Sentinel (Caretaker Chronicles: Book 3) by Josi Russell

4 Stars

Publisher: Future House Publishing

Date of Publication: November 17th, 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Caretaker Chronicles

Caretaker – Book 1

Guardians – Book 2 (review here)

Sentinel – Book 3

Stasis Dreams – Short story

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis:

Rigel Bryant is the only natural-born telepathic human in the history of the universe. His father, Ethan, wants him to lock his abilities away, but Rigel doesn’t see why it is wrong to use his gifts.

Rigel’s carefree attitude is shattered when he receives an urgent telepathic distress signal that overwhelms his every thought. The call comes from Ethan’s old friend, Tesuu the Zumiin, who saved his life during his misadventures as Caretaker.

In order to reclaim Rigel’s mind, the father-son pair hire a beautiful pilot named Carine to take them to the Zumiin planet. When the trio arrives, they are attacked by AI robots determined to kill any potential threat to the Zumiin, including their own programmer. Before Ethan and Tesuu can find a solution to the problem, a deadly poisonous snake bites Ethan, sending him into a deep coma. While Tesuu battles the rampaging robots, Rigel hunts for a rare antidote to save his father’s life.

Can Rigel become a hero like his father, or is it too late for him and the rest of the universe?

---

My review:

Rigel Bryant is the only known natural telepath in the known universe. The other two telepaths, his father and pseudo-grandmother (Kaia), but they were experimented on by an alien and gained their powers that way. They now wear a device called a thought blocker. That device can block the thoughts of the people around them, so they aren’t listening to other people’s thoughts all the time. Rigel, however, does not wear a thought blocker, and he can hear everyone’s thoughts all the time. He has learned to filter it out, and he has learned to use his ability for not so great purposes.

His latest venture was insider trading. He read his girlfriend’s mind and got the information about the merger from her thoughts. He was able to buy stock and then sell it for a hefty price. His girlfriend, who I felt bad for, didn’t know that Rigel was a telepath until he was arrested by the Coriol Defense Civil Division (aka CDCD) in her apartment. To say she was upset that he used her for her information is an understatement.

Ethan, Rigel’s father, is at the end of his rope with him. Not only can Rigel read thoughts, but he pushes people into doing what he wants, which happens when he is brought to the Governor of Coriol. After being released from the offices, Rigel heads home with Ethan for what becomes an epic intervention. Aria, who had long been Rigel’s champion and against him getting a thought blocker, told him that he was getting a thought block in the morning. End of story (at this point I was like, Go Mom).

Rigel takes off after telling Aria, Rigel, and Polara that he won’t get one. He goes back to his girlfriend’s apartment and pushes her to repress her anger and let him stay with her. It was during this time that he starts to have vivid nightmares about a gray planet with tunnels running across the surface. There is something wrong on that planet, terribly wrong. Pretty soon, the dream has invaded his waking thoughts. He does the only thing that he has left to do (since his girlfriend threw him out), he goes home and tells his father.

Ethan immediately knows where and who are sending the nightmares to Rigel. An old friend called Tessu, who resides on a planet called Entewen One. He tells Rigel that he needs help but then gets cut off. Ethan decides to take a day trip to Entewen One and drags Rigel with him. They hire out a ship called The Mirror with a young pilot named Catrine. The journey there is pretty easy because the ship has something called a chip drive, and that can get them there sooner than later.

When they get to the planet, they realize that something is wrong. Very wrong. They are attacked by spheres as soon as they land, and Catrine’s ship is taken by something. They are saved by a timely storm that sweeps away the spheres and allows them to find shelter in some nearby caves.

That is where Tessu meets them and tells them what is going on. His grandson, Ravi, did an upgrade on defense spheres that he had created, but something went wrong, and the spheres are now destroying anything that they think is a threat to Tessu’s species. The control sphere took Catrine’s ship and is now branching out to other planets in the galaxy, to protect the Zumiin.

Catrine is sent out in one of the Zumiin ships to warn the Mineans about the incoming spheres. Ethan and Rigel are told that there is a Pilaay ship in their trash heaps that still can be flown. All they need to do is get there. Which they do, but then they are attacked by a giant, venomous snake, and Ethan gets bitten. Rigel is now racing against the clock to find the antivenom that will save his father’s life.

What happens in the rest of the book? Well, you need to read it. Because what I outlined here doesn’t even cover what happens.

It was interesting to read Rigel’s transformation in the book. He went from someone who was only thinking for himself and using his powers to better his life to someone who risked life and limb to save people’s lives and used his powers to aid him in it. It was interesting to see the transformation.

His relationship with his family was painful to read. He did so much wrong and caused such a huge rift that I was beginning to wonder if it could heal.

The romance between Catrine and Rigel was cute. She was the only person, besides Polara, whose mind he couldn’t read and that was a big part of the attraction for him.

The end of the book was very suspenseful, and I read it thinking that what was hinted could happen would happen. But it didn’t, and I was pretty happy about that.

---

I would give Sentinel an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Sentinel. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**