Turning Point

I stood in Bryan's kitchen Monday night trying to tell him about Turning Point. I wasn't quite finished with the book at that point, but close enough to know that the story wasn't going to do 180 degree turn in 30 pages. (Or so I hoped. I was very happy with the direction the story was taking, and a 180 degree turn would mean my favorite characters killed off, and then I would be upset. Luckily, nothing too extreme happened.) So there I am, bringing dirty dishes to the sink and trying so hard to wrap my tongue around my thoughts.

I'm not sure where the conversation started that I absolutely had to inform Bryan about the telepathic link that was woven throughout the entire storyline of Turning Point, nor does it really matter. I do know that I had to attempt to share because it was just that damn cool and obviously had something to do with the previous conversation. More importantly, the story and telepathic thread was awesome to read and imagine. Who cares about the conversation, books are better. Its all about the books, people! (I kid, I kid... or maybe not...)

First we meet Carrie, a Terren girl, on the newly colonized planet of Keiss. Telepaths are unheard of in her culture, but Carrie and her identical twin, Elise, have a twisted telepathic bond. Elise being the more headstrong of the two takes all the risks, while Carrie takes all the pain from her sister. When Elise is captured by the Valtegans, an alien race who plan on conquring anything in their sights, Elise is able to withstand the torture because she doesn't feel a thing. Instead Carrie, at home, feels every fingernail pulled out, every kick and punch to the point that the physical symtoms are manifesting themself on her body. Elise dies in the hands of her captors and Carrie is left alone in her mind for the first time, a first time that she can't handle. Reaching out, she touches another mind, an alien one.

Kusac is a telepath from a feline race that is opposed to the Valtegans as well. Drawn to Keiss with his crewmates, their ship is shot down by the Valtegans. Kusac ends up alone and hurt. Appearing as one of the native forest cats, he finds Carrie through their link. Together, their bond grows, and slowly a shaky alliance is formed between the Terren guerillas and the small band of crashed Sholan. An alliance against a common foe.

Lisanne Norman's Turning Point. A quicker read than what I've read recently, about 250 or so pages long. So far there are 7 books in total in the Sholan Alliance series, and I plan on reading the reading the rest.