Odysseus Awakening by Evan Currie

Odysseus Awakening is the sixth novel in Evan Currie’s ongoing Odyssey One series. The story picks up a few months after the events in the prior novel. The Empire is now probing into the Priminae territory. Eric Weston is now the Commodore of a task force that has been assigned to monitor the actions of the Empire. 

In the meantime the Odysseus is experience some strange anomalies. There is a prankster on board causing trouble. Commodore Weston has to figure out how to deal with all of these issues while preparing to go up against the newest enemy. A chance encounter between a Priminae ship and the Imperial Fleet cascades into a space battle pits the Priminae and Terran forces against the Empire. 

That is about all there is to say about this particular book. The book is a nearly 300 page space battle. It is thrilling and fun. You keep turning the pages to see what happens next. Except for one fascinating point there really isn’t anything resembling plot or character development. Just non-stop space battle action. The book feels more like a transition between the previous book and the next one in the series. This is not uncommon for this series. It seems like the books alternate between setting up the story and an all-out battle. I have little doubt that the next book in the series will move the story along. The series is quite enjoyable and recommended.




           

The Last Town by Blake Crouch

Sometimes you don’t want to know the truth. The townspeople of Wayward Pines had wanted to know the truth. They wanted to know why they were trapped in this town. Then they discovered the truth, that they had been kidnapped and were 1,800 years in the future. They have also learned that the world is now inhabited by a bestial species that had once been man. All of that was bad enough, but when, in their anger they refused to obey the man who had put them there he does the unthinkable. He shuts down the electric fence, opens the gates, and lets the monsters in.

That is how Wayward the second book in the series ends. Now in The Last Town we go through the next two days of hell that the people in Wayward Pines suffer. Alone, mostly unarmed they have to try and stay alive. They have to avoid the terror that is killing and consuming them. Sheriff Ethan Burke didn’t know that David Pilcher would go this far. But he underestimated the megalomania that gripped the billionaire inventor. Now Burke has to try and keep himself and as many of the residents alive as possible. Most importantly he has to get to the hidden command center to challenge Pilcher and confront him with his crimes.

The Last Town is a breakneck paced novel. The action is almost non-stop. The fear and the horror that the residents face is quite vivid. You feel for these people who have had everything taken away from them and are now at the mercy of a madman and a swarm of ravenous monsters.  How the people survive and how they choose to keep the human race going is quite interesting. There are some who will wish for a different ending, but I felt that the ending was perfect and really wrapped up the series. This was one of the more interesting series that I have read this year and I recommend it.

Wayward by Blake Crouch

In Pines we were introduced to Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke. Burke had awakened in a forest suffering from amnesia that came from an automobile accident. His experience soon became a nightmare. He finally got the answers he was looking for, but the realization stunned him. It turned out that he was not in Wayward Pines, Idaho in 2012. Instead he was in Wayward Pines 1,800 years later. Mankind has doomed himself. Aberrations in the genetic structure have caused mankind to develop into a more animalistic species, roaming the earth in large swarms. Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth.

Now Ethan is the sheriff. His job is to keep the peace in Wayward Pines. The trouble is that no one other than Ethan knows that Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth. On top of that the creator of this experiment, David Pilcher, has a massive god complex that is only growing. Now the peace has been interrupted by the town’s first murder. Ethan has to solve this crime and keep an eye out on the town’s residents. As he investigates the murder he comes to a blinding realization about the true nature of the town. The result will leave you sitting on the edge of your chair.

Wayward is the second novel in the Wayward Pines Trilogy. The book is very interesting. The characters that we met in the first book are developed more fully in this novel.  The pacing of the story is steady, but not breakneck. Blake Crouch has invented an interesting world and populated it with fascinating people. If you have read Pines you will want to read Wayward.

Pines by Blake Crouch

Secret Service Ethan Burke has a problem. He and another agent were sent to locate two missing agents in Wayward Pines, Idaho. Right after pulling into town they are struck by a large 18 wheeler. After waking up in the hospital Ethan discovers that things are odd in this town. He can’t seem to get out of the town of Wayward Pines. He remembers his car getting hit by the truck, but the rest of his memories are vague. The whole town seems odd. The doctor doesn’t check on his patients. The sheriff is not at all helpful. All Ethan really wants is to phone home, to talk to his supervisor, and to find his wallet so he can get a hotel room and something to eat. Before long he makes a staggering discovery and things go from bad to worse.

Now Ethan has to use all of his skills to stay alive and to escape the town. But how do you escape a town surrounded by steep cliffs and an electric fence? Why is everyone acting so odd. Who is the mysterious woman who seems to be helping him, but whose existence is denied by everyone else. The answers to these questions will leave Ethan stunned and changed.

Pines is a fascinating book. I have to admit that I had several near misses with this book. It seemed really interesting at first, then it got a little weird and I thought it might be going a way I didn’t care for. I pushed on, still intrigued and started to like it again. Then it looked like it might be something in the same vein as the TV series LOST and I really wanted to stop. I didn’t like that particular series at all. But I pushed on and realized that I was wrong in my fears. By the end it had really gripped me. I can’t say much more about the plot than that. I don’t want to give anything away and this is a book that is hard to talk about without giving too much away.

The characters are interesting. There is a full picture of Ethan that develops throughout the book. The writing is very good and the pacing is perfect. I really enjoyed the first novel and plan to read the next. The novels have now been turned into a series on FOX. Check out this book if you like mysteries with a touch of science fiction. Don’t stop reading the book until you have reached the end.