To start off, I am a very science oriented guy (some might even say science geek) and I enjoyed a lot of the explanation of the elemental and chemical physics behind this story. Some of the longer explanations did get me saying, "I get it. Now get on with the story." I like the premise of a person being able to influence how atoms combine to form molecules, but again, there is the fact that the person can induce fission and fusion and not destroy everything around? Including cascading nuclear reactions? I think the author may have misjudged the amount of power released in these type of reactions.



I found the character of the FBI agent too stereotypical as the hard-nosed anything to break the case and everything needs to be about the case type. The character had no human side and I think the character was not believable. Luckily, he isn't the main character.



I also like words. So there is also a character that is overly loquacious and tends to talk in alliteration and rhyme. Not believable, but I enjoyed the word play. Yes, there are times when she gets annoying, but most of the time I had to put some thought into getting the meaning from the words and I appreciated the work the author put into the dialog.



With all that said... Why 4 stars? I found the story well written. Yes, there are some science and character issues, but looked at from a super-hero point of view, these are more believable characters than Superman and they have great interactions. I wanted to see what happens next and enjoyed the read to the point of sneaking in a chapter or so every chance I could get (my life doesn't allow me to sit down and do long reads much anymore). The author found another vector for the acquisition of powers (no radioactive spiders, or mutations) and I can anticipate a lot of chances for plot twists and conflicts. I look forward to more.