Liberation by Maria Lucia

Title: Liberation (Book One of the Andrusian Chronicles)
Author: Maria Lucia
Publisher: Andrusian Press
Publish Date: June 2, 2010
Source: Pump Up Your Book and the author (this did not affect my review of this book)

Why Are You Reading This Book?:

- You like the supernatural
- You appreciate good world building

What's the Story?:

From Pump Up Your Book: Amora Madre is content in the Smokey Mountains pursuing her teaching of love, things of  the spirit, and metaphysics. Her childhood invisible playmates, Casey and Nia, are always by her side. But when soul mate Gabriel Ephraim enters her life, she is drawn into the heart of a terrible encounter with the spirit world in the skies over Washington D.C. Catapulted into service for the Intergalactic Supernatural Intelligence Agency, ISIA, the kindred lovers soon discover the existence of an invisible wickedness over the city, its galactic origins, and its evil designs for national and world events.

As part of an Andrusian galactic strike force, assembled to dismantle the malevolent legion’s brutal matrix, Amora and Gabriel, seasoned and accomplished, embark on a dangerous adventure filled with Onaweyans, Scorpillians, historical figures, and a confrontation with the dark supernatural syndicate over the fate of the United States and the earth.

With journeys into galactic and dimensional worlds, interactions with fantastic characters and creatures, and revelation of the current struggle between the spiritual forces of good and evil, LIBERATION draws the reader into a world where the spiritual dimensions and reality converge."

My Two Cents:

Washington, DC has a lot of issues in the Capitol Building alone (if you're watching the debt talks like I am, you know what I mean!) Imagine if the capital city also had to contend with issues stemming from the supernatural as well as all! Amora and Gabriel, the two main characters in Liberation, are drawn to come to the Nation's Capital by a seemingly magical force. When they get there, they're asked to join the Intergalactic Supernatural Intelligence Agency (ISIA), a sort of CIA-esque covert government organization that deals solely with the supernatural. Something has manifested itself and is controlling not only the whole country but the world. Not only are living beings called to join ISIA in their fight, famous people from the reaches of history also have a place in ISIA. It was very cool to see some of our founders and leaders in that light.

One thing that I really loved in this book was the world-building. The first several pages were world-building alone really. At first, I was confused why the author was doing all of the world-building at once but it really helped once I got into the real meat of the story to understand how everything was put together. While the world-building continues throughout the book, the majority is definitely in the first couple pages. It was an interesting writing style but it definitely worked. There were a few historical events that seemed to sort of stick out and I found myself wondering what they added to the whole of the book.

Another thing that I liked about the book was the setting. I love my city and I'm a sucker for just about anything set in Washington, DC. This was probably the first fantasy book that I had read about my city. Usually it's just political thrillers (which I can get very tired of very quickly). All I know is that after I read this book, I'm definitely going to look at the National Archives building in a whole different way. This book was a refreshing take on the city that I love so dearly.

One thing to point out is that this book was marketed to me as a young-adult novel. I would say that I would probably put it into the adult section. It's not that there are particularly adult topics but the writing strikes me as more of an adult novel. The main characters in the book seem to be in their 30s and 40s and I'm not sure they would resonate with teens as much as they do with adults.

Bottom line, if you like a bit of sci-fi in your reading diet and enjoy good world-building, you'll enjoy this book.  

My Review:
3.5 out of 5 stars