Esper Files: The Sky Cult - Egan Brass

Synopsis:

After the events of the first book, Freya has joined the Institute - an organization created to help Espers control their powers, and she thought she’d finally found peace.

That is, until Anti-Esper weapons find their way into the hands of The Coalition, a radical group who is determined to kill anyone with powers.
At the same time, the Sky Cult has arisen, claiming that Espers have the right to rule over lowly humans.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as all of this happens three days before Esper Day, the first holiday designed to show that humans and Espers can coexist.

Now Nathan, Freya and the team have to fight both organizations in a race against time before one of the radical groups tips the scales, and plunges the entire world into their own version of Armageddon.

Review:

So this is indeed the second book of a series. Back in the first book which I got as a paperback, we discover the world of Espers based in London who are in fact humans who after an experiment that had gone wrong in the late part of the 19th century, gain extraordinary powers. A thing called The Institute is set up to help those who have the powers to control them and stop corrupt Espers from abusing them. We meet up with the characters from the last book, Nathan, James and Freya who joined The Institute in the last book alongside her brother who still in this book is effected by the happenings in book 1.

Meeting back up with these characters felt so lovely, once I was asked to give an honest review for this book in return for a getting a free copy I just couldn't say no because I fell in love with the characters, the unique plot and the writing itself.

Sky Cult picked up shortly after the first book, the book automatically pushes you into the action without faffing around. 2 new what ill call baddies are introduced. One called Juniper who can control thunder and lightning (this makes me think of Thor) and secondly Lichtmann (you don't need too much help to translate that name) who can burn others with his touch and emits golden light whilst he believes himself to be an angel. Juniper is the leader of 'The Sky Cult' and Lichhtmann is just there to protect Jupiter under the orders of a mysterious character called Hades.

What I love is how real the characters are portrayed, Freya is still just a typical teenager, she probably believes herself to be indestructible, a hero. You know all of the things teenagers believe themselves to be? Except she can wield ice and is learning to control it which allows her to use it for good.

Nathan is still as attractive as he was the first time around, not in the sense of looks but in the way of his sarcasm, his personality and strength and determination and how protective he is and willing to risk all. I love his overall character just as much as I love the others.

What is great about this book is that it's actually diverse, we have people of colour and different ethnicities. Its beautiful to see that they aren't getting excluded from becoming beautiful powerful extraordinary characters. I also love the fact you do hear about slavery for a small part in the book which I felt had to be covered to help fill out James' character.

The book has so much action and what is called steam punk parts, both of these made the book awesome once again. All the characters that kind of played second to the main characters are characters I cant wait to see again if they every do make another appearance, like the Phantom Thief and Red Cap (who has the most amazing and hilarious one liners ever who reminds me a little of Deadpool) which also brings me to the point that I love more Espers from the institute were also featured which helped you understand the true reach and power of Espers.

I definitely didn't see the end of the book coming for sure, I loved that all  the questions you first want to ask get answered but then when you look back, you end up having more questions than actual answers and somehow that just makes me love it even more. What I am super looking forward to finding out all about the mysterious Hades, he has so much power through this book even though he isn't actually a huge part of it (if that makes sense, like he is present in the books but he isn't an actual fully fledges character we see every chapter or paragraph) I cant wait to find out about everything that was left unanswered at the end. I'm just so in love with this series that I think I'm never going to want to let go.

Its definitely a 5/5 from me for the second instalment of Esper Files, I'm looking forward to the next instalment. I'm probably going to have to heavily occupy myself up until it is available to read. I can recommend this to family, friends, strangers on the street, everybody and anybody.