Threshold of Annihilation – T.A. White

White has been juggling several series, and they’ve all been worth reading. To date, “Firebird Chronicles” has been the weakest. It has a lot going for it - an intense personal story embedded within a large space opera, action that doesn’t stop, and a pleasant dose of wish-fulfillment fantasy. The distracting weakness of this series has been a heavy-handed use of plot devices. Whenever the protagonist gets into more trouble than she can get herself out of, she manifests a new power or ability - or some deus ex machina shows up out of nowhere to save the day. (For that matter, plot devices to get the protagonist into trouble are distributed with equal liberality.) I enjoyed the book, and I expect I’ll enjoy the next one. It could be better if the plot twists become better-motivated or -foreshadowed.