“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”Leia Hamilton can move things and set them on fire with her mind.Leia’s father and step-mother tried to hide their past: a time when they were part of a team of superheroes. But despite being disbanded for over twenty years following a series of tragedies, their problems were passed to their children and Leia finds that her future … children and Leia finds that her future collides with their past.
In the diverse world of human and superhuman, heroes and villains, friends and enemies, some of Leia’s choices have terrible consequences. For Leia, this leads to a personal crossroads and a search for redemption.
Not your normal superhero novel, Mindfire isn’t about secret identities, costumes, or evil plots endangering the world. Instead, self-discovery and adaptation is at the forefront as the reader follows the lives of the characters who are unafraid to show love and explore spirituality.
Can redemption and renewed grace weather the flames of absolute power and superhuman strength?
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This was an interesting twist on a superhero story. I really liked that it was more about personal growth, relationships, connection, and loss. The superpower/superhero/supervillain aspect made it a bit more interesting and allowed for a lot of loss and love. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Sometimes the sins of the parents are visited on the kids…..
An engaging book with layer upon layer to be digested. A different kind of superhero story, where the protagonist must come to terms with her life and powers, after never having known about her parents lives. The overarching theme is what the protagonist will do with these powers snd will they be used for good or for bad. Spirituality and love factor strongly in the story as the characters come to terms with who and what they are. Will Love conquer all?
Well written, well conceived and perfectly executed, this story begs to be read and reread. A great book for a discussion group.
Half through, the story got a bit boring and the conversations involving accepting Jesus into your heart seemed forced instead of natural. By the last 10% of the book all the conversations seemed forced. The concept, story and conflicts are excellent, unfortunately it started to feel stiff and written as if designed rather than flowing naturally. A clever idea and a great way to talk about real Christianity and acceptance and love for all but missed the mark a bit.
I received a free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
Wow. A superhero book with Christian teachings. I didn’t see that coming, and yet it worked beautifully. No loss to the super hero fun. If you are thinking of passing this up because of the religious aspects, don’t. They don’t detract from the story at all. If you like religion in your books, but are leery about the superheroes, this author makes them fun. Give it a try. Great book. I received a free review copy of the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
As a reader, I found that I did have a bit of trouble getting into the story at first. I guess just because I don’t usually enjoy the genre. It also didn’t help that my reading time often consists of ten minutes snatched before work shifts or on a break from grading papers. So not all of the attention issues stemmed from the book. However, once I was into the book, I did enjoy it a lot more. I was invested in the characters and wanted to see what would happen to them.
Allen used a varied approach in how people had powers and why, which I appreciated. Some of the superheros were your typical, my powers just showed up or I had an accident and they manifested, kind of superhero. But others were genetic, like the werecats and werefoxes. One of my biggest complaints about superhero-themed books and movies is that they generally tend to develop the powers because they were in some freak accident or something. Obviously, that doesn’t hold true in every case, but things get pretty predictable after a while in the genre. Because that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about the genre, I was extremely happy to see that Allen didn’t do that. The story, while it may have highlighted superpowers, did not tell the typical story you see in the superhero genre.
One noticeable difference I saw was the characterization. Often, superhero films and the few books I have read seem to portray superheros as these epitomes of goodness. That’s going by the wayside a bit as you get heroes like Arrow who aren’t always morally black and white, and I appreciate that shift. I do believe right and wrong should be clear in any book or movie, and Allen definitely adhered to that, but the choices we make aren’t always black and white. I felt that Allen’s characters stayed true to that. Some of them made really terrible choices and had to live with the consequences, but all of them came across as very human. They had reasons for what they did, even if the reasons weren’t good. Superhero and supervillain alike struggled with decisions made and had things they regretted. In short, the characters weren’t all good or all bad. Even the best of them had their problems, just like we do in real life.
If you really enjoy this genre, you’re probably going to like this book. I will say that, for those who aren’t religious or aren’t Christian, just to be very transparent, you may not be the audience for this book. Allen is very overt in his talk about God, Christ, and salvation. Even when it isn’t directly mentioned, the theme of second chances, redemption, and forgiveness are woven throughout the entire book. If you don’t mind this, you’re probably going to enjoy the story. If you’re actively anti-Christian or just prefer to avoid reading books that are openly pressing home the points of Christianity, you may not like this. Still, if that’s not you or you’re just on the fence, I would highly recommend this book to you. It’s a good choice, and once I got into it, it was a very easy read with relatable characters. I don’t think you’ll regret it. As a bonus, parents, if you’re looking for a good book for your superhero-loving child or teen, this book would be appropriate for even the younger kids, though it might be a little hard for some of the young ones to grasp all the concepts.
I love superheros and usually just watch the movies. This is the first book I’ve read on the subject and it wasn’t really what I expected. But it was very good. This story is filled with good verses evil…. and evil that has a change of heart and gets a second chance at family. The story shows that no matter how bad our past has been, we can always change and God is the changer of hearts.
I definitely have a new author that I love! My 2nd read from this author and I love this book as much as the first (Jordan’s World – fabulous read). So this book is so different with some superpower discoveries and a past that collides with the present. It will keep you glued to the pages and you will not want to put it down. An excellent story that is intense, well-written, and absolutely riveting. Add wonderful characters and you have THIS book. Great job with blessings added.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
There is rarely a superhero book that I like. So many can be cheesy or unrealistic, figuratively speaking since this is science fiction. But with Mindfire, Allen Steadham concentrates on the inner character, their thoughts, behaviours, conflicts, etc. Sure superpowers are great and great things can be done with them, but what happens when you add in the human element? That’s when it gets messy.
And Allen shows this messiness. Good, evil, redemption, love, salvation, honor….with overlapping plots, secret pasts, buried secrets that come into light, and just when it seems to finally come to an end, a new twist is thrown in.
I highly recommend Mindfire to those who enjoy science fiction and superhero stories (Marvel and DC fans will enjoy this book!). And it is especially good for that young reader.
Kudos to Allen Steadham for creating a truly inspiring story of family, friends, good, evil, love, and redemption.
This story was not one of my favorite listening experience, particularly because I Really did Not like the narrator’s voice. The story was alright I guess but never really grabbed me and when I had things to do was not motivated to start listening again. Storyline was a interesting concept but to me personally it failed.