Explorers (Wine of the Gods #4) by Pam Uphoff

See, this is what happens when I don't get requests to review. I run home to Pam. In the last 24 hours, I've read Mall Santa and now Explorers and unless I change course, I'm going to read something else she wrote. THERE ARE WORSE FATES!



5.0 out of 5 stars
Any sufficiently closed mind cannot distinguish magic from technology.
March 13, 2015
By Pat Patterson (Woodstock, Georgia, USA)
This review is from: Explorers (Wine of the Gods Book 4) (Kindle Edition)

A L-O-N-G time ago, some parents on Earth had their children's genes engineered to provide them with superior abilities. It didn't turn out well, because non-modified people were jealous/suspicious/paranoid. So the Earth powers put the superiors in concentration camps, then used them to open up doorways to parallel universes, and finally deported them all. The superiors developed in isolation. And that's all you HAVE to know of the backstory to #4, although you'll be missing a bet if you don't read 1-3, because they are great. In this volume, Earth, still a mean nasty force to be reckoned with, makes contact for the first time with the world of the superiors.
The problem with writing about super-people is coming up with meaningful limits for their powers. Otherwise, you wind up with "And they went POOF, and all the bad stuff went away." That's a cool story for three year olds, but not for anybody else, because who can relate to that? So, how do you create good limits?
Well, here's one: a man is in love with a woman, but he's too shy to even TOUCH her, much less speak to her of love. Now it's a reasonable position, because she's a witch, witches don't get married, and she could blast him to smithereens, even if she didn't want to. And here's another: A woman has power to do exciting things, but when she does, lightning strikes (literal lightning). She hasn't learned proper control.
And there is drama playing among the Earth people, as well. The leader of the visiting group has seen what happens when a planet gets crushed for profit, doesn't like it, but if he protests too loudly, he gets taken off the project. That would remove his chances to influence policy. And he also has to deal with office politics, back-stabbing, and incompetent peers.
It's a great adventure story. I love books with rotten villains and really nice good guys, IF the bad guys and the good guys both get what's coming to them. This is one of those books!