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The Shield

Book Review of Peter Evan Jones’ The Shield

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The Shield

I grabbed Peter Jones’ post-apocalyptic, military sci-fi novel, The Shield, off of the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
As a Shield, William Grayson’s entire life centered around combat training for the sole purpose of protecting the Circle. To him there was nothing else in life, no other temptations, no goals, no dreams of family. He and the other Shields were trained warriors; a tolerated, necessary evil in a world where the only religion was peace. Aside from them, hundreds of years had passed since humans had engaged in any type of war, aggression, or even self-defense. The Last War had consumed the entire planet, destroying nearly everyone and everything. The fleeting remains of humanity had managed to rebuild the Twelve Cities focused entirely on establishing a peaceful people and a peaceful planet.

When the aliens came, they had no intention on participating in this utopia humans had spent centuries perfecting.

Grayson and the few remaining Shields must train and lead the very society that before had considered them a nuisance. Forced to reconcile new emotions he was forever immune to, and to engage those who hated what he stood for, Grayson must learn to go beyond his training as he slowly realizes that he is now responsible for not only the liberation of his planet, but to bring a new definition of life to every last human.

Review:
This book has an interesting premise. I love the ironic social implications of a group of elite soldiers defending the peaceful ways of a society they can obviously never be part of. Some of the most moving lines of the book come from Grayson (usually just referred to as The Shield) in reference to his role. I have to be honest though, I had a hard time believing humans could ever be so peaceful. It just seems to go against our very nature and, of course, the existence of the Shields speaks to that fact. I’m willing to accept for the sake of fiction, however, that such a society was established in the wake of a devastating world war and as such would be wholly unprepared to face a hostile invading force.

But in the end I simply expected more from the book than I got. It’s not that it’s short on action. It isn’t. The aliens invade and Grayson moves from one problem to the next until the book ends. I don’t think the man ever slept. But I kept looking for an underlying moral to the story, or something other than just the day to day travails of one group of people left behind. The closest I could come would be the dangers all encompassing peace or the importance of the military establishment. Neither of which I think were intended messages, which left the book feeling a little hollow to me. All of the soldiering was interesting enough and I really like Grayson, but so what? That really wasn’t enough to really grab me. Perhaps the sequel, The Shield: Redemption, will bring it all together.

My main disappointment was the ending. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is another way of saying it doesn’t in fact end. There is also no real crescendo. It is well written though. There are a few abrupt changes in POV and I found it a little repetitive. (Each time a new character was introduced we needed to be told what they thought of the Shields, which essentially rehashed the same old same old.) But all-in-all I found it enjoyable.

Book Review of Saumel Odunsi’s Age of the Aura

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Age of the AuraAuthor, Samuel Odunsi Jr, sent me a review copy of his sic-fi novel, Age of the Aura, Phase I: Champions of Power.

Description from Goodreads:
There was no other name for the Blessed Galaxy. After being gifted with the Auras, five great powerhouses of celestial creation, the title was a suitable fit. While harnessing such energies, the governing bodies have ruled their respected reaches of the Galaxy for a number of millennia, but now they face the threat of an inevitable calamity that could shake the lives of everyone, caused by one of the five Auras.

After accepting a sudden promotion, a devout man of science, named Lowen Sars, decides to take on the burden of saving the Galaxy’s people after he learns of the calamity, but soon realizes that the role of a hero was a calling not meant for him. In his process of self-discovery, Lowen inadvertently begins the fateful saga of not only the Blessed Galaxy but also the kingdom in possession of the corrupt Aura, and especially its two young heirs of the throne.

Review:
I’m really not too sure how I feel about this book. The idea is really interesting, the writing is pretty good (though it could do with a bit of an edit to shore up the tenses and double check word usage), and there is the start of some really good world-building, but it’s only a start. The book is roughly 140 pages long and if it was closer to 500, with a complete storyline and plot I would likely be giving it far higher marks. But as it is the reader is barely introduced to the characters, technology, and lead-up to an important event that undoubtedly sets in motion the rest of the series. That isn’t enough to make for a happy read. I finished the last page wondering not only what would happen next, but why ‘the envoy’ was important, why we needed to get to know the Monvaldo family at all, how long the process had taken (I couldn’t tell how much time passed in the course of this book), what was the implication of Lowen’s experience on Dox, was there a method to the madness of Edith and Brill’s deaths, how could Lowen be so naive as to not know what he was really setting in motion, where did the Aura’s originally come from, and what of all of the side characters that were introduced once and then never seen again. 

Eventually I decided that the clue is in the book’s description. It reads, “In his process of self-discovery, Lowen inadvertently begins the fateful saga…” There it is, BEGINS. That’s all this book is, a beginning. It’s a pretty good beginning, but still just a start. I don’t generally sit down to read part of a book. I want the whole thing. 

Having said all of that I must confess that I did like the Monvaldo brothers and Lowen and his team. They’re likeable characters after all. If there was more to the book I would have happily kept reading to see it to the end too. So, if you’re the sort that doesn’t mind their stories broken into a series of small snippets this saga will likely appeal to you. I, on the other-hand, was annoyed to find it ending as the action finally came to a head.

Was Once a Hero

Book Review of Edward McKeown’s Was Once a Hero

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Was Once a Hero

I grabbed Edward McKeown‘s Sci-Fi/Space Opera Was Once a Hero from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Reluctant privateer Robert Fenaday searches the stars for his lost love, Lisa, a naval intelligence officer whose ship disappeared near the end of the Conchirri War . He’s joined by the genetically engineered assassin, Shasti Rainhell, whose cold perfection masks her dark past. Both are blackmailed by government spymaster, Mandela, into a suicidal mission to the doomed planet Enshar. Leading a team of scientists and soldiers, they must unravel the mystery of that planet’s death before an ancient force reaches out to claim their lives.

Review:
This is space-opera at it’s best. Fenaday, Shasti, and the rest of their regular, rag-tag crew of “cutthroats, screw-ups and a few pros” have an easy going rapport that was a lot of fun to be part of. Fenaday is your basic nice guy. Someone referred to him as a “gentle pirate” and it’s an appropriate nomen descriptivum. He’s not nearly tough enough for what he does, but he’s smart enough to surround himself with those who can make up for it. I think it would be almost impossible not to like him. Shasti is just plain kick-ass…and let there be no doubt, she both has a nice ass and could kick your ass. Her character does fall a little vicim to the painful trope that for any real woman to be a brave, strong soldier she must also be broken or emotionally injured in some manner, but I’ll overlook it. Then there are a whole host of side characters, some of whom I suspect will carry over into the next book. I especially liked the Tok brothers, Telisan and Mmok.

I was a little confused about people’s country of origin. A number of characters are stated to be from certain countries (Ireland, Israel, etc.) but others are from planets (Mars, Enchari, etc.). I never could decided if the earthlings were meant to be from the actual geographic countries designated or if those countries were meant to have colonised beyond the confines of our Blue Planet. I would hope that intra-galactic travel would have weakened such human divisions.

The story itself had a little bit of mystery, a decent amount of action, a few heart-felt moments, and a couple good laughs. The book did seem to wrap up quite quickly once the mission had been accomplished and I never felt completely satisfied about the whole Lisa situation. But then again I don’t think I was meant to. This is definitely worth picking up.