Janet Edwards, author of the successful Earth Girl series – see my reviews of Earth Girl, Earth Star and Earth Flight – is now one of my favourite science fiction authors. Her writing has a bounce and vividness that I thoroughly enjoy, while her young protagonists are invariably engaging and likeable. This intriguing crime-fighting series featuring Amber, who tracks down wrong-doers by reading their minds, is set in a far future where humans live in highly structured mega-cities underground. See my reviews of Telepath, Defender and Hurricane which are the previous books in the series. I was delighted when Edwards contacted me and asked if I’d like an arc copy of Borderline to read and review. This review is my honest opinion of the book and in no way affected by receipt of a copy by the author.
BLURB: Being a telepath means your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.
Eighteen-year-old Amber is the youngest of the five telepaths who protect the hundred million citizens of one of the great hive cities of twenty-sixth century Earth. Her job is hunting down criminals before they commit their crimes, but this time she must face multiple challenges.
The blurb continues for another paragraph, but to be honest, I don’t think the extra information is necessary. Amber is now established as one of the foremost telepaths in this huge hive city, but also increasingly under pressure as one of the other telepaths now needs to take a prolonged leave of absence while requiring urgent medical treatment. Edwards is very adept at communicating the rules for her world, without holding up the pace or indulging in info-dumps. The first-person narration works well, as Amber is at the heart of the story and we learn about the stresses on her, as touching minds full of violence and misery leave aftershocks that can destabilise her if they aren’t dealt with.
There is a strong supporting cast of well developed characters who operate as part of Amber’s team and I also love the shifting dynamic and growing amount of information we learn about the other, rather shadowy telepaths. It’s refreshing to see the stable, happy relationship between Amber and her partner – YA reads are notorious for providing lots of angst around the romance thread, but Edwards doesn’t choose to go down that route. I tucked into this one and the pages flew by as I was pulled along by Amber’s bouncy narrative and the action-packed story that held me right until the final sentence. And there was a doozy of a surprise near the end which I certainly didn’t see coming – I love it when that happens!
This one is very highly recommended for fans of sci fi crime and future worlds. Though this book can be enjoyed as a standalone, my advice would be to read the first three books first as this series is too good to read out of sequence.
9/10
Brainfluff 
I’m glad you’re continuing to enjoy this series. And perhaps this isn’t the last book?
Yes, I think Edwards continues to improve as an author – and this certainly isn’t the end of the series. There was an almighty surprise dropped at the end of the book that will take the story into quite different places…
A YA author who goes for “stable, happy relationships” is certainly worth exploring – not to mention that I like the fact that telepathy seems to be depicted as a mixed blessing with potentially harmful consequences for the telepath. Intruing, indeed… 🙂
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Yes – I think Edwards deserves to be far better known than she is. Her Earth Girl series was traditionally published and quite a success – and now she self publishes her work. Scavenger, her spinoff series, was one of my favourite 2018 reads.
(((adding other titles to an already exploding TBR)))
😀 😀 😀
Oh, I know… I know… *sigh* I want a writing clone I can shut away and write my books AND a reading clone to tackle my teeteringTBR!
This series sounds really good. I like all the things with mind talents which to some degree magic is, too. You always find the most interesting and not widely reviewed books. Thank you for sharing.
She is an excellent writer, whose sci fi adventures are always action-packed and adventurous, yet with a rather upbeat feel.
No.4 and you’re still loving it. And good advice to know about this being a standalone but better to read the others first.
Lynn 😀
She is a solidly good writer – and I’d love to see her more widely read.