The Astral Traveler’s Daughter – Book Two of School For Psychics by K. C. Archer

★★★

Investigation into a secret corps of psychic vigilantes

Following the betrayal of one classmate and the disappearance of another, Teddy Cannon is determined to get to the truth. A psychically gifted student at the Whitfield Institute for Law Enforcement Training and Development (which secretly trains psychics), she spends her summer vacation searching for clues to track the group responsible, the Patriot Corps, a group of renegade psychics. When a pendant once belonging to her mother comes into her possession, she and her friends are led to a base in the remote Nevada desert. There, the mystery surrounding the Patriot Corps and what happened to her parents takes a new turn.

Returning to the Whitfield Institute for her second year, Teddy struggles with her new power of astral travel through time, attempting to use it to her advantage in her ongoing investigation into the Patriot Corps and her mother’s involvement with the group. Meanwhile, shady conspiratorial forces at Whitfield, the drugs company Hyle Pharmaceuticals, an animal rights protest group, and the Patriot Corps itself all hone in on Teddy as she gets closer to the truth. With her circumstances becoming ever more dangerous, who can she really trust?

The Astral Traveler’s Daughter is a solid thriller, with the added soupçon of graduate students with supernatural abilities – telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, precognition, astral projection – for good measure. As the second in a series, an opening summary makes it unnecessary to have read the first book in order to follow with ease the action and characters of this one. It has to be said that the mystery at the centre of the story feels somewhat generic: the government/corporation/secret organisation/lost parent conspiracy is similar to many things that have been done before, but it is plotted with skill and delivers a good twist at the end leading effectively into the next book.

Another issue is that the heroine, Teddy Cannon, is not especially sympathetic. While it’s absolutely not necessary for a protagonist to be “good” (in fact, flawed heroes are always the most interesting ones), Teddy too often comes across as selfish, self-absorbed, and – for someone supposed to be psychic – distinctly lacking in empathy for those around her. Towards the end of the book, she makes a terrible (and avoidable) mistake by abrogating her responsibility in order to pursue her own interest, which, unfortunately, is entirely in character, but ends in potential tragedy for others. Only after this does she show a glimmer of self-awareness and remorse – but, even then, it’s only because of guilt. Hopefully, in the next novel, Teddy will learn from the experiences in this one, and take others’ feelings and needs into account as well as her own.

Jo-Anne Blanco (as Arwen Evenstar) for Breakaway Reviewers

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
©Jo-Anne Blanco 2019