What the back says...
Marcie Horton has a sixth sense. Not in the “I see dead people” way, but . . . well, maybe a little. She feels a sort of knowing about certain things that can’t be explained—an intuition that goes beyond the normal. Then there was that one summer four years ago, when she connected with a long-departed spirit . . . But nothing that incredible has happened to Marcie since.
This summer, Marcie is spending time working at Angel Mounds, the archeological dig her mother heads, along with her brother, Eric, and his girlfriend, Renee. The dig is the site of an ancient indigenous civilization, and things immediately shift into the paranormal when Marcie and her dig teammates meet Lorraine and Zeke. The two mysterious dig assistants reveal their abilities to access the Universal Energy Field with their minds—something Marcie knows only vaguely that her brother has also had experience with. Marcie learns how our planet will disintegrate if action is not taken, and she and her team must decide if they are brave enough to help Lorraine and Zeke in their plan to save Mother Earth, her resources, and her history.
It looks like the summer just got a lot more interesting.
Although not part of the Catalysts book series, we first met main character Marcie Horton in Tracy Richardson's book Indian Summer and it is in this book where we are first introduced to Marcie's gift. Catalyst follows on from The Field - the first in The Catalysts series.
Whereas The Field followed Eric Horton, Marcie's brother, for Catalyst Marcie is the focus. Four years on from her experiences in Indian Summer, we follow her spending the summer at Angel Mounds as part of the archeological dig her mother is running. It is here she meets mysterious Zeke and Lorraine, both of which are aware of Marcie's gift and have gifts of their own. It is with Lorraine and Zeke that Marcie, her brother Eric, Eric's girlfriend Renee and dig team mate Leo, learn about the fate of the Earth and what they need to do to save the planet.
Aimed at YA readers, I found this a very educational read. The environmental aspects were very informative and I actually learnt quite a lot from it. To educate and give a balanced view without becoming too preachy is very clever. I also liked how the author balanced the views of the main characters, how they didn't all believe in the same thing and how they could work through it. The story is written in the first person, from Marcie's point of view, which I did find a bit clunky at times, along with some of the dialogue, but this did get better as we went through. I haven't read the first book in the series but this didn't make the book hard to read, it was very easy to pick up the story and meet the characters. If I could start again though I would have read The Field first just so I could pick up the tone of the stories.
I have to hold my hands up and say science fiction reads are not really my thing but as I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, and because I jump at the chance to be part of any WriteReads blog tour, I happily took up the challenge. I would definitely recommend this to young readers, the educational and environmental aspects are very thought provoking.
MHR x
I received this as an e-book in return for an honest review as part of The Write Reads Ultimate Blog Tour.