Esper Files by Egan Brass

Genre: Science Fiction, Steampunk, Young Adult Fiction

Pages: 201

Published October 26th 2016 by Inkitt

Summary:

Set in London during the latter part of the 19th century. An experiment goes wrong at The Oxford Academy of Science, giving certain people extraordinary powers which turns them into ‘Espers’. An institute is set up to teach Espers how to control these power, and stop corrupt Espers from abusing theirs. Nathan and James, two agents from the Institute team up with Freya, a young Esper whose brother (gifted with the strange ability to manipulate emotions) is abducted by a ruthless Baron. The group has to fight against a dark threat to protect the fragile peace of Victorian London… And the rest of the world.

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Once upon a time a well known Professor speaks about electromagnetic energy and pushes his newly designed creation to the limit, the end result was catastrophic in more ways than one. From the explosion came a storm and from the storm came beings who were touched with abilities. These people were called Espers, [ESP, Extra Sensory Perception.]

Flash forward a few years and an institute is created to home and teach these Espers how to control their abilities and inevitably reach out to those who are lost, scared, ostracized and potentially dangerous to society.

As soon as the prologue is through we are thrust into action immediately, Nathan and James are the ones who scout out potentially dangerous Espers and also are the ones who hunt down the dangerous ones to bring back to the institute, they meet their match when one named “Firebrand” rushes onto the scene and utterly confuses them. One thing leads to another and before you know it we’re inside another story – a bigger story that becomes the overall plot to the book.

Cyrus is called a Siren, his ability is that he can sing and move people however he wishes, his sister Freya supports him, looks after him. But when a man known as “The Baron” seeks out Cyrus for his less than honorable purposes, things quickly head south. Cyrus is kidnapped, Freya is left for dead and that is when Nathan steps in to help.

I was actually really intrigued by this story, to begin with, I’m a huge fan of Steampunk and especially the supernatural flare to it. Magic or abilities, yeah sign me up! Admittedly, though, this book went between losing my attention and gripping it in place. There were moments of action and then lulls, so it would race forward and stall, race forward and stall.

There were also moments that were so inconceivable that it gave it a cartoon-like feel. I realize that this is fantasy but there is an art behind making something that is so unbelievable into something that is believable. Some extreme things could have been left out to make it more believable. I did enjoy the characters themselves, they all had their own personality which gave them each depth.

BUT if that kind of thing doesn’t hamper your reading experience, then I do suggest this book. It’s reminiscent of X-Men but set in the Victorian/Steampunk theme. For fans of X-Men [comics!] like myself, it’s easy to see the similarities.