Sinergy is the story of young Jess. She’s in love, is about to go to college, and she loves hockey. She finally loses her virginity to her boyfriend Leaf and wakes up being able to see monsters for what they really are. Of which Leaf is one. Oh, and Jess’ father Jesse (yes, really) is of an order of ginger-haired monster hunters who have vowed to rid the world of evil.
What follows is awkward and not just for the characters. The narrative stalls for a while letting Jess figure out a vague notion of who she is as a monster hunter. It’s not as compelling as one might hope. Leaf goes back to his monster buddies and they discuss a plan to open up a portal to the next dimension and bring scores of monsters to Earth. They discuss this plan a lot without seeming to do very much. The monsters feed off of sin-energy (hence the title) and need to feed on human sinners to open the portal. Apparently the power from “sinergizing” with a seer like Jess would be incredibly powerful. There’s also a background police investigation, but it doesn’t really go anywhere even though Jesse is a suspected serial killer. None of this is developed particularly well. But the really problematic stuff is happening to a tertiary character.
There’s no way I can talk about what is problematic about this book without utterly spoiling it. Let me spare you the pain of actually reading the book.
Read the rest at Pop Culture Penalty Box.
[Amazon link goes to the collected trade paperback of Sinergy, which will be released April 21, 2015. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.]
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