Confessions Of A Bookaholic
What A Rush. This was a very good book, even if I did have a few quibbles with it as an Autistic. The action is among the craziest I’ve seen in novel form, in all the best ways. And the pacing of the abilities and how they are discovered is slow enough to seem “plausible” and yet quick enough to keep the action going well. Excellent work, looking forward to the rest of the series.
This review of Brainrush by Richard Bard was originally published on October 23, 2018.
Go Right! For a Fitting Conclusion. OK, so the “Go Right!” bit is somewhat of an inside joke you’ll get to when you read this book. Overall, with this book Battles once again collapses the global to the personal, and in so doing gives us a very fitting end to the series – while allowing other tales in this world. We get answers for one central character somewhat early in this book, but overall the arc of this book truly is Captain Daniel Ash’s final revenge against the organization that took nearly everything from him before he even knew they existed. The ending, in particular, was a bit mind bending in a very cool way that is not unique, but is fairly rare. Absolutely a fitting end to an excellent series, and one that leaves the reader with an adequate sense of closure.
This review of Down by Brett Battles was originally published on July 30, 2018.
Solid Succession, Surprising Ending. This book superbly continues the tale of PROJECT EDEN, the Sage Flu, and the Resistance. Battles does a superb job of illustrating just how shocking such a world would be to any survivors, and even manages to introduce some things most would likely not consider. And that ending… with very nearly the very last words of the book, the storyline is irrevocably changed. Superb.
This review of Eden Rising by Brett Battles was originally published on July 27, 2018.
Personal Goes Global. With SICK (Project Eden #1), Battles set up the coming global conflict but used one man’s struggle to save his family as the primary story, with just the barest hints that it could become much bigger. With this book, we spend much more time at the Global scale, with the clock ticking down to the moment the human population is ordered nearly extinct. Particularly in the later chapters, short chapters and an ever decreasing clock ramp up the adrenaline. Very effective book, and you’ll be glad you hadn’t read it yet by the end – with the series completed now, we can go straight into PALE HORSE (Project Eden #3) – something those early readers couldn’t doo, and which would have been frustrating, given the ending.
This review of Exit 9 by Brett Battles was originally published on July 19, 2018.
Sick In The Best Ways. This is one wild ride, that starts with a man’s daughter screaming only for him to realize moments later that his wife is dead. Soon, he and his kids are kidnapped and separated. It turns out, they unknowingly have something that is extremely valuable to some very… sick… people. This introduction to the PROJECT EDEN series is more TAKEN than Apocalypse, but the tease of a coming Apocalypse is very real and very visceral. By the end, you’re glad the entire series is already written, because you’ll immediately want to jump into Book 2.
This review of Sick by Brett Battles was originally published on July 17, 2018.
Same Great Adventure, Less Formatting Issues. In this fourth installment of the BREAKTHROUGH series, we get even tighter action than the first three, even more gut wrenching drama, and yet more players in the mix. Overall a great addition to the series, though this reader is beginning to wonder just how long the series will continue. Start with BREAKTHROUGH, but by the time you finish this one you’ll still have enough questions to bring you back for the next one.
This review of Ripple by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 15, 2018.
Great Story, Suffers Same Formatting Problem As LEAP. In this entry into the BREAKTHROUGH series, Grumley doesn’t have near the revelations of the previous two books – though there are a couple thrown in, they just don’t have the impact of the previous books – but manages to raise the stakes even more. Our team faces genuine peril this time, with one major character actually dying – and staying dead through the end of the book. Other characters feel like cannon fodder when introduced, and are never really fleshed out to be much more than that. Whereas the previous two books left on a bit of an ominous cliffhanger of the reader knowing more was to come but the characters not, this book leaves us with the characters having a clear direction – even if they don’t know exactly where they are going. Arguably the weakest book of this series, but still an excellent read that promises even more to come.
This review of Catalyst by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 14, 2018.
Great Tale Poorly Formatted. Overall, this tale was a great followup to BREAKTHROUGH, starting a few months after the end of that tale with many of the same characters involved. All of the elements that made BREAKTHROUGH so great continue here, and some more excellent elements get added as well. But there were so many formatting issues when jumping between scenes in chapters! So many that I just couldn’t ignore it and had to ding the book a star just to bring them to attention. Overall a truly great tale, loving this series. Just needs a better editor.
This review of Leap by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 11, 2018.
Starts Slow and Easy. Then WOW. The build in this book starts as a low simmer. You meet up with a man getting out of the ocean onto his boat in the Caymans. You meet a research team in Antarctica. You meet another research team trying to learn how to talk to dolphins in Miami. … And then all of this begins coming together. When it does… sci-fi done with some things that seem reminiscent of things, and other things I’ve never seen. It was a great combination and produced a great story.
This review of Breakthrough by Michael C. Grumley was originally published on April 6, 2018.
Stakes Keep Rising. In this installment of the Sabel Security Thrillers, we find a rather ingenious terrorist plot, ran by someone inside the US. But who? That is what Pia Sabel and her team must find out. Good action, good mystery. Need a resolution to the mystery behind Pia’s parents’ murder already. That plot is starting to get long in the tooth with no resolution. Though the ending here was a bit of a cliffhanger – only tangentially related to said murders. Still recommended.
This review of Death and the Damned by Seeley James was originally published on March 29, 2018.