Aktiya The Ignition Sequence

Aktiya The Ignition Sequence is a science fiction novel by JS Cooper.

Julien suffers from raging nightmare's that leave him emotionally and physically drained, however when these turn into head splitting visions that seem to cause wierd things to happen nearby Julien seeks the help of a local Hypnotist. This set's off a chain of events that will unearth a secret that's been waiting deep in the Cascade Mountains for over 10,000 years.

Set in the year 2056, Aktiya follows Julien and his friends as they search for answers to Julien's episodes. There is an intelligent use of future technology, the vision presented here is that of a dystopia, with loss of personal freedoms and restricted use of media, including a curfew in major towns and the destruction of any material deemed offensive to public good (including music like Rage against the machine etc).

I must admit that it took me a bit of time to really get into this book, the pace is a little slow to begin and the novel rely's a little too heavily on exposition for my tastes. The story split's in to two arcs and after learning the background of Julien and pal's we then get a detailed account of the other side of the tale.

Once the pace picked up I did find myself quite enjoying the book, the style is evidently created to appeal to the young adult market with clear and very easy to read prose. The characters though do take a while to take on a life of their own and as such bond with but again once they do the story becomes more fun.

There is a nice mixture of real world events and fictional events mixed within the story and the plot itself is entertaining, although some parts did feel a little forced and occasionally almost felt like a lecture of sorts. There are a number of surprises though and the ending shows that this must (or at least should) be the first in a series.

Aktiya The Ignition Sequence has some great ideas and is very easy to read, in my opinion it will appeal much more to the Young Adult reader rather than the older one, nevertheless I did find an enjoyable read.