Review

A review blog

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

The novel “Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the first book in the Wanderers series.

When Shana can’t find her sister Nessie at home, she fears that she has run away as she did in the past and as their mother had done some time before. She goes out looking for her and finds her looking like she’s sleepwalking, showing no signs of noticing Shana’s presence. Other people in the same state start arriving and walking side by side with Nessie and when someone physically tries to stop them, they react by flailing violently and in extreme cases literally explode.

Benjamin Ray is a doctor who fell out of favor at the CDC after falsifying data to try to avoid the risk of an epidemic. However, an artificial intelligence called Black Swan picked his name while it was being used to gain useful intelligence in the new crisis. While medical authorities try to understand the origin of the strange new form of sleepwalking, extremist fringes linked to the American religious right and white supremacism start mounting a campaign against “the Flock” accused of being linked to evil forces.

Masada's Gate by David Bruns and Chris Pourteau

The novel “Masada’s Gate” by David Bruns and Chris Pourteau was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the fifth book in The SynCorp Saga series and follows “Valhalla Station”. It’s also the second book in the Empire Earth trilogy.

Ruben Qinlao and Tony Taulke have landed on the Moon but it’s not easy to hide from Cassandra’s revolutionary soldiers even though Ruben spent a lot of time there. Time plays against them because, in the inner solar system, SynCorp’s power seems to have fallen everywhere. Kwazi Jabari, labeled the hero of Mars, becomes the face of the revolution against SynCorp.

Titan represents one of SynCorp’s last great strongholds, and Masada, a space station orbiting that moon, offers the means that make a stand against the enemy possible. Stacks Fischer is sent to help protect SynCorp’s technological secrets held on Masada but what can he do about the cyberwarfare that uses artificial intelligence to penetrate the station systems?

The Blood Cell by James Goss

The novel “The Blood Cell” by James Goss was published for the first time in 2014.

The Governor has the responsibility of running the Prison but for him, it is important to treat the prisoners in a humane way even if they are the worst criminals on his planet. Escape is impossible since the prison is located on an asteroid and yet one of the latest arrivals tries to escape.

The Governor tries to understand the reason for such meaningless behavior even when it is the most dangerous criminal of that space quadrant who puts it into action. When he interrogates him, Prisoner 428 tells him that he wants to help him and that many people will die if the Governor doesn’t listen to him. What appears to be a threat leaves the Governor more perplexed than irritated, certainly less irritated than by the fact that prisoner 428 still wants to be called Doctor.

Of Men And Monsters by William Tenn

The novel “Of Men And Monsters” by William Tenn was published for the first time in 1968.

Eric the Only is a boy about to face the test that will allow him to be included in the Male Society. Among the 128 people Mankind consists of, this means being able to carry out a Steal against the Monsters, the aliens who have conquered the Earth.

Thomas the Trap-Smasher, Eric’s uncle and mentor as well as one of the leaders of Mankind, reveals to his nephew that he’s adept at Alien-Science and convinces him to contact some Strangers during his test. After recovering from his surprise, Eric accepts and receives some strange alien weapons from the Strangers but when he returns to the corridors where Mankind lives, he gets captured by men of his own tribe.

Killing West by Lee Gimenez

The novel “Killing West” by Lee Gimenez was published for the first time in 2014. It’s part of the Rachel West series.

Rachel West is a CIA operative investigating Chinese billionaire Zhao Deng’s acquisitions of American technology companies. However, her mission to China ends with the man’s death at the hands of one of his bodyguards, an event that indicates that someone else must be behind him.

The information she gathered brings Rachel West far from China in search of the person, or persons behind acquisitions whose purposes are still obscure. Investigating becomes even more difficult when strong suspicions emerge that someone in the CIA is working against her.