Official Review: Spartanica by Powers Molinar

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Spartanica" by Powers Molinar.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Spartanica by Powers Molinar, the first book in the series The Survivors of Sapertys, is a young adult science fiction book starring two young brothers, Marcus and Ty. The two boys awaken in the middle of the night, only to find themselves suddenly teleported into an alternate universe by a strange object in their basement. After encountering multiple unusual creatures and life-threatening attacks, they meet up with a girl named Bellana, the daughter of the former leader of the city, and learn that they have landed in a destroyed city called Spartanica on the planet Sapertys. Later joined by a few other young survivors of the mysterious disaster that destroyed all of the major cities of the planet, Marcus and Ty begin to learn that they have unnatural powers, much like Bellana.

Strength, speed, the ability to project themselves into the minds of others – Marcus and Ty learn of more and more things about their own lives that they didn’t know before this unexpected adventure. To top it all off, they discover that they are actually Bellana’s brothers, and the three of them must work together with their new friends to escape from this world before the evil forces that destroyed the planet find them and destroy them as well.

From start to finish, Spartanica is a fast-paced story with non-stop, action-packed adventure. There is not a dull moment anywhere within the pages of this book. The heroes of the story encounter robotic humans, enemies operating giant hamster balls, disgusting giant creatures known as Desrata (or ‘rats for short), gigantic underground squid, and tons of explosive weapons, just to name of few of the things the boys experience during their time in Spartanica. As soon as one adventure ends, the next one begins. The fast pace of the story is easy to follow and impossible to put down. With a cliffhanger ending, you’ll be itching to have the next book in your hands as soon as possible.

The story is told from alternating perspectives of Marcus, Ty, and Bellana, and each of the young teenagers has his or her own distinct voice. When Bellana first appeared, I worried that she would be difficult to follow, as she uses a lot of “foreign” words that were made up for this story. However, as I continued reading, I had no problem following this new language, and I actually found it an additional adventure, trying to piece together all of the new vocabulary and learn about the new and interesting concepts of this world. The chapter titles are also written in the characters of Spartanica's written language, and additional graphics from the language also appear periodically throughout the story. Deciphering the language is also a kind of puzzle, which only added to my enjoyment of the story.

The three main characters of the story are all around thirteen years old, and the author does a great job at characterizing them in a positive and appropriate manner. They are all mature and independent, and I never once felt that they were represented as inferior just because they are so young. The language of the book isn’t even “dumbed down” to accommodate a younger audience; in fact, I strongly believe that it encourages vocabulary development in younger readers.

In terms of negatives aspects of this book, you won’t find me complaining about much of anything. I found maybe two typos in the book, and one of those might have been intentional. Overall, there was nothing in terms of the writing quality of the book that posed any problems for me. There was even less in the story itself that I found problematic. It’s original, intelligent, awe-inspiring, well-planned, and just overall excellent.

It is my pleasure to give Spartanica by Powers Molinar a rating of 4 out of 4 stars, and I highly recommend this book to any young readers, their parents, fans of young adult fiction, and fans of science fiction in general. I would not be surprised to see this book sitting up on shelves next to other classic science fiction books such as Ender’s Game. I look forward to reading more in this series!

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[Skillian]

Underground squid?? *shudders* Sounds really good. I love that you point out that it wasn't 'dumbed down' for the younger age range. I hate when people do that. Great review.

[Gravy]

Sounds interesting...
Puzzles are (almost) always fun.

[ALynnPowers]

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely recommend this one. Great book for a wide range of ages.

[gali]

Sounds good! Thank you for the lovely review!

[ALynnPowers]

Can I just add that the author has the greatest name in the world? It's amazing. How can you not be a science fiction writer with that awesome name?!?!

[pmolinar]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks so much for your review. You hit upon a number of the concepts built into the story to make it a little extra fun. Great last name, by the way!

Powers

[ALynnPowers]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks so much for your review. You hit upon a number of the concepts built into the story to make it a little extra fun. Great last name, by the way!

Powers

My pleasure! It was certainly a fun book. I'm so glad I got to read it!!!

[bookowlie]

Great review! I love your description of the book as "just overall excellent" I also like that the language and characters aren't "dumbed down" just because it's the young adult genre. Adding to my ever-growing reading list.

[ALynnPowers]

Great review! I love your description of the book as "just overall excellent" I also like that the language and characters aren't "dumbed down" just because it's the young adult genre. Adding to my ever-growing reading list.

That was one of my favorite things about the books! There were all kinds of good vocabulary words used throughout the book! And even the kids (I say "kids" in reference to the thirteen year olds! Haha!) used them! The first time someone said "sarcophagus" I was like, "What? A kid would never say that!" But then I thought, "But they should..." And I think that's the point. Great way of secretly teaching the kids to expand their vocabularies.

[pmolinar]

Great review! I love your description of the book as "just overall excellent" I also like that the language and characters aren't "dumbed down" just because it's the young adult genre. Adding to my ever-growing reading list.

That was one of my favorite things about the books! There were all kinds of good vocabulary words used throughout the book! And even the kids (I say "kids" in reference to the thirteen year olds! Haha!) used them! The first time someone said "sarcophagus" I was like, "What? A kid would never say that!" But then I thought, "But they should..." And I think that's the point. Great way of secretly teaching the kids to expand their vocabularies.

Thanks, Lynn. I like to sprinkle "stretch" words occasionally throughout the story for exactly that reason. The hope is that the young reader will either ask about or look up the meaning, if not known. My kids (11 and 13) do so regularly. The gradual growth in their vocabularies has been fun to watch.

Have a wonderful 2015.

Powers.

[PashaRu]

Great review, Эймичка! Nice that you pointed out that the teens are represented in a positive manner and each maintains his/her own distinctive voice. Too often we see such characters represented as one-dimensional cliches or stereotypes. Glad you liked the book so much, well-written review, and nice comments from the author as well.

You're a great part of the review team!

[ALynnPowers]

Thanks, Lynn. I like to sprinkle "stretch" words occasionally throughout the story for exactly that reason. The hope is that the young reader will either ask about or look up the meaning, if not known. My kids (11 and 13) do so regularly. The gradual growth in their vocabularies has been fun to watch.

Have a wonderful 2015.

Powers.

And I really applaude you for this. As a teacher, I enjoy seeing books that are interesting yet can "teach" something to kids without them consciously knowing that they are learning. I love it when kids can figure out meanings of words for themselves especially, and I thought this book was a great example of how that happen.

[RussetDivinity]

This book sounds really interesting, but I might wind up waiting for the rest of the series before I look for it. Lately I haven't been in the mood for cliffhanger endings. I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for it, though! It sounds like something fun to read.

[ALynnPowers]

This book sounds really interesting, but I might wind up waiting for the rest of the series before I look for it. Lately I haven't been in the mood for cliffhanger endings. I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for it, though! It sounds like something fun to read.

Good idea. I am curious to know what happens next, but I don't know when the next book with me out? I wonder if the author would care to enlighten us on that? (Hint, hint)