The Lighthouse Trilogy

I've previously wrote about Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy series. I thought that this post would make a good segue into some fantasy novels. McKinty is also the author of "The Lighthouse Trilogy," which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Lighthouse Trilogy is definitely less well-known than some of his other novels, but I was totally hooked on this trilogy.

The Lighthouse Trilogy is aimed at middle school students. I often enjoy reading/listening to young adult and middle school fiction simply because I can totally turn my brain off. While there are often young adult and middle school novels that end up feeling too simple, this trilogy did not.

The premise of the Lighthouse books is intergalactic travel between two planets via a mysterious device. The genre combines fantasy with science fiction and pulls off elements of both genres easily. The main characters, Jamie and Ramsay, travel to a distant planet, and the world McKinty creates is interesting and immersive. The characters on the planet are not as developed as Jamie and Ramsay, but are interesting nonetheless.

While some reviewers don't agree, there was a lot of this trilogy that was well-done. First off, the characterization was believable and interesting. The main characters were rounded and felt like real people. Their dialogue was authentic and the characters' actions were consistent with how they were developed.

The plot was also well-done and definitely page-turning (although I was listening to it, so there was no page turning involved). When I finished the first book, I had to listen to the next one right away.