Trance

by Kelly Meding

[Angie]

This year I have discovered that superheros are quite super. Trance is an awesome Urban Fantasy that focuses on a group of unlikely heroes known as the Ranger Corps. Our narrator is Teresa aka Trance, who had the ability to hypnotize someone with a single glance. But then all of the superpowers just disappeared. Fifteen years later, she's down on her luck when her powers are randomly reactivated. Except that they're not hers. She now has the grandmother's power to manipulate energy and has no idea why, or how to properly channel it. She heads back to Los Angeles where their headquarters is and meets up with several of the other kids (now grown up) who had their powers ripped away and then given back. Of course, not only the superheros got their powers back. The villains did too, and now a war is brewing.

Trance is super action packed and fast paced. It only covers a week worth of events, but that week was hell for everyone. Teresa has been named leader of their team, since her powers are the strongest. But they might not be enough to stop Specter, the super evil supervillain who's determined to take them all out. His power is the ability to invade someone's mind and control them, and he certainly takes every advantage to use it. I was always on the edge of my seat, wondering who he was going to take over next, since no one was safe. There's also a lot of death in this one, and it was something that Teresa really struggles with since some of them were by her hand.

Being the first of the series, Trance contains a ton of world building. It didn't feel info-dumpy to me, but there is a lot of information to take in. It is set in the nearish future, but there's also some aspects of Alternate History at play. Superpowers weren't something that just developed; they had been around for a long time. The characters have wide ranges of powers from shapeshifters to elementals to manipulation and heightened senses. We also get some insights into the politics and economics of the time, which aren't good, and there's a little bit of medical and science stuff when it comes to the superpowers. The author definitely did a great job with all of this.

I really enjoyed Trance. It had a lot of great characters, an amazing plot, and I found it totally unique. While action dominates, there are some humorous moments and some emotional ones. There is a bit of a romance developing between Trance and one of her team members. They don't get too far in the week covered, especially since they're always on the move or getting injured, but they do find a little bit of alone time to...explore their feelings. It was enough to satisfy this romance junkie, but it certainly wasn't the focus. The ending has a great twist that I didn't see coming at all, and it actually doesn't end on a cliffhanger! The Rangers successfully complete their first mission, and I'm eager to see what's in store for them next.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.