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Illusion, by Christa YelichKoth
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Buzz and Roar Publishing
Published: 2015
Review Posted: 10/20/2015
Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: 9 out of 10

Illusion, by Christa YelichKoth

Book Review by David L. Felts

Have you read this book?

Illusion, by Christa Yelich-Koth, is a billed as a science-fiction book, although the "science" aspects are few and far between and no more than slight-of-hand. Aliens that are alien by physical description only, a space ship, a simulation chamber (holodeck), some sort of no-dream pills.... 

Science fantasy would be a more apt description, along with more than its fair share of romantic elements. I encountered "blushing cheeks" and "heated cheeks" and "flushed cheeks" enough times that I began to notice it, and not in a good way. 

Almost the entire story takes place on the aforementioned starship, docked at some sort of secret star base somewhere in some galaxy. It's a small setting with a limited main cast:

Daith, the young daughter of Jacine Jaxx, former omnipotent military ruler of something, was kidnapped from her home world and her memories erased. She is desperate to recover her memories and identity.

Trey, a young and ruthless commander-in-exile, formerly Jaxx's second in command, who orchestrated Daith's kidnapping and hopes to be able to use her powers to reclaim the empire lost when Jaxx died. 

Dru, Trey's brother and the doctor who's trying to discover if Daith has the same mental powers her father had under the guise of helping her to recover her memories. 

The plot is fairly tepid and lifeless. 

Daith is the Female in Jeopardy (femjep) whose cheeks are constantly blushing. She sleeps a lot, and has nosebleeds and gets headaches. Evidently, she's pretty, because whenever she runs into other crew members, they think about how pretty she is. Her father, the omnipotent ruler Jaxx, possessed some sort of mental power like super ESP, telekinesis, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Psionic powers all in one. He used these powers to take over something and rule it.

Dru wants to help her, yet wants to help his brother Trey as well; these two goals are increasingly at odds with each other as he begins to develop affection and concern for Daith. His "help" is actually training Daith to discover the extent of Daith's mental powers as well as develop them. 

Trey is a ruthless, paranoid, one-dimensional psychopathic caricature of a military leader who makes impossible and unclear demands of his subordinates and then kills them when they fail to accomplish his assigned tasks. Why anyone would even put up with him is unclear.

On the writing: switches between third person limited and third person multiple often impart a jumbled and irregular narrative flow. Nevertheless, there are some fine moments where the the writer's talents show. I'm sure Yelich-Koth story crafting abilities will continue to advance as long as she keeps at it.
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Comments on Illusion, by Christa Yelich-Koth
Posted by Shelly T on 10/22/2015
I was a bit surprised when I read the review of this book by David Felts. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't rate this book a 5 out of 5, I did however give it a solid 4 out of 5. In re-reading Mr. Felts review, it occurred to me he was expecting it to be Science Fiction, when in fact, in the first line of the description of the book, it states it's a Science Fantasy book.

I am in no way saying Mr. Felts review doesn't hold water, it does...when you compare it to the genre of books he writes and the books he gives high marks to. I've of the opinion, Mr. Felts simply isn't the target market for this book.

As a fantasy book with a female main character, written by a female, of course it's going to have "romantic elements." Add to it the fact two brothers want the same girl for somewhat different reasons, and there is all kinds of interesting tension going on!!!

As for the brothers, their backstories make them quiet interesting and prod them along a path of contention with each one another.

The doctor was a wonderfully quirky character!

For me this book was a fun and easy fantasy read. I zipped through it and find myself eager for the next book in the series.

If you are a hardcore Sci-Fi reader, this isn't going to be the book for you. But if you are a fan of fantasy, with characters who have layers, and a touch of romance, you should give this book a spin. I know I'm glad I did!!