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geochamp's review against another edition
4.0
Read this book because I subscribe to the authors YT channel. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the pacing was great and it was an easy read. My only small complaint was that the one character was known more for her breast size then making her more engaging.
snf_83's review against another edition
4.0
Slightly far fetched, however I'm giving it 4 stars because I laughed so much at Ash's humour! He is genuinely hilarious!
house3000's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
sch91086's review
4.0
3.5 stars. This book has redeemed my faith in self-published authors. (At least I'm pretty sure this is self published? Picked it up for free.)
The grammar and spelling were all edited well. After a string of bad self-published books I sincerely appreciated this.
The book had some snark in it. It was funny at times but a couple of the jokes got old toward the end. The plot was fun and interesting. The pacing was very quick. At times I felt like I was reading the book version of Crank- there was non-stop action. The author is very good at writing action scenes without them being boring or confusing.
The things that prevented this from being a full four star or five star book was the size and the character development. The length was very short. Amazon is claiming this is 332 pages.. But the typical time to read it is 3.5 hours. I feel like that math doesn't add up to 332 paperback pages... But I guess I could be wrong. I have a habit of reading very long books (anything less than 500 pages often feels short to me).
Short is okay when it doesn't cost the story anything. In this case I felt it cost the story some character development. For example- Murdock could have been a truly fantastic villain. However- he fell flat in many aspects. He's described as being a "master of disguise" and fooling the government into thinking they watched him die on video. Even though we have a few chapters from his point of view his faked death is never explained. Also- the whole premise is that he is seeking revenge for being abandoned to terrorists and being tortured by them. He loses a finger. This is the worst thing that happens to him that we are told. Everything else is glossed conveniently over by saying "he experienced hell and had every right to seek revenge."
The parts of the book from Murdock's point of view were perfect opportunities to go into horrible gory details about his past. Yet we never get it. It's just blood lust and vengeance. Not that villains need to be sympathetic characters but it seemed like maybe we were supposed to feel sympathy for him at some point and had no reason to do so.
All in all a fun read. I may pick up the sequel- it seems to have an interesting premise too.
The grammar and spelling were all edited well. After a string of bad self-published books I sincerely appreciated this.
The book had some snark in it. It was funny at times but a couple of the jokes got old toward the end. The plot was fun and interesting. The pacing was very quick. At times I felt like I was reading the book version of Crank- there was non-stop action. The author is very good at writing action scenes without them being boring or confusing.
The things that prevented this from being a full four star or five star book was the size and the character development. The length was very short. Amazon is claiming this is 332 pages.. But the typical time to read it is 3.5 hours. I feel like that math doesn't add up to 332 paperback pages... But I guess I could be wrong. I have a habit of reading very long books (anything less than 500 pages often feels short to me).
Short is okay when it doesn't cost the story anything. In this case I felt it cost the story some character development. For example- Murdock could have been a truly fantastic villain. However- he fell flat in many aspects. He's described as being a "master of disguise" and fooling the government into thinking they watched him die on video. Even though we have a few chapters from his point of view his faked death is never explained. Also- the whole premise is that he is seeking revenge for being abandoned to terrorists and being tortured by them. He loses a finger. This is the worst thing that happens to him that we are told. Everything else is glossed conveniently over by saying "he experienced hell and had every right to seek revenge."
The parts of the book from Murdock's point of view were perfect opportunities to go into horrible gory details about his past. Yet we never get it. It's just blood lust and vengeance. Not that villains need to be sympathetic characters but it seemed like maybe we were supposed to feel sympathy for him at some point and had no reason to do so.
All in all a fun read. I may pick up the sequel- it seems to have an interesting premise too.
sweet_t_reads's review
4.0
Interesting concept
While I've read both military/police and mind reading type books before, I've never read anything quite like this. I was very impressed with this story. Even though the story is fiction, there is enough truth to really make you believe what's going on. All of the characters had unique stories that made them realistic. Ash had just the right amounts of humor and pain to make you feel for him. Even though he is flawed he is real. And I think represents a lot of what our veterans deal with.
The author did a wonderful job at brining these two subjects together. It never felt cheesy and was very well written. I found myself itching to find out what would happen next. I listed to the audible version of this story. The narration was very well done as well. I enjoyed the extra sound effects that whee added.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a action story with a twist. Very well done!
While I've read both military/police and mind reading type books before, I've never read anything quite like this. I was very impressed with this story. Even though the story is fiction, there is enough truth to really make you believe what's going on. All of the characters had unique stories that made them realistic. Ash had just the right amounts of humor and pain to make you feel for him. Even though he is flawed he is real. And I think represents a lot of what our veterans deal with.
The author did a wonderful job at brining these two subjects together. It never felt cheesy and was very well written. I found myself itching to find out what would happen next. I listed to the audible version of this story. The narration was very well done as well. I enjoyed the extra sound effects that whee added.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a action story with a twist. Very well done!
sch91086's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. This book has redeemed my faith in self-published authors. (At least I'm pretty sure this is self published? Picked it up for free.)
