#BookReview: Aeon Burn by Matthew Mather

Solid Middle-Of-Trilogy Tale. This book is one of those that has basically one goal – tell a solid tale that picks up well from the opening book and sets up the final book to be MUST. READ. It does that job pretty solidly. It continues our various storylines from the first book, though it perhaps could have used a “Last Time, On…” bit at the beginning for some of the storylines that don’t get *as* much attention. But the two main storylines – in the Amazon and on a race through the US – are well done, the chapters nearly all end on the classic mini-cliffhangers that make you want to read the next chapter immediately (while skipping to one of the other storylines for the next chapter and thus making you wait to come back to the cliffhanger you just left). The reveals get more and more impactful, all while the overall situation continues to deteriorate in light of the events of the opening book. And yet… *so much more* is coming. Indeed, the only real weakness of the tale here is that while so much more is indeed coming and this book truly sets up the final book where those things, along with the major confrontation between our heroes and primary antagonist, will be resolved… because of the *timing* of those So Much More events, the ending here takes a much more expanded time scope than the rest of the tale before that point, which leaves one with a minor sense of pacing issues. Still, this is a problem even the great T2 trilogy by S.M. Stirling faced – and wound up working quite well. So we’ll see how this works out when AEON FURY releases next year.

A note here: This is the book that Mather had apparently mostly completed when he was tragically killed in a car accident in September 2022, and thus this is his last work. While it is always a high honor to be able to work such a book as an Advance Reviewer Copy, my thoughts on the tale itself above are *just* about the tale and how it was completed out by Dale Nelson, whom Mather’s family brought in to do just that. This book really does do quite an honor to Mather’s legacy, but my own hope is that Nelson’s name can be on the cover of AEON FURY along with Mather’s, recognizing his work both here and in that book. I do not know if FURY will be entirely Nelson (or some other author, potentially)’s work or if Mather had at least left some level of notes or perhaps even rough drafts of some of that tale, but to my own thinking the cover author there should perhaps read something like “[smaller letters]In Memory Of[/smaller letters][big letters]Matthew Mather[/big letters][smaller letters]Written By[/smaller letters][medium letters]Dale Nelson (or whoever it turns out to be)[/medium letters]”. But this is just my own thoughts there based on my own sensibilities, and won’t really actually affect that book in any way.

Final thoughts:
Overall, this book truly was a solid Book 2 of a trilogy, one that did a great job of extending the story from Book 1 and setting up an exciting conclusion in Book 3. The more complex emotions relating to this being its author’s final work only add a touch of extra “spice” to the feelings of a genuinely good book. Very much recommended.

This review of Aeon Burn by Matthew Mather was originally written on July 8, 2023.

#BookReview: The Last Odyssey by James Rollins

Good Change Of Pace After The Last ‘Trilogy’. The prior three books in the Sigma Force series proved to be almost an in-series ‘trilogy’, with a lot of events playing directly off prior events. Here, we get a good change of pace – Kowalski actually starts the tale, and he has some major things going on. Gray and Seichan come in later, when things get a bit more hairy, and Kat and Monk, and even Painter, are barely mentioned at all after playing major roles in the prior books. The actual story here is one of the more intriguing in the series, particularly with more modern findings establishing that at least parts of the Illiad and Odyssey may have been factual. Rollins then does his thing with combining history and science into fascinating “what-ifs”, with plenty of action and drama and double crossings to boot. If you’re reading these – or virtually any – action/ adventure books expecting 100% realism… well, you’re probably *really* fun at parties, aren’t you? (/sarcasm) For the rest of us looking for a few hundred pages of fun escapism… let’s go on a romp from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, with a couple of stops in some other places to boot, shall we? Very much recommended.

This review of The Last Odyssey by James Rollins was originally written on July 1, 2023.

#BookReview: The Seventh Plague by James Rollins

Like Riding A Bike. It had been quite a while – and a few *thousand* books – since I read the prior book in this series. In the intervening years, I’ve started a few different bookish projects, begun reviewing every book I read, and even met Mr. Rollins himself a few years ago, just before the insanities took over the world. And yet coming back into the world of Sigma Force, to pick up here with Book 12 as I gear up to read an Advance Reviewer Copy of the upcoming Book 17, Tides of Fire, was truly like riding a bike. Even across all the years and all the books, Rollins told enough of the backstory here for me to be able to remember what was going on in this world – without rehashing every minor detail. For example, he would mention Monk’s prosthetic hand… without going into the details of that mission (book) and how he lost it. So this made it quite easy indeed to get into the groove of this particular book… and boy, what a book.

