We made it to another Friday! High five! This week, Kelly Clever is telling us about an urban fantasy YA novel by a local author who sets his stories in our very own Greensburg -- Psi Another Day by D.R. Rosensteel.
D.R. Rosensteel's books were recommended by the ladies in my self-defense class, since the author goes to the same karate school I do! I'm not typically a big YA person, but when my classmates and instructor told me that the Psi Academy novels are set in a lightly-fictionalized Greensburg, I was intrigued.
The book's narrator is a 16-year-old girl named Rinnie, who is a normal high-schooler by day but trains in both martial and "mental arts" in a secret underground academy at night. The martial arts are pretty self-explanatory, but the "mental arts" and the cool tech that the Psi Fighters have developed to amplify their abilities are what set them apart. Thoughts become physical and mental weapons and tools when employed by these secretive fighters.
Naturally, the Psi Fighters have sworn enemies who employ the same combination of fighting styles, and the leader of the evil Walpurgis Knights is obsessed with finding and eliminating Rinnie, in particular. Rinnie needs to figure out the secret identities of the bad guys, save the younger kids in town from evil kidnappers, figure out whom she can and can't trust, clean up the bullying problem at her school, and occasionally fight for her life. While also dealing with boy problems, naturally.
This book is the first in the series. I actually enjoyed its sequel, Live and Let Psi, a bit more. It has even more local "Easter eggs" that made me go "I know that spot!" and the characters have had a chance to develop more fully. The Psi Who Loved Me, the third title in the series, is forthcoming.
