A Haunting Connection
Book Two in the Ascension Series
A Haunting Connection is a musing fantasy novel in which potential heroes test the limits of their personal relationships and choices.
Full of spiritual and unseen elements, Micah Briarmoon’s tense fantasy novel A Haunting Connection centers two people who hone their powers on the cusp of a major war.
As Brandon heads to Seoul to recover from his lingering grief and receive training from Yoona, one of the most powerful shamans in the world, Leah attempts to return to normal with her friends, wrapping up the school year. However, her growing powers and a watching, sinister force pull her from what’s safe. Meanwhile, Ruth’s plotting threatens the world and Yoona.
Its narration complicated by shifts in perspective between characters—both major and minor—changes in settings, and extended flashbacks, the novel moves at a measured, sometimes laborious pace to reveal the intertwined fates of its characters. People’s complicated, interconnected plans increase in their intricacy as the book progresses, raising the stakes, and additional excitement is generated from quick, effective reveals that show how disparate people and plotlines connect. However, while the payoffs are often satisfying, too many escalations in the story are delayed to focus on interpersonal drama, more so than the overarching plot.
Some such storylines help to flesh out the world and its complex magic system. Ruth’s perspective, for instance, includes necessary backstory; she also sets up the central conflict, which is still vague to the main characters as the book opens. Others, including Leah’s shy best friend Barb, provide perspective on the heroes’ developing powers. Yoona’s mysterious mentoring duties also stand out. Still, the cast is so extensive that not all characters and relationships are well attended to, as with an intriguing love triangle around which ideas about obsession and grief fall flat.
The book’s themes around personal consequences are also handled with mixed success. For Leah in particular, who begins to use her powers in a reckless manner, the development is shaky. Though the negative consequences of her magic use are restated often, Leah chooses to ignore the available information and persist. Still, her abuse of her powers, while it results in striking tension, comes sans sufficient consequences for her. Such deficiencies of clarity undercut the novel’s ultimate satisfaction.
A story of rising global and individual stakes, the series-continuing fantasy novel A Haunting Connection follows two sides of a magical conflict as they draw others to their causes.
Reviewed by
Katherine Woods
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
