RANTS AND RAMBLES (SPOILER WARNING)

• • DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. For this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).
  • This review is somewhat abbreviated as it is the second in a series and I did not feel like belaboring points already made previously. Please check out my review for Showdown if you want a more in-depth discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the series.
  • Barely a Spoiler: The two main characters in Saint are really good. They have a depth I frankly would not have expected after the previous novel in the series. Intriguing backstories, emotional and mental variation, and competing priorities and desires make Carl and Kelly compelling and realistic. The same cannot be said about the others, including the main villain. Just as with the last book, the main bad guy is generically evil. He is written into the world by Marsuvees Black to be evil through and through. His only motivation is to destroy Carl and then kill him, though exactly how he intends to do this or why it is necessary for Black’s big plan is still not clear by the end of the book.
  • Major Spoilers: The creation of superpowers for Carl makes the third act of the book blander and more generic than the rest of the volume. Previously, Carl had to face his enemy with the tools of an assassin. This is, in and of itself, pretty cool but he was also severely outmatched since the bad guy could use his mind to control physical objects. Carl had to think outside the box, plan ahead, and pull out all the stops to go toe to toe with the antagonist. But all that tension of previous scenes is eliminated when Carl gets the same ability as the bad guy. The end fight is just them throwing a bunch of rocks at each other. Ugh. And you can tell Ted wasn’t even invested in the power itself because he eliminated it almost as soon as he created it. Apparently it was just a by-product of Carl coming into his true power, and the telekinetic abilities disappeared soon after they showed up. So now we have a superpower which comes into the story just to defeat the bad guy (because apparently Ted couldn’t figure out a way for Carl to defeat him otherwise), and then it goes away. Can you spell deus ex machina? Double ugh. This is just lazy writing. A climax on the same terms as the rest of the book would have been a lot more fun and fulfilling.