I have had Awakening (Triorion #1) by L.J. Hachmeister since 2013. I picked it up on an Amazon free day. I read it as part of my March Awakening Challenge, in which I set out to read eight books called Awakening. I read it assuming that Triorion is the series name and Awakening the book title. I could be wrong on that, but that’s the premise I’m working under, so I deemed this suitable for being included in the challenge.

Triorion: Awakening finds five-year-old triplets Jetta, Jaeia, and Jahx struggling to survive on a harsh alien planet under the thumb of their brutal owner. When the Eeclian Dominion discovers their extraordinary telepathic talents, they are coerced into military service. However, when the tide of war changes, the siblings find their persecutors at their mercy and a new and more powerful enemy at their door, eager to harness their talents for intergalactic genocide. This introduction to the Triorion series follows them on a journey of death and redemption that will change the Starways forever.

I enjoyed this significantly more than I expected to. I did struggle a little with the children’s ages (five at the beginning, seven by the end). I understand that being not fully human they didn’t necessarily age the same as we would, but given their speech and actions I couldn’t keep five-year-old bodies in mind.

The story does take a while to get going, it meanders and introduces new characters far later into the plot that I’d have anticipated. Plus, it is pretty tightly focused on the children, while entire worlds die, wars are fought (won and lost), genocides are perpetrated, etc in the background. Some of that could be a little jarring. But I liked the triplets, was engaged in their fight, and interested in seeing how it all came to a head and ended. I’d be interested in picking up the next book (Triorion: Abomination) and seeing how the story progresses.