Brief

Chase is a human in love with Avery, who is a Caelan--an extraterrestrial species that look like beautiful people and can influence minds using psy. Psying does not work on Chase, however, due to his severe ADHD. Romance between a human and a Caelan is forbidden by Avery's planet, but the lovers have more serious issues to conquer as another Caelan, Regulus Lafaye, plans on using psy to eradicate humanity's free will as a whole, and his number one target is Chase.

What We Liked

- Unlike most fantasy series, this book does not settle for merely establishing an interesting world with fantastical rules and powers, but is also a deeply relatable tale of love, the power of acceptance from others and yourself, the difficult choices of forgiveness, the ability to control anger, overcoming internal demons, and so much more. This is a love story with beautiful themes and powerful messages that we see the characters really struggle with.
- As a film, this would be a blockbuster fantasy with gripping action scenes and a powerful message.
- As a television series viewers would tune in each week for the draw of the love story between Chase and Avery but soon find themselves wrapped up in the intergalactic drama and moral quandaries that the show presents.
- Key points: Unique premise; Love story; Multidimensional leads and supporting characters; Villain with understandable motives; Larger themes

Synopsis

Chase is a human in love with Avery, a Caelan. The Caelans are aliens from the planet Caelus who look like extremely beautiful humans and have the ability to influence people by psying them, a form of mind control. Chase is immune to psying because of his severe ADHD. The Caelans have a strict set of rules in their culture that prevent violence and psying other Caelans, but while those rules work on the planet Caelus where people have overcome anger and violence, while on Earth, many Caelans succumb to humanlike emotions of rage and greed. One such Caelan is Regulus Lafaye, a leader who lost his beloved wife, Claudia, to a drunk driving accident. Lafaye believes that humans should not be allowed free will, but has taken advantage of his superior psying skills and psyed many other Caelans to follow him. The Caelans are a people against violence, but Lafaye is able to use his psying powers to influence the Caelans that violence against his enemies is justified.

This is the third book in the trilogy and we open with Chase, imprisoned by Lafaye. Chase is tortured for a few days, primarily as punishment for his relationship with Avery, as the number one rule on Caelus is that Caelans are not allowed to have romantic affairs with humans. After his torture, Chase is healed by Candace, Avery's sister who is under the influence of Lafaye's psy and has become his right hand assistant. Chase learns from Nathan, Avery's ex-fiance, that Lafaye plans to trap Chase in a mental hospital and lock him in his own mind, as he had previously done to another human who threatened him, Pete McClouth. Chase is horrified at his fate and worried about Avery, but he is soon rescued from the prison by Landcaster, a blonde Caelan assassin. Landcaster was previously an assassin for Lafaye and was ordered to kill Avery, but became emancipated from Lafaye's psy by trying to shoot Avery. Although psy is very powerful, it is not full mind control, it is influence, so if someone is given an order that conflicts strongly enough with their moral code or core knowledge, their mind will override those orders and they will be unable to be forced to do them again. Landcaster apologizes for his attack on Avery and Chase is quick to forgive him, realizing that it was not his fault as he was under strong psy and not in control of his actions.

The pair sets out to rescue Avery, who has been kept a prisoner by Lafaye. Nathan tries to talk to Avery and get her to return to him and denounce her past actions, but she tells him that she cannot control who she loves and will never be in love with Nathan like she is in love with Chase. Nathan reports this to Lafaye, who talks to Avery and attempts to psy her into submitting to his will. However, Avery's psy is too strong and she is able to not only defend herself but also to psy Lafaye. Horrified, Lafaye arranges to have Avery murdered in secret--he knows that her father, Regulus Asterion, will never allow the murder of his daughter, and that the act of ordering her murder is violent enough to emancipate many of his followers. Landcaster and Chase manage to rescue Avery. Chase proposes to Avery, but she laughs it off and refuses, saying that they can discuss it when she returns to Earth, as she has to go to Caelus to report back to her father about Lafaye's abuses of power and his plan to eradicate humanity's free will. Landcaster sneaks off to kill Lafaye with a rifle despite Chase's protestations. Chase and Avery board a ship to take them back to Earth flown by Landcaster's brother, Ilian. While onboard the ship, Lafaye contacts them and reports that he has captured Landcaster and will spare him if they return Avery and Chase. Despite Illian's protestations, they refuse, and Lafaye uses his psy to force Landcaster to step to the edge of a tall building. Lafaye is unable to psy Landcaster into walking off the building and falling to his death and so instead he pushes him off, and the group watches onscreen as Landcaster falls to his death. Lafaye sends them a message threatening Cadence next. Ilian is furious and Avery wants to go back to rescue Cadence, but Chase convinces her not to, as she needs to go back and he can see that her anger is taking over and even she can admit that she really enjoyed being able to psy Lafaye and wants to see if she could do so again. While Avery is asleep, Chase convinces Ilian to secretly drop him off so he can go after Lafaye and rescue Cadence.

Chase almost makes it out of the building with Cadence, but she does not want to be rescued as she is still under Lafaye's influence, so she screams and alerts the guards, who soon capture him. Meanwhile, Avery discovers what Chase has done and orders Ilian to take her back to rescue Chase. Avery and Ilian watch onscreen as Chase is brought in front of all the Caelans. Lafaye tries to arrange for the Caelans to vote to execute Chase then and there, but the Caelans vote unanimously to imprison him. Lafaye tries to rile Chase up and goad him into acting crazy enough that he will be able to murder him and get away with it, but Chase refuses, and instead asks for peace. Chase is able to realize what he needs to do and makes it clear that he thinks he will get out of this alive, putting Lafaye on edge. Chase says he wants to show Lafaye something in his pocket and promises that it's not a gun, but Lafaye is too angry so the moment he sees Chase's outstretched hand, he shoots him. Chase drops to the floor, revealing he was only holding his wallet. The sight of Lafaye shooting an unarmed human is enough to emancipate the Caelans, including Cadence, who become disgusted with Lafaye. Lafaye realizes what he has done and becomes disgusted with himself, and takes the rifle and shoots himself, unable to live with his regrets. Avery takes Chase to Caelus and is able to save his life. The council decides to amend their rules so that Avery and Chase can be together. Back on Earth, Chase proposes to Avery, and she accepts.

About The Author

Based in Illinois, Christopher Halt received a computer science degree and years later was diagnosed with ADHD. He continued to pursue writing despite the advice of his professors to stop, published "The Dharma Revelation" in 2008 and "The Angriest Angel" trilogy starting in 2018.