The Sound of Suffering
by Darin C. Brown
4½ out of 5

I received a complimentary ARC copy of The Sound of Suffering by Darin C. Brown from NetGalley and Doc Squared Publishing/Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' in order to read and give an honest review.

Hunter is on a quest to find out what the aura's, smells and sounds he experiences around people mean.  This is the second book in the Masters of Perceptions series, the first I have not read but feel it didn't hamper my ability to enjoy the story.  Young Hunter is autistic and suffers from overwhelming stimuli when he comes in contact with others. At this point, he is learning a little bit about himself and his abilities.  While excelling at school and working his way through earning his Karate belts he still struggles with learning how to handle his gift and how to interact with those around him.  He has people to help him though, a few friends, one of which has a dubious reputation, his desk mate and his Sensei all help him but he finds his biggest confidant to be his grandfather who lives across the country.  When he gets strange sensations indicating one of his teachers is in trouble he can't ignore the feeling and becomes determined to help her.  His friends by his side he sets out on a dangerous adventure that is much bigger than just helping his teacher. I won't give any more away the plot takes an interesting turn you need to read!

The characters are well-written and as mentioned the story takes an unexpected and interesting path. I would give this story 4.5 stars only because I found that some things seemed a bit unnecessary and they detracted from the story. Although I appreciate that the author is trying to teach the reader through the process of reading, sometimes the "info dumps" distracted me from the flow of the story, it felt hard to stay connected.  It's really is an ingenious story with interesting characters but many of the lessons seem repetitive. All in all, though I think it's worth reading and would definitely recommend it!

The Sound of Suffering gets a 4.5/5.0. The characters were realistic and relatable. I enjoyed the story. I believed that the aura manipulation was interesting. The character development was well done. The pacing was good, and I didn't see any plot holes. The world-building was new and refreshing. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel.