Book Spotlight: Aversion (Book One of The Mentalist Series) by Kenechi Udogu

Greetings, Beardies!

I bought my Kindle so I wouldn't pack a hundred books with me when I went overseas. (Not that it stopped me from bringing a slew of books home.) Now I have a library that fits in my purse. Worlds of possibilities, opportunities, and freedom all within my grasp and much lighter than carrying Hogwarts around in a bulky bag. We can't all have the awesomeness of Hermione's Purse of Wonders. I received Aversion from the author Kenechi Udogu in return for an honest review. So I got my tea and snuggled up with my Kindle.

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Premise: Gemma has lived her entire life knowing she is an Averter. Her father has trained her to use her ability to alter people's minds and change their future. However, with all of her training, when Gemma carries out her first Aversion, something goes wrong. She averts Russ, a boy in her class, from going to a party and therefore saving lives from a drunk driving accident. That was supposed to be that, but he remembers her and he won't leave her alone. When stranger instances befall them, Gemma learns that there is more to Averting than her father taught her.

Gems for Writers:
World building. The world of Averters is built on the foundation that they can alter people's minds. Told through Gemma, the reader only knows what she has learned from her father, which isn't much. She doesn’t even talk to other Averters her age. Her lack of knowledge lets the reader discover—with Gemma—her abilities as an Averter. Unfortunately, most of this information is not disclosed until near the end of the book, leaving the reader somewhat puzzled about the workings of the Averter world in the beginning. The ability to alter the mind is intriguing enough, but Averters only alter when they get a jolt or a shock along with a vision of what action their subject must avoid in order to alter a devastating future. It is only the jolts that let Averters, or at least Gemma, know when and what to avert in someone's mind. Averters are not mind readers and they cannot read or avert each other. Averters speak to the mind of the subject and tell them what they are to do, "You will not remember this conversation," etc. An Aversion saves an individual or group from an event or events harmful to their future. Once an Averter completes their first aversion they receive an Orb which will help them complete aversions at further distances and gives an Averter more power. Averters are male, which makes Gemma an oddity and so as not to draw attention to herself, she spends most of her time at home or avoiding people at school. The lack of dialogue in the beginning of the story sets the stage of Gemma's life, so when Russ becomes involved, both action and dialogue expand.

Characterization. Gemma narrates the story, so the reader is a bit blind as to her father and Russ's minds. However, Gemma (as a narrator) seems to have an intuition into reading the other characters. She is a likeable character, a good girl who has a strong relationship with her father. She attempts to right matters in her Aversion experience with Russ, which gives Russ more time to be an established character. He is a popular athlete at school and his persistence with Gemma is charming. The wit in their relationship that they build together is natural.

Rating:

Conclusion:
As a first book of a series it is evident that there is set up for the rest of the series. It started out slow, but once the action got going halfway through I was captured. For anyone interested in supernatural abilities of the mind and dealing with future events, this is a series for you. There is much more to discover in the rest of the series to really dive into the world of Averters.

May the Averters keep your futures on track, Beardies!



***Aversion (2012) by Kenechi Udogu , is published and copyright Kenechi Udogu. It is available in stores, online (see above), any (hopefully soon) at your local library.