Great combination of sweet and sexy with a bit of suspense thrown in. The story is fast paced and entertaining, the characters are likable, and the dialogue is witty. I've enjoyed each book in this series, but I think Callum may be my favorite hero so far. He's funny and self-assured enough to be himself without being arrogant, and as it turns out, he's exactly what the hard-nosed Judge needs in her life. He and Trinity have good chemistry and while the suspense element is secondary to the attraction between them, it does make for an interesting turn of events. I'll be anxiously awaiting the next in this engaging series.

SYNOPSIS:

 

On the futuristic planet of Echo, big government has joined with corporations and formed the Regime.  The planet is policed by the Department of Enforcement.  The moon-city of Ascension is the heart of the Regime, home to the Regent and the rest of society's elite.  Echo's citizens wander through life following all the rules, accepting what they are told and never really having any ambition.  Those who don't are known as dissidents.

 

Atriya is member of an elite unit known as the Crusaders within the Department of Enforcement.  Most of the time these shooters are just known as "The Crew."  The Crew is tasked to take down the dissidents who are forced to reside in the wilds.  

 

The lives of those who are on The Crew are brutal and their training is merciless.  Atriya is very competent at his job and he's taken down a lot of dissidents.  But lately, Atriya feels as if his job has become endlessly futile and he is not really making his mark in the world.  He is weary of it all and is becoming distracted.  He is also letting his temper get the best of him.  Some refer to this state of mind as "approaching shatter," otherwise known as losing it and becoming unable to operate due to stress.  This is the ultimate condemnation for a member of The Crew.  It's not just the end of a career, but a path to irrelevance. 

 

Atriya needs to take control of his life.  But it may be too late.  He is faced with some serious choices that will make or break him.  This could be the end of his career, or maybe even the end of his life.

 

MY THOUGHTS:

 

This book is exactly what it says it is, a "volume."  Not a lot happens in Volume 1.  It is written as a set up for future installments.  If you are looking for a whole story here, you will be very disappointed.  That being said, the set up is very good, the world-building is excruciatingly detailed and the writing is phenomenal.  I liked Atriya.  He's definitely not a brown-noser.  He's hardcore and not afraid to get in stupid people's faces.  Of course, this gets him in quite a bit of trouble!  I think it means he's going to be a great rebellious hero in the near future.  I have a feeling there are many evils to be revealed in the world of Echo and look forward to reading more.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

The afterword by author Kent Wayne is insightful and engaging.  I enjoyed it immensely, as much as I do his blog.  I came across Kent Wayne on Wordpress and his writings are LOL-funny.   Kent can be found at dirtyscifibuddha.com

 

 

 

 

Sometimes you find a book that just speaks to you (thanks to the best website ever, The Toast). Many of these essays circle around loneliness and they all at some point come back to the idea of humiliation, either at the hand of someone else, or being dealt out by Gornick, and that was surprising to me as I don't really think about humiliation a lot, and yet I was identifying with the writing. Which is apropos because these essays are also about starting out at one place, seeing a different side of things, and realizing both have a truth. These essays are not about me, but I can see some of myself in them, and they are valuable to me for both reasons. Recommended particularly for those who walk a lot, people who have worked or experienced academia, those who want to delve into the hows and whys of partnership and aloneness, and those who need to hear a writer say things about female friendships and life giving conversations that they don't have the words for yet.

Sometimes you find a book that just speaks to you (thanks to the best website ever, The Toast). Many of these essays circle around loneliness and they all at some point come back to the idea of humiliation, either at the hand of someone else, or being dealt out by Gornick, and that was surprising to me as I don't really think about humiliation a lot, and yet I was identifying with the writing. Which is apropos because these essays are also about starting out at one place, seeing a different side of things, and realizing both have a truth. These essays are not about me, but I can see some of myself in them, and they are valuable to me for both reasons. Recommended particularly for those who walk a lot, people who have worked or experienced academia, those who want to delve into the hows and whys of partnership and aloneness, and those who need to hear a writer say things about female friendships and life giving conversations that they don't have the words for yet.

I'll be honest when I say that this book was something I would more readily believe would be found on fanfiction.net than in a big name book store.

 

The story was about as slow as trying to train a deaf dog by screaming at it.I read fifty pages in and we still haven't really seen anything regarding Anakin's training, which was promised in the synopsis. So far, I've seen Obi Wan once and the rest was taken up by a set of characters no one's heard of before.

 

I also found myself highly distracted by one character's name because it was the name of an ethnic food. If you seriously cannot be bothered enough to actually check to make sure you're not going to put something like that in a novel.

 

I haven't read anything else by this author, but I think I'll take a pass the next time I come across one of his books.