There have been several various scifi tales over the years seeking to explain some or all of the Plagues of Moses, and yet Rollins here manages to do it in a way I’d never seen before, while incorporating several other wide ranging myths and techs as well… as Rollins does. So while the driving force is the Plagues of Moses (and one of them in particular), we also see Nikola Tesla and some of the mysteries around his life. We see the mystery of the elephant graveyard. We even get appearances from both David Livingstone *and* Mark Twain. And cutting edge discoveries such as a strange new class of bacteria.

All rolled up into one action packed, near balls to the wall, globe trotting adventure trying to save the world before the forces of… well, misguidedness, let’s call it in this case… can try to destroy it in their hubris.

Truly a fun read, and one I’m glad I’ve come back to after all these years. Very much recommended.

This review of The Seventh Plague by James Rollins was originally written on June 3, 2023.

#BookReview: Singularity by Jeremy Robinson

The New God Of Science Fiction Outdoes Even Avengers: Endgame. First off, let me tell you up front: This isn’t the book for you if you haven’t read the other 12 books in the Infinite Timeline first. That noted… you NEED to read those books, because you NEED to read this book.

Why?

Because it is quite possibly *THE* unique novel in all of human history. Certainly in my own expansive, yet *very* tiny relative to all novels, few thousand book reading history. Here, Robinson openly takes inspiration from the “event” form comic books have taken for decades and which movies finally got a taste of with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and brings this structure into novels – hence, the Infinite Timeline itself.

SINGULARITY, this book, is its “Avengers: Endgame”, and Robinson is able to execute on the things that Endgame does well *even better* than it did… *and* add several instances of depth, fan service, and meta commentary that Endgame could never have attempted, let alone fit in.

The darkness in this book is intense. The world is about to end, and our ragtag group of simple humans, enhanced humans, and outright Greek Gods has to come together to stop it… with enough humor to make one think your favorite group of comedians had somehow written a dark and gritty scifi action epic. You’re going to *feel* the world ending, the threat growing and becoming impossible to defeat. Even through this, you’re going to laugh your ass off at the antics of our heroes as they fight with all the (considerable) might and talent they can bring to bear.

Are there any outright “Avengers! Assemble.” moments here? For me, there was in fact one. The moment we encounter the titular Singularity. The moment the MCU could never hope to replicate (even though it has tried, post-Endgame).

This is quite possibly *the* unique novel in all of human existence.

It will very likely be *quite* some time – if ever – that I encounter a *better* novel.

Do yourself a favor. Read the Infinite Timeline. Just so you can experience this particular OHMYGODAMAZEBALLSAWESOMESAUCE novel yourself.

Very much recommended.

This review of Singularity by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on March 21, 2023.

#BookReview: The Cerberus Protocol by Nick Thacker

Solid Adventure Story. This is yet another of the scifi-creature/ adventure stories that are so common, and yet Thacker blends several elements here that aren’t always as common to create a tale that seems like it would satisfy long time readers – while leaving new readers with only (seemingly) minimal effort to get caught up after the fact here. Indeed, it reads more like Book 2 of a series than Book 14, but I say this as someone who owns several prior books in this series… but has only read this one. For all I know, a few of the characters come from books further back in the series – and yet the main thrust of this particular narrative, of Harvey Bennett having to stop his evil scientist brother’s most recent plan, seems like a near-immediate follow-up to presumably book 13 from this series? (Of course, this also means that for those who can *never know any details of any prior books no matter what*… you’re going to want to read the series in order. From what I’ve seen here, you’re going to like doing that anyway.) Overall truly a solid work of its type, one that invites readers to both go back and catch up on what they’ve missed to this point (if anything) and to come back to see what happens next. Very much recommended.

This review of The Cerberus Protocol by Nick Thacker was originally written on March 3, 2023.

#BookReview: Broker Of Lies by Steven James

The True Successor To Vince Flynn. That’s basically what this entire review is going to boil down to – if you liked Vince Flynn (and particularly if you object to someone else using his name on their books after his death) and have been searching for an author who can tell that type of tale at least as good as Flynn ever did… welcome to Steven James and Broker of Lies. One huge difference here is that while Mitch Rapp almost tends into superhero/ super-soldier status, our heroes here are very skilled… yet also very flawed in their own ways. Ways that enemies can exploit, if they are known. Ways that enemies do exploit here, because our heroes are not as hidden as they would like to think they are. So yes, we get a lot of different (yet fairly plausible) tech – including some fairly scary, yet known for over a decade now, ways to exploit any body scan security -, several car chases, several fight scenes of various forms from extremely up close and personal to more building level, a lot of cat and mouse, and one heck of an explosive revelation at the end that pretty easily sets up at least one more book here. This isn’t a short book, clocking in at nearly 420 pages, but that last 20% or so in particular… you’re not going to want to put this book down through that stretch at minimum. Very much recommended.

This review of Broker Of Lies by Steven James was originally written on December 9, 2022.

