This is the second book in the MetaWars series by Kelly Meding. This book is told from the point of view of Dahlia Perkins, aka Ember. We were introduced to her in the first book, as a newly found Meta with the ability to absorb flames and heat. 6 months have passed since the ending of Trance and the former Rangers are working on putting together the house that they will be using as a base of operations. We find out that Dahlia has access to a trust fund set up by the father that she has never seen, as she was an illegitimate child. She uses this money to purchase and refurbish the large mansion and grounds that the team is living on. Currently, the team is also starting to work some small cases with the LAPD and starting to gain the trust of the local law enforcement agency.
It is during their first big case, called out to discuss what exactly happened to all the insides of a man left near a dumpster downtown that this book really gets going. All that is left of the gentleman is the outer skin, kind of like a slip cover. At first the team is afraid that it is the work of another Meta, but it is not a skill any of them had ever heard of before. The team finds out this is not the first such case and start looking into the background of the first man found. He was a janitor at a facility called Weatherfield. One that Dahlia is familiar with, as she investigated it during college and ended up graduating last in her class due to not able to substantiate claims she made about the facility.
During this time, Dahlia is also put in charge of hiring an electrical company to redo and update the team's base. She vaguely remembers going to high school with a student who's family were electricians and decides to start with them. Upon meeting Noah, the boy she once had a crush on, running the family business, Dahlia's feelings are rekindle and it looks like romance is in bloom. Unfortunately, things are not what they seem, in either situation.
I went into this book really hoping to love it as much as the first one. But I found that wasn't to be the case. First of all, the main character changed to Dahlia, and I hadn't really connected with her from the first book. Second, all the fun comic book action of the first one was hard to find in this second book. And finally, I just kept going "Say What?" due to the outlandish plot points. I know, I know, the series is about people who basically have super powers in a futuristic world that has been ravaged by their in-fighting. But it just felt like this second book took a sharp right turn away from where it was headed. There wasn't even a good resolution to the book. I finished reading it feeling, just "meh". I am giving it 2 stars on Goodreads. Such a disappointment from the first book, Trance.
Goodreads:
The second in a new series by popular urban fantasy author Kelly Meding, about an X-Men-like group of young people with superpowers who must find a way to work together.
Five months ago, Dahlia Perkins was a struggling newspaper journalist whose biggest responsibility was paying her rent on time. After learning she has the ability to absorb and deflect massive amounts of heat and fire, Dahlia is struggling to find her place as the newest hero in an established team of former Rangers freelancing their abilities in post-Meta War Los Angeles.
The team’s first major case: two discarded human skins. One is a John Doe, the other was a janitor for Weatherfield R&D, a scientific research and development firm Dahlia once investigated—and she’s itching to investigate them again. The ability to use and shed another person’s skin isn’t a power any of them have encountered before, nor something any of their former Meta enemies possess. But when a third skin appears and one of Dahlia’s teammates is nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet, it’s clear someone else besides Weatherfield is targeting the Rangers—and their killer may not be Meta at all.
This is the first book in the MetaWars series by Kelly Meding. It is also the first Kelly Meding book I have read. I have had her Dreg City book on my TBR shelf almost since the beginning, but for some reason they keep slipping down on my list.
This book starts off very violently. A group of Meta children are running for there very lives through Central Park, being chased by Banes. As we find out, Metas are the names given to people who have special abilities, like shape-changing, telepathy, telekinesis and other areas that fall under the heading Metaphysics. The Banes are the bad guys with these powers, the good guys are called Rangers. They all have code names based on their talents. A war has been going on between the Rangers and Banes and we enter into what is the last stand of the war.
The story is told solely from the perspective of Teresa, or Trance as is her public handle. Just as it looks like the children are about to be wiped out, they all fall in agony. The story picks up 15 years later. Something had happened that day and every Meta lost their powers. The adult Banes were rounded up and locked on the Island of Manhattan It was turned into a large prison and they were left to basically live out their lives under the armed guards watching from high towers and walls around Manhattan. All of the children were put into foster care scattered around the country and left to grow up as norms.
Teresa is now 25 years old and working 3 jobs just to pay the rent and be able to eat on a semi-regular basis. Most of the time, she has to resort to eating left over food off of the plates that come back into the kitchen of one of the restaurants she works at. The world is still in a state of chaos from the massive destruction of the war between the Rangers and Banes. When her powers returned, it is with the nearly the same agony as when they left. Oddly enough, she doesn't receive her powers, but the powers of her grandmother. Unsure of what to do, Teresa starts hitchhiking toward Los Angles to the last Headquarters of the Rangers.
As a huge fan of Superheroes, both comics and movies, I was sure that I was going to love this book. And it was very good. The untested leader who keeps second guessing herself. The anti-hero who believes that he is doing the world a favor by getting rid of the Metas, and thus becomes the villain. Some wise cracking secondary characters to give comic relief. And enough twists and turns to keep everything rolling along and interesting. I will say, that this was a very violent and bloody book. But, they are fighting a war, and no war has ever been fought without casualties or bloodshed. I didn't figure out who the big bad guy was until it was revealed at the end of the book. There was little to no foreshadowing of who it could be. With this book being told first person, it is hard to get a handle on all the characters, but I am hoping that we will find out more as the series progresses. Overall this was a great start to the series.
I am giving this book 5 stars on Goodreads. It is not a happy, happy, joy, joy kind of book. However, it reminds us that there are good people out there, who may not be perfect, but are trying to make a difference in the world, that second chances are worth giving, and that even in the most helpful individuals lurk the seeds of destruction and violence. This is worth a read, or maybe even two.
Goodreads:
Kelly Meding’s war-ravaged Los Angeles is ground zero for the ultimate Meta human showdown in this sexy, action-packed new series. Fifteen years ago, Teresa “Trance” West was a skilled telepath and a proud member of the Ranger Corps. But ever since the Rangers were inexplicably rendered powerless at the climax of the devastating Meta War, she’s bounced from one dead-end job to another. Now her powers have reappeared just as mysteriously as they vanished— only they’re completely transformed and more potent than ever. And they’re threatening to destroy her.
Trance heads to Los Angeles to track down the surviving Rangers and discover who restored her powers—and why—but a phantom enemy is determined to kill them before they can reassemble. As they dodge his deadly attacks and come to terms with their new role as heroes, Trance and the rest of the team set out to annihilate the sinister madman . . . only to discover their own powers are his greatest weapons.
