Author, Jade Kerrion sent me an ecopy of her Sci-fi novel Perfection Unleashed.
Description from Goodreads:
Two men, one face. One man seeks to embrace destiny, the other to escape it.
Danyael Sabre spent sixteen years clawing out of the ruins of his childhood and finally has everything he wanted–a career, a home, and a trusted friend. To hold on to them, he keeps his head down and plays by the rules. An alpha empath, he is powerful in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, yet his experience has taught him to avoid attention.
When the perfect human being, Galahad, escapes from Pioneer Laboratories, the illusory peace between humans and their derivatives–the in vitros, clones, and mutants–collapses into social upheaval. The abominations, deformed and distorted mirrors of humanity, created unintentionally in Pioneer Lab’s search for perfection, descend upon Washington D.C. The first era of the Genetic Revolution was peaceful. The second is headed for open war.
Although the genetic future of the human race pivots on Galahad, Danyael does not feel compelled to get involved and risk his cover of anonymity, until he finds out that the perfect human being looks just like him.
Review:
I have to admit that there was more to this book than I expected. Not only was there an interesting science fiction plot, there were also some interesting social questions raised about the morality of genetic modifications, as well as a mild romantic subplot and plenty of action. I’d argue too much adventure, it’s a subjective thing, I know.
While on one hand nonstop action is a good thing, it’s never boring, but it also means that the reader is never given a moment to breathe. The main character, Danyael, is hit with one thing after another until he is so exhausted he’s about ready to pass out. This is actually how he feels from the first page to the last. I mean, three completely unrelated baddies came after him one after another (more if you count the attacks on the group he was with as opposed to him specifically)!
This constant fragile, borderline helplessness made him feel very child-like, which tended to counter his badass alpha empath status, though it did make him really easy to empathise with. I liked him a lot. I liked his cronies. I loved the strength of friendships represented without being tarnished by unrequited love, or lust, or some past betrayal. Pure, strong friendships can feel hard to come by in fiction sometimes. I really enjoyed finding one here. I also liked the opposing military factions, though I strongly felt X-Men’s influence in the two mutant factions. I just really wish there had been a few less irons in the literary fire.
The repetitive plot additions left me feeling exhausted too. There were just too many invested parties vying for Danyael in some fashion or another. Really, what’s the likelihood they would all come to culmination at the same time? It left the book feeling rushed as it leapt from one crisis to another. Despite this one rather significant complaint, I really enjoyed the story and the characters in it. I have to admit being irked at the cliffhanger ending I’m not a fan of them, but I’d be interested in picking the sequel up at some point.