Powers, by John B. Olson, (ISBN 9780805447354), is a 392 page paperback book published by B&H Publishing that definitely keeps you turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next. This riveting, sometimes disturbing, intense book will leave the reader craving for more and saddened when the reading experience comes to an end. A work that interlaces poetic prose with poignant passages, subtle messages, rich descriptions, a bit of the mysterious, and action-packed situations, once the reader gets caught up in the narrative of Powers, the text is an exceptional read in every regard.
In Powers, the story starts off with Mariutza Glapion’s grandfather, Purodad, being killed by ten cloaked men and his dying in Mari’s arms while demanding that he be buried standing, as it is Gypsy custom to do. Mari, a young Gypsy girl living in the Louisiana swampland that has grown up safely distanced from society and the Gadje, is told by Purodad with his last dying breath, to seek out the others and to find the Prophet Jaazaniah. In a quest to find Jaazaniah, a person she only knows of through the various stories that her grandfather shared with her as she grew up, she must leave the swamplands of Louisiana to find him: a place that has provided her with safety from “the badness” that continually threatens to take her life. The plot intensifies considerably when Mari must engage with other people, the Gadje, in a world that she knows nothing of except for what knowledge her training and grandfather’s stories have provided her with, and in her mission she must remain ever on guard against “the badness” that stalks her.
This text is a sequel to the book Shade, and this writer has not had the opportunity to read the first text in Olson’s series. Nevertheless, Powers can be read and understood even without having read Shade. It can prove a bit difficult to catch onto the story for the first few chapters, but the chapters are well-written, fast-paced, compelling, and the story sways the reader to continue reading even in the face of initial confusion. Reading the first few chapters it is somewhat difficult to enter into a fictive dream state immediately in order to suspend disbelief and be drawn into the story because the story is presented with alternating character points of view in a third person limited subjective narrative. Thus, the reader may find that he or she is struggling to understand the storyline for the first few chapters of the text. Later, several chapters into the work, the story finally comes together and the reading experience becomes far easier.
The prose in the very first chapter introduces the reader to Olson’s poetic, rich descriptions. The author grabs the reader’s attention with the first line of the work and with soft, carefully chosen words, Olson invites the reader to sit a spell and to lose themselves in the text with:
“Smooth moonlight, soft and timid as a sleeping babe’s breath, seeped through the forest canopy, painting Old Man Oak’s mossy beard with twisting ribbons of silver and shadow (3).”
Olson continues to weave his mastery of the English language throughout the text with fantastic metaphors and exquisite descriptions; for example, in the second chapter, Olson describes Jaaz’s musical abilities and writes:
“Jazz…hammering at the old ivories, left hand battling the right in a discordant duel between majors and minors…Jazz could feel their confusion, the building sense of anticipation…C washed away by E minor. Hope swallowed up by despair (13-14).”
The above passage seems to sum up the entire theme of Powers in just a few, precisely chosen words. Without question, Olson possesses the ability as a writer to use minimal language to create a maximum impact. The prose in the work is not overly verbose; rather, the words are presented in tight, flowing sentences that are succinctly written, and Olson balances short, terse passages, and longer, highly-descriptive sentences in such a way that the book’s narrative ebbs and flows in a seamless, rhythmic fashion. What’s more, Olson has definitely mastered the art of writing great character dialogue: at no point during reading Powers will the reader feel as if the dialogue shared between characters is forced or contrived.
In the beginning of the book the point of view changes back and forth between Mari and Jaazaniah, neither of them really fully aware of what is going on and what is happening to them. Ironically, it is as if the author of the work wants the reader to be perplexed as they are slowly drawn into the story, just as the characters are baffled by the strange occurrences all around them. Later, other character points of view are offered and it is not until several chapters into the text that the story begins to come together so that the reader can comprehend the individual points of view as a unified body of work.
As the reader continues through the chapters in Powers, a slow, natural unraveling of the story occurs, and once the reader begins to identify with Mari and Jaazaniah, the story is not only easier to comprehend, but more intriguing. Both Mari and Jazz are being pursued, neither of them comprehending why, and Jazz illustrates no knowledge that he is the prophet that Mariutza has been told so much about during her childhood. Mari and Jaazaniah are pursued by everything from FBI agents, to police, from soldiers to cloaked figures, and the fast-paced chases parallel and perpetuate the equally fast-paced narrative of the text. Whether the reader is a teen or an adult, Powers will prove a gratifying reading experience.
What makes Powers even more enjoyable is the subtle and clever inclusion of important societal criticisms when describing the typical behaviors of the Gadje as they have been taught to Mari. One example of the social criticisms in Powers is present in chapter 9, where Mari finds herself outside the safety of the swamps and sifting through garbage to find a few necessities for her quest. After Mari finds papers, bottles, food, and a knife, Olson writes:
“She set the treasures aside and dug deeper into the bag. So much paper, it was enough to last her a whole year! She pulled the paper out and started sorting it into piles on the ground. There was even a piece of string. And a coil of wire she could use to tie her water supply to her waist (96).”
Mari finds the disposed of trash a treasure, and “her heart leaped” when she found the necessities that she needed. In the above passage, Olson cleverly criticizes the wastefulness of the Gadje, the non-Gypsy members of society, and in doing so offers up a subtle commentary on the wastefulness of society in general.
John B. Olson is an award winning author who earned his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. The one time chief scientist and director for a large and successful software company, Olson left his eight year position to become a full time author and lecturer. Presently residing in San Leandro, California with his wife and children, Olson has authored five books prior to Powers including Adrenaline, Fifth Man, Eat My Martian Dust, Oxygen, and Shade. Olson has earned several awards including the Silver Angel award, a Christy Award, and a listing on the Books for the Teen Age offered by the New York Public Library. Undoubtedly, Powers will prove to be another successful novel to be added to Olson’s list of tremendously successful writing endeavors. More information about the author is available on his official website at:
http://www.litany.com/.
Despite the initial confusion the reader might experience in the first few chapters, the reader will still find Powers incredibly enjoyable to read. If the reader is a big fan of fantasy fiction, supernatural tales, or stories of the paranormal, than this book is an ideal read. If the reader is into thrillers, intense suspense and action packed reads, again, Powers, by John B. Olson is definitely recommended, and the reader, whether a teen or an adult, won’t be disappointed with this fast-paced page-turner.