#BookReview: Khaos by Jeremy Robinson

The New God Of Science Fiction Strikes With His Best Yet. Robinson, the New God of Science Fiction, squarely takes on an element of scifi/ fantasy that he has been circling a bit tangentially for a few books now via Mind Bullet and Tribe in particular, and in this particular book takes the characters from both of those former books + The Dark and combines them into an “Avengers” crossover event… to travel through Khaos and encounter many creatures from the Greek myths. In classic Robinson style, we get a lot of heart, a lot of action, a lot of banter… and in the end… well… you’re going to want to have SINGULARITY, the final book in the Infinite Timelines “MCU approach to storytelling” event, in your hands the moment you finish this book. Yet again, Robinson proves himself capable of using any element of science fiction and spinning his own unique brand of chaotic action into it, masterfully telling his stories his way incorporating any form of prior science fiction, from the ancient to the bleeding edge. Truly masterful, and very much recommended.

This review of Khaos by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on October 8, 2022.

#BookReview: Emerald Dragon by David Wood

Solid And Short Maddock Adventure Perfect For Longtime Fans And People New To The Universe. Much like Golden Dragon a couple of books prior to this one, this is another short adventure – though at 120 pages, it is nearly double the length of Golden Dragon. It also has seemingly slightly fewer connections and references to other pars of the Maddock universe, though it has several connections to Golden Dragon – which is why readers should make sure they read that book first. (Seriously, buy both and you’ll likely finish both while waiting at the doctor’s office. :D) Here, we’re in Ireland and when you’re studying cryptids and ancient mysteries in Ireland… you get St. Patrick. And dragons. And lots of green stuff. And pagans. And old libraries and castles and crypts. When you’re *Maddock and Bones* virtually anywhere, you know there are going to be fun chase and hand to hand combat sequences, with a few guns going off here and there to boot and maybe some interesting mystical objects that turn out to be weapons of various forms. So pick this book up, have a couple of hours of relaxation and fun… and then go back to whatever awaits you in the “real” world, happier now that you’ve had the break. Very much recommended.

This review of Emerald Dragon by David Wood was originally written on September 2, 2022.

#BookReview: Toxic Effects by Joel Shulkin

Complex Story With More Action Than Medical. I came into this book after having won an ARC of it in the Readers Coffeehouse (Facebook group) Great Big Book Giveaway Day 2022 and having not read Book 1 (Adverse Effects). Honestly, with the amount of story that happened before this book began (that gets repeatedly referenced when necessary here – in case anyone wants to avoid spoilers from that book), it seemed like this book was *much* deeper into the series than just Book 2. I honestly thought this was somewhere in the Book 3 – 5 range as I was reading it.

And while the overall story here is absolutely more action based than medical – though there is certainly a major medical mystery happening – and *is* very complex (more complex than say a typical Crichton, less complex than say a Robert Ludlum Bourne series book), it is also quite interesting and compelling. Shulkin here manages to take some scifi-ish concepts (ala, arguably most famously, Total Recall) and combine them with some more modern dissociative identity stories (ala Kerry Lonsdale’s Everything trilogy) to create an innovative mythos and rare (in my vast reading) hero and villain who each share the same condition and use it in completely different ways.

As complex as this is – and perhaps those coming from Book 1 won’t find it as complex – this is also one of the more interesting overall mythoi I’ve found in recent years, and I will absolutely be back for the next book, whenever that may come. Very much recommended.

This review of Toxic Effects by Joel Shulkin was originally written on August 25, 2022.

#BookReview: Fatal Conflict by Matt Hilton

Reacher Fans, Meet Tess, Po, and Pinky. This is a somewhat standard mystery-with-badass-heroes where there is a baddy (in this case, a team of them) who does bad things (we find out, and it is pretty dang terrible – though fortunately the worst of it is off screen and in the past, relative to our current story), and the hero of the series (heroes, in this case) meet up with the baddy through some circumstance… which the baddy winds up not appreciating in the end. 😉 Within this scope, this is Hilton’s particular blend of charm, wit, charisma, and caring. As with the entire series, you find yourself wanting to see what happens to Tess, Po, and Pinky next – which is the hallmark of any solid procedural. The *singular* reason for the single star deduction is that COVID (and masking) are mentioned heavily throughout the book, and *I DO NOT WANT TO READ ABOUT COVID*. I am on a one-man war to eliminate this topic from fiction, but the only weapon I really have is this single star deduction – and so I use it on every book I read that mentions COVID, and I mention why in every review. Still, for readers who aren’t as adamant about this position as I am or even those who may disagree, there really was nothing too objectionable about this entry in this long running series, and quite a bit of fun escapism (minus the COVID aspects). Very much recommended.

This review of Fatal Conflict by Matt Hilton was originally written on June 6, 2022.