Jared R. Lopatin follows his first imaginative and suspenseful novel, “Rising Sign”, with another astrological thriller, “Ruling House”.
The sequel finds six-year old Dawn, the Star Child born at the conclusion of “Rising Sign”, under the guardianship and protection of The Gathering, an elite group of individuals with specific talents, born under different astrological signs. They are gifted with charm, telepathy, time travel abilities, intuition and powers needed to take on the mind-bending challenges that lay ahead .
Dawn, a quiet and introspective child, is first introduced to the world of evil when she is snatched out of her physical body by an unseen demonic force. Her twin brother Adam, and his resistance to Dawn, add to the complexity of the story line.
With Astrology taken to its ultimate limits, Lopatin’s characters again face battles against an evil force that conspires to destroy the Star Children. In far greater detail than his first novel, Lopatin delves into evil shape shifters, walking dream states, non-human forms, and exploration of the astral realm and the twelve chosen members of The Gathering are challenged once again to use all of their innate abilities in order to ward off the evil entities that have only one purpose in mind: to capture the Star Children and either rule or destroy the Universe.
Jared Lopatin, with his in-depth knowledge of astrology and the occult, paints a colorful and intricate second novel of epic proportions. His readers will surely be waiting for the third novel of this Star Child Trilogy.
Reviewed by Peggy La Vake