for the people of Mars.

The only thing that bothered me, and it wasn't a big deal, was that I'm not sure I understood the two opposing views. One wants to go back to earth and one to another planet? I missed why they couldn't go back to earth and why would you have to choose one place or the other? I'm guessing it's tied to the resources available, but I wanted to know more about the other planet and why they want to go there so bad. ( )

This is from that old school of space opera with lasers and space ships and not a lot of highly technical explanations for everything. It's not as cheesy as say old "Flash Gordon" serials, but it's not "hard" science fiction either. Which is fine for people such as myself who enjoy "Star Wars" and the like.

The story takes place on Mars, which is divided into a bunch of corporate factions. The largest faction is Marscorp, whose goal it seems is to return to Earth. Marscorp's philosophy is that if you don't agree with us, then prepare for a hostile takeover. (And we're not talking about buying out your stock.)

To help them with this, they recruit a couple of young psychics, Ian Connors and his friend Nate. One day Ian has a vision of himself with a beautiful redheaded girl and becomes obsessed with finding her. But she turns out to be part of a rival corporation, Gentech. Ian has another vision of her in trouble during a Marscorp attack, so he goes to the battle to try and help. But that only winds up getting Nate killed and Ian in big trouble.

As the plot progresses, Ian discovers that while he's the one with the visions, a lot of things are not what they appear.

I found the plot intriguing. As I said at the beginning, it's not really hard sci-fi. There aren't explanations of how everything works. That's just as well for me, because that stuff can get tedious. Though I was curious why radar deflection is such a big deal. We have stealth technology on airplanes now that uses radar deflection. There was even a prototype ship made using those principles, though it was too expensive to put into production. Since this is in the future, shouldn't they have something better? At the very least if radar isn't working, shouldn't they have infrared or something to spot the ship?

Other than that, some of the dialog was kind of cheesy. Like many self-published novels it could have used another editing pass to eliminate some errors.

Overall though it was an exciting light read that's worth the discount price.

That is all. ( )

On Mars, various organizations and colonies have risen, their ultimate goal to get back to Earth, or Hinun. Thus far, the strongest faction has been a militaristic group, called Marscorp,that uses psychics to show them how to defeat and absorb rival colonies. Alliance is not an option. It is within this milieu that Ian Connors, a growing psychic, discovers the love of his life via visions. The problem? She's on the enemy's side. In his quest to find her, Ian comes face to face with the brutality of war and is forced to make a choice: to save lives or to destroy them.

Vallar is a fast-paced tale, designed for the young adult reader. It is good about playing to one's sense of righteous indignation and the frustration of being ignored and misunderstood. While the forces at work are portrayed in a very uncompromising light (Beacon = evil, Vallar = good), this is the sort of black-and-white worldview that caters to adolescents, even if it doesn't challenge them. In that sense, Ian's limited emotional range is appropriate for the novel, though older readers might crave a little more depth. As for me, I can let it go; my major issue is one common with young adult fiction: the bizarre suddenness with which characters fall in love. In some cases, authors are able to present enough chemistry to make it believable. Unfortunately, that was not the case here.

Incredulity aside, I found this story to be quite diverting. I was quickly pulled into Ian's struggles and shared in his sense of impotence as the adults around him ignored his prognostications. It's a tale as old as time (see Cassandra and the Trojan Horse), but it still rang true and helped me to connect with the character. This, in turn, made his obstacles, triumphs, and failures my own. I wanted him to succeed, just as much as I wanted Beacon to receive his just desserts. In other words, the author successfully made me care about her protagonist and this fictional world.

One of the things that did draw my attention away from the story at hand was the plethora of typographical and grammatical errors. Were my copy a paperback, rather than an e-book, I may have been compelled to whip out a red pen to underline and circle my way along. As it stands, this is definitely not the worst that I've seen, but it was irritating all the same. Some critical proofreading would have benefited this work greatly.

Vallar is an easy, entertaining read for those looking for a quick read and conflicts with clearly drawn lines. For those who prefer subtle nuances and strong character development, this may not be the best fit.

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(Review copy provided by the author) ( )

Teenager Ian Conner has been brought up as an Elite in the Marcs army. He is psychic and is gathering intel on the rogue faction of Genners. After having visions of a young woman that he belives is his future he starts to do research on the people who have raised him only to find that the enemy is not who it seems. Well written and lots of action. This book was hard to put down. I hope to see more from this author and wouldn't mind reading more stories based on the Ian Conner character. GREAT way to spend and afternoon in the sun!! ( )