1) There are two ways to go with action scenes. We can do the Transformers thing: swirly camera that won’t stop moving with tons of explosions and you have no idea what is going on. We can also do the Children of Men thing: the action has a character-related purpose and we have the sense we are following the character along. The author opts for the latter here. (That’s a good thing.) We have empathy for Talia at the start because she’s a young person under some kind of existential threat.
2) I love the Starship Troopers/Ender’s Game vibe, with the young men and women fighting a speculative-fiction enemy. The situation offers a wide range of dramatic possibilities.
3) The author begins the novel in medias res (in the middle of the action), and still manages to slip in the details specific to her fantasy world. We don’t quite know everything about Hunters Village and Elite Headquarters, but we know enough to maintain our interest.
Check out the author’s web site and buy her book!
