Twins (an Ell Donsaii story #17) (#17 in Ell Donsaii Stories)

This is the seventeenth book in a series of near-future Hard-SciFi Thrillers. Their heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation that’s rendered her a genius as well as providing astonishing athletic abilities. Her genius has let her revolutionize our world with a number of inventions, including instantaneous communications and trans-dimensional portals that deliver fuel, water, and food all around the world
Twins is about events four years after the birth of Ell’s twins, Caii and Raii. Only six months after their birth, an abortive kidnapping attempt successfully steals the girls but then loses them at a dirt airstrip in Mexico. Drug runners pick the twins up by mistake and take them to their cartel’s boss. This infuriates the chief because he was expecting a delivery of cash. To the boss’s astonishment, his infertile wife insists on adopting them!
The twins are four and a half (though their adoptive mom thinks they’re a year older than that) when a cartel up-and-comer kills their adoptive dad.
Without him, they and their adoptive mom must now find their own way in the world.
This is the story of how some of the talents they inherited from their mother ease those difficulties.
Unavoidably, this book also deals with some of the startling changes the world is going through as it adapts to the transporters Ell and Roger invented in Book 16

Featured Reviews

Twins

Dr. Dahners, I promised myself I would never come here and gush like a fanboy but I just finished "Twins" and I am feeling utterly flabbergasted. Ya know, I used to be able to enjoy books by other authors but that's pretty rare now. I just find myself wishing I was rereading one of your books and often I'll drop whatever I'm reading to do exactly that. Your books keep me fully engaged no matter how often I've blasted through them. You are The Undisputed Master of Pacing as far as I'm concerned. Your stories have enough detail to pull the reader in without ever bogging down in the details. But it's your characters that truly set your books apart. I feel like I know them all so well! The real world could really use some Ells, some Witts, any of the Hyllis's, and maybe even a Vaz or two.

I had firmly resolved to save "Twins" only for lunch breaks for the first reading so I could stretch it out a while. Such anticipation! Well, my brain got pretty itchy over that so I started reading it this afternoon. I can't even attempt to explain how much I loved this book! It's a good thing I didn't wait for lunch breaks because I found myself getting a little misty eyed every once in a while. Okay... Okay! I'll admit it. I was actually blubbering like a wimpy little girl pretty often but it's only because this book has so many Beautiful Moments. ALL your books have a lot of Beautiful Moments but this book devastated me with them. I can't help it. Your characters are so real to me and it inspires a deep empathy for them. Thankyou for sharing your wonderful characters with us! I hope Laura Bannister is on board with narrating the audiobook? Sorry for gushing. I'm gonna start the first of many rereads of Twins now.

Sincerely,