Reading someone's mind won't always tell you what they want.
Scott Kensington lives happily without magic; prayer is all he needs to worship the gods. Then he starts his studies at the University of Frannesburg, and not only is he suddenly surrounded by eccentrics—those gifted with magic—but his own latent ability begins to surface, with consequences that could tear his soul and family apart.
Nick Barns is grieving for his lost mother and desperate for distraction—usually in the form of limited-edition action figures. As a telekinetic, he’s no stranger to magic, so he offers to help Scott adjust to his new powers. They quickly learn how their magics interact, their shared passions soon growing beyond superheroes and immortals. But Nick’s not taking his studies seriously, and his father threatens to pull him from the university. Overwhelmed by his own crumbling family, Scott’s convinced he can’t handle a relationship, but he doesn’t want to let Nick go.
With grief, guilt, and magic complicating everything between Nick and Scott, it seems that not even the gods—or a new comic book—can save their relationship now. Sometimes, even reading someone’s mind won’t help you understand what they want.
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My Review: (Thanks to NetGalley)
Minor Spoilers
Very slow. It took me multiple tries to read, I almost gave up a couple of times and I skimmed the last couple of chapters. There just wasn't really much of a plot, just a couple of angst ridden teenagers dealing with (genuine) crisis's. However this made for a boring story even with the 'magic' thrown in. The characters were very bland, boring and one dimensional (and no, complaining/whining about being Chinese/not-Chinese-enough all the time does not count as character building). Scott seems to have gotten the raw end of the deal with magic that only causes him mental pain with no relief (at least none that are mentioned in the book). The descriptions of his 'receptive' magic and 'dulling' it draws (for me) comparisons to an auditory schizophrenic who takes dulling/dissociative drugs. Fun /s.
As for the magic, only basics were explained and I was annoyed that the whole world building was so thin. Lots of mentions of an Empire, and Asia had 2 different names, but nothing more. Is this based on our world but with changes? Is it an alternative timeline thanks to religion and magic? Or is it all based in an independent world? Also religion seems to be such a big thing, at least for the author. Though they write that not everyone has the same level of worship/respect/belief for the gods and that that's OK, religion/divinity/high-power-having-control is very much pushed onto the reader again and again. Even the 'anti-god' MC has a turnabout attitude towards it and a church is the catalyst for salvaging relationships and life choices. The whole religion business was, in my opinion, pushed to far and too hard. Not my cup of tea.
According to Goodreads this is only the authors 2nd book and it shows. I can't see myself reading anything else from them in the future.
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