Book Review: Seven Point Eight by Marie Harbon

Summary: Seven Point Eight: The most powerful number in the universe. The number that connects everything. A physicist begins a quest to measure the soul but soon finds himself drawn into the world of the enigmatic Max Richardson, where research is sold to the military at the highest bid. However, he soon discovers another purpose when an extremely talented young psychic enters his life. He devises a project and builds a team to stretch the frontiers of exploration, only to make a reality-shattering discovery… The First Chronicle is the beginning of a 5 part epic which follows the spiritual and emotional journey of five people; their quest to understand the universe and our place within it. Along the way, they address the fundamental questions we all seek answers to: Why are we here? What is the purpose of the universe? Is there a God? Quantum physics meets spirituality in a tale which begins in the 1940s, unfolds during the 1960s; an era of social and spiritual transformation and reaches its conclusion in the modern age. It interweaves the human dramas of love, betrayal, bitterness and above all, courage in a world where everyone must face their own dark shadow.


Review: I really really wanted to give this book four starts, but there were just one too many problems I had with it. So I'd say this gets a three and a half star rating. This was an enjoyable enough story, about an institute researching with people who have psychological powers, such as "viewing" any place in the world at that time, seeing into the future, and reading minds. I liked the characters, but I felt like we didn't get enough time to really know them. Like I liked Ava's character, but I didn't feel like I got to know her as well as I got to know Max and Tahra. Then, the storyline got really jumpy, skipping from year to year and person to person, so you didn't really know who was talking and what happened in the time that the story skipped. It started in 1950, maybe even earlier and ended in the late 1960s (at least I think because the timeline was sometimes vague and, like I said, jumpy). Also, the story would randomly switch from being 3rd person to a character's almost diary-like account of what happened, which I felt was confusing and not necessary for the story. I did really like the idea of this book and how they were trying to make psychological advancements, but sometimes the story got lost to boring, scientific passages and it was hard to follow along with during that time. It's a book you have to stick with, but eventually you'll start to enjoy it and want to know what's going to happen next. Oh, and the little romance added wasn't a bad touch either :)