This book reminded me of Ender’s Game. And admittedly, it’s probably been about a decade since I’ve read Ender’s Game and I don’t remember it that well, so that comparison might not ring true to anyone who’s read it more recently, but what I do remember is that I really loved the friendly yet highly competitive team fights/training from Ender’s Game—and that’s an aspect shared by Psion Beta. It’s a very fun structure, providing both fun and solid teambuilding/internal character work as Sammy develops across the book.

This book skews towards a slightly younger audience than my typical wheelhouse, but I absolutely could imagine my younger self reading this and becoming obsessed—it probably would have become a new favorite, given the action and epic superpowers balanced alongside some very compelling themes about the tensions between humility and confidence.

My one big critique of the book, however, is how the author handles romance and gender divides. The entire novel reinforces this idea that girls are foreign and function fundamentally differently than boys in ways that make them impossible to understand, which isn’t a narrative I myself buy into. This theme further comes into fruition in the idea that girls are “nutty” *except* for when one gives you her love and attention, at which point she becomes “amazing” instead of “stupid.” I *am* glad that Sammy came to this realization, but I do not think that the author should have constructed this oh-so-brilliant epiphany to revolve around Sammy earning his crush’s attention: tying respect for women to whether or not they express romantic feelings toward you is not an admirable theme, and one that I wish had been reworked before releasing this book.