There are two main characters in Stones, father and son, Kent and Matt. Ever since his wife was murdered, Kent has been on the run, raising his son with multiple identities while continuing his spy work on large corporations, exposing them for their crimes whenever he can. Matt is tired of life on the run and when he is of age, he makes the decision to attend university in Japan, away from his over protective father.
Stones is set in the late 21st century, where everyone is reliant on their jaxes, a kind of wrist watch computer. There is unrest as some people believe the world has become too dependant on technology and they break away from society and all its modern amenities, determined to return to the old ways. The plot builds early on when Matt, a ski adrenaline junkie, discovers a strange stone while on one of his rebellious ski trips. Naturally, he pockets it without giving two thoughts.
Unknown to him, the stone reacts, alerting a certain Doctor Ryzaard who possesses a similar stone and is determined to collect as many as he can, by murder of course. The stones have the ability to stop time and transport the user to various levels of reality, on top of granting world building power. Doctor Ryzaard follows Matt to Japan and has a change of heart when he sees how gifted Matt is with the stone. Instead of killing him straight off, he invites Matt to join him.
My main problem with Stones is that it was too slow, too long. While I could sense the imminent danger descending on father and son, I didn't get the pay-off I was hoping for - that burst of adrenaline. When I reached Chapter 30, the situation hadn't changed - much. Kent was still worrying about his son in Japan, Matt was still unaware of the danger surrounding him and Dr. Ryzaard was still looking for Matt. No different from the beginning. It was only curiousity and hope that something major would happen that kept me reading, but everything was took ages to happen! This is going to sound bizarre but everything was written so sensibly, so carefully that I failed to get excited. There were no twists and turns to surprise me even though I kept expecting one in the next chapter, and the next.
The chapters are scattered, too short, and switches too frequently between Kent and Matt. In other words, Whaler doesn't allow the reader to settle down - just when a chapter finally makes it into the zone, the reader is abruptly pulled out to concentrate on something else. I found this extremely irritating, further heightened by the fact that the story is slow.
Characters
I honestly preferred Kent over Matt. At least Kent was doing something, strategizing and being clever. As for Matt, he was boorish, simple minded and unimaginative. After all the training he received from his father, he ignores all the tell tale signs of danger and blindly walks into the trap set by Ryzaard. Even when he confronts Ryzaard, he thinks like a spoiled child and only wants his stone back. He is practically useless without the stone and outsiders' help, endangers his girlfriend constantly, and above all, he needs to grow up.
Ryzaard was a little more interesting, he had a reason for being the way he was, and he had a vision that set him on his unwavering path to save the world. I also like the fact that he had a young team to help him, and more so that there was a Tongan guy on it!
Sadly, I won't be reading the next book in this series. While it is not a bad story and the prose is really clean, it just wasn't my cup of tea.