Review: The Search for Artemis by P.D. Griffith

Title: The Search for Artemis
Author: P.D. Griffith
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Gryff Publishing
Publish Date: June 1, 2011
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a paranormal fan.
• You're a young adult fiction fan.

What's the Story:

From Goodreads.com: "Fifteen-year-old Landon Wicker is psychokinetic, but the tragic unleashing of his abilities forces him to run from everything he knows. Alone, terrified and unable to remember the events that compelled him to flee, Landon fights to survive and understand what’s happening to him. He finds solace, however, in the company of hundreds of psychokinetics like him when he’s brought to the Gymnasium.

Forced into a life where people don’t just see — but control — the world around them and teenagers lift city buses with a thought, Landon struggles to accept his new reality and the guilt over his painful secret. But everything changes when a chance encounter with a mysterious girl propels him on a hunt for answers. Uncovering dark truths the Gymnasium would do anything to keep hidden, Landon must choose where his loyalties lie.

Will Landon accept his past—and his future? Will he discover the truth? What’s hidden in the Restricted Tower, and who is Artemis?"

My Two Cents:

This book holds a very inventive story about a world where telekinesis is a real thing. Landon finds this out the hard way when his parents die in a horrific event. In this world, those with the special gene that controls telekinesis or in layman's terms: the ability to move things with their minds can go to a special school to hone their skills. I really liked once Landon got to the school. Luckily that doesn't happen too far into the book.

This book is the first one in a planned series (I'm actually not totally sure how many books there will be). I think that this book is definitely for those who enjoy series. If you're looking for a standalone book, you could probably read this and enjoy it but I think that you will probably want to read the other books in the series since there are still a lot of questions to be asked once you get to the end of the book. I found myself wondering a lot about if different things (I'm thinking specifically about the society at the school in the book for anyone who has either read the book or is planning to read this book) really factor in to the greater story told as the series progresses. I wish a little bit more of the mysteries in the book had been resolved in this first book. What's so wrong with stand-alone books??? I think the book would have been a little more gripping if we got more detail on what was happening with the different characters.

The writing of the book is very engaging. There is a lot of good detail in the book and you will have no problem feeling what the characters in the book are going through. While there isn't a lot of world building as far as setting goes, there is another sort of world building that goes on in the book with explaining the characters and why they are where they are.I think readers who like science fiction stories with a lot of detail about the basic science behind the story will like this book.