By jhobbes627

Completed
Prologue + 23 chapters + 12 parts + Epilogue

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BLURB
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Charlie has always been the one left behind. It isn't because there's something special about him; in fact, there is nothing special about him at all. As one of the few unlucky members of Terran society to be born without powers, Charlie's luck has never looked worse. After a visit to his brother's school ends in an international disaster, Charlie finds himself stranded on an alien planet with no idea where he is, how he got there, or why he is even awake. Why did his captors let him go? How will Charlie get home? And more importantly, what in the world is Trial 017?

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REVIEW
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Trial 017 is a science fiction story about Charlie, a neutral in a world where everyone else has an ability. At first, you're convinced it's one of those stories that starts off with the hero who's got nothing special about him, the one who later discovers he's got an incredible ability the world cannot handle. Well, no spoilers here; you need to read it to find out. The story revolves about the 017 trial and how Charlie, while on a visit to his brother's prestigious institute, gets caught in an invasion that leaves him and other students stranded on an alien planet. Will they make it out in one piece or at all? Who's behind the invasion and what could they possibly want from a bunch of highly skilled and intelligent students?

The pace, storyline and narration are expertly done. Science fiction is one of the genres that thrives on world building and the author did a great job with it. I especially enjoyed the dialogue and how it propelled the story without necessarily using narration to create backstory. It does explore the experience of other students abducted from the institute during the invasion, and I don't mean to spoil things but all the recounting of their experiences were so fantastic. I believe what I enjoyed most was Charlie's will in spite of everything and especially the fact that he, unlike the rest of the team, had no abilities.

I could go on and on about the attack on all the career schools and what those creatures possibly needed the students for, experiments of course, but what kind? What were they really looking for and what was trial 017? As the first book in the series, this was well done.

— WordSmith001

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Review first published in The Writer's Code Issue 1: Solar. Find it at CoalitionCommunity and CoalitionMagazine!