Psionica

Zachery Miller’s Psionica imagines a near-future where a fraction of the population has developed real psychic ability, and governments and corporations have moved to control, weaponize, or exploit the people who carry it. The protagonist is one of those people, trying to live an ordinary life in a world that won’t let her.

The worldbuilding lays out the rules of the abilities carefully. Each kind of psionic talent has limits, costs, and trade-offs. Miller is interested in the systems around the people more than in showy displays of power.

The pacing is brisk. The plot pulls in a conspiracy that the protagonist gets entangled with against her will, and the stakes escalate naturally.

For readers who liked Pierce Brown’s Red Rising in its earlier books, or who follow Hugh Howey’s Wool series, this is in adjacent territory. Not as polished as the major sellers but worth the time for SF readers looking for newer voices.