Pantheon 2: Ares and Athena is a superb follow-up to KR Paul’s strong debut that incorporated cinematic science fiction elements into the modern day espionage-political setting.
Set immediately after the events of the first book, Valerie Hall, AKA Athena, is recovering from a gunshot wound after encountering Russian operatives like her with the special ability to “jump” or teleport. At the same time, a tough-as-nails Marine Murphy Hawkins is pinned down by the enemy under heavy fire when the stress unlocks his latent ability to teleport his men to safety. With this new discovery, the Pantheon organization sets to work on molding the initially stubborn and not so likable character into an interesting and likable personality. While Pantheon is focused on the new recruit, a power-hungry senator with twisted views on national security hatches a plot with white supremacists to carry out terrorist attacks in an effort to increase defense funding, particularly to militarize Pantheon. Can Pantheon prevent the attack on innocents at the risk of exposing their true nature to the public?
Paul offers gradual and impactful character development and a roller coaster of emotions. The novel builds a connection between readers and characters, so the gut-wrenching twists and the unforeseen ending hits hard.
An exquisite aspect of the Pantheon series that KR Paul has beefed up immensely in this sequel is the surprisingly grounded portrayal of the teleportation superpowers. Instead of making the superhuman characters immediately all powerful, KR Paul highlights the vulnerabilities that come with having the ability to go anywhere in the blink of an eye, particularly the extraordinary exertion on the body, while incrementally introducing further abilities to keep the ball rolling with exciting revelations and surprises as the Pantheon operators discover themselves in well-written emotional crises uniquely suited to each character’s predicaments.
Culminating in a game-changing emotionally intense finale, Pantheon 2 is a highly entertaining read that follows a great recipe for creating a grounded sci-fi military-styled thriller with roots for more grand action-packed showdowns in the future.
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Purchase Pantheon 2: Ares & Athena
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Barrington Books
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