Do I have your new favorite non-comic book read! Lightning Girl by 27 is a fantastic novel that blends all the favorite elements of a great comic book, only without being so. Don't get me wrong. I think it would have been FANTASTIC if they included a comic strip at the beginning of each chapter, but sadly this is not a perfect world.
The book follows a young protagonist by the name of Stephanie Park, who has lived in an orphanage for fifteen years, ever since her father dropped her off. She also has the ability to manipulate electricity, a fact that no one at the wicked orphanage seems to pleased with as evidenced by how they lock her in a small closet. Stephanie is rescued twice from this hell hole, however. The first time by a young Japanese immigrant named Lucky and the second by a man named Mr. Gerard who wants to become her guardian and explore her abilities. He also wants to draw out other people with abilites and convince them not to live in fear. Sounds a little reminiscent of one Professor X from X-Men, huh? Well, that's what it reminded me of, but it did not diminish the quality of the book one bit!
Mr. Gerard thinks Stephanie needs to be the public face of synergies, or people like Stephanie who have powers. She gets entered in the Miss New York competition and rallies the synergy community behind her while bringing awareness to these people and simultaneously rapidly growing to care for a twelve year old boy by the name of Kyan Mal. Eventually, Stephanie realizes their is a rapid growing threat to the little boy she loves so much. Eric, a renegade Angel, believes Kyan to be the Envoy, the only one who can unite Heaven, Hell and Earth in peace. The fiends of Hell however, do not want this to occur and are building a tunnel to reach the Earth plane so they can rule. Stephanie must call upon her fellow synergies to protect the boy and Earth.
Overall, I loved this book. There were a few minor things that could have been improved on. I felt transitions were somewhat weak and certain things got glossed over pretty quickly. The book was fast paced and did remind me of a comic book and it got me curious as to what will happen in the next book.
Positives: Great plot, easy to read, and sympathetic characters.
Negatives: Weak transitions and a somewhat elementary writing style in the beginning (this disappears towards the middle, leading me to believe the author was just trying to show how sheltered Stephanie was).
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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