The grammar and spelling were all edited well. After a string of bad self-published books I sincerely appreciated this.
The book had some snark in it. It was funny at times but a couple of the jokes got old toward the end. The plot was fun and interesting. The pacing was very quick. At times I felt like I was reading the book version of Crank- there was non-stop action. The author is very good at writing action scenes without them being boring or confusing.
The things that prevented this from being a full four star or five star book was the size and the character development. The length was very short. Amazon is claiming this is 332 pages.. But the typical time to read it is 3.5 hours. I feel like that math doesn't add up to 332 paperback pages... But I guess I could be wrong. I have a habit of reading very long books (anything less than 500 pages often feels short to me).
Short is okay when it doesn't cost the story anything. In this case I felt it cost the story some character development. For example- Murdock could have been a truly fantastic villain. However- he fell flat in many aspects. He's described as being a "master of disguise" and fooling the government into thinking they watched him die on video. Even though we have a few chapters from his point of view his faked death is never explained. Also- the whole premise is that he is seeking revenge for being abandoned to terrorists and being tortured by them. He loses a finger. This is the worst thing that happens to him that we are told. Everything else is glossed conveniently over by saying "he experienced hell and had every right to seek revenge."
The parts of the book from Murdock's point of view were perfect opportunities to go into horrible gory details about his past. Yet we never get it. It's just blood lust and vengeance. Not that villains need to be sympathetic characters but it seemed like maybe we were supposed to feel sympathy for him at some point and had no reason to do so.
All in all a fun read. I may pick up the sequel- it seems to have an interesting premise too.
The grammar and spelling were all edited well. After a string of bad self-published books I sincerely appreciated this.
The book had some snark in it. It was funny at times but a couple of the jokes got old toward the end. The plot was fun and interesting. The pacing was very quick. At times I felt like I was reading the book version of Crank- there was non-stop action. The author is very good at writing action scenes without them being boring or confusing.
The things that prevented this from being a full four star or five star book was the size and the character development. The length was very short. Amazon is claiming this is 332 pages.. But the typical time to read it is 3.5 hours. I feel like that math doesn't add up to 332 paperback pages... But I guess I could be wrong. I have a habit of reading very long books (anything less than 500 pages often feels short to me).
Short is okay when it doesn't cost the story anything. In this case I felt it cost the story some character development. For example- Murdock could have been a truly fantastic villain. However- he fell flat in many aspects. He's described as being a "master of disguise" and fooling the government into thinking they watched him die on video. Even though we have a few chapters from his point of view his faked death is never explained. Also- the whole premise is that he is seeking revenge for being abandoned to terrorists and being tortured by them. He loses a finger. This is the worst thing that happens to him that we are told. Everything else is glossed conveniently over by saying "he experienced hell and had every right to seek revenge."
The parts of the book from Murdock's point of view were perfect opportunities to go into horrible gory details about his past. Yet we never get it. It's just blood lust and vengeance. Not that villains need to be sympathetic characters but it seemed like maybe we were supposed to feel sympathy for him at some point and had no reason to do so.
All in all a fun read. I may pick up the sequel- it seems to have an interesting premise too.
timbrrwolfe's review
0.5
This was......not a good book.
Mostly from a subjective standpoint. For instance, if you like those slasher flicks with female characters with big boobs and no bras, running from a killer as their friends are picked off in gory ways...you might enjoy this book.
But if you're not a fan of one of the 2 female characters in a book being introduced as a pair of boobs (almost literally, I'm not even exaggerating here) then that's strike one. And it gets literally no better from there for her. She's borderline a bimbo throughout the whole book. The other female character, by the way? A thirty year old foul mouthed woman who everybody thinks looks like a child. It's played for laughs, of course, but personally I think there's enough (again, almost literal) infantilizing of women, especially women of color, in media.
Not to mention that the characters are just....dumb. I specifically recall a scene where the main character (the titular Ash) is being interrogated (or something) by an agent, and, despite the agent speaking in plain terms that anybody with half a brain would be able to follow, Ash is confused by the "code" the agent is speaking in.
There's also that the book takes place over the course of two days, when it would've been served much better to have been stretched out over longer. As it is, you have the main character being beat to shit and in fights constantly, only /just/ running out of energy at the very end of the book. A truly herculean effort for someone who's a barely in shape alcoholic.
I mean, in general, the book reads like a big power fantasy. And I understand that. Though this particular one is hyper masculine in a way that grosses me out. There's a way to make a power fantasy that's at least veiled enough to be a fun, engaging, deep story. This book does not do that.
Having said all that, I /did/ read all the way to the end, mostly out of a morbid curiosity. But yeah, it never really got better. The ending wasn't even satisfying. And not even in a sequel hook kind of way. It was just bleh. The plot is a loosely tied together string of events. Which, again, felt super rushed because it happened over the course of 2 days.
The "magic system" that I'm so fond of talking about felt fairly inconsistent. Granted, it's not /that/ crazy that Ash wouldn't have a very good grip on his powers or know the extent of his abilities. But to go from "This character has telepathy but he can't shut it off so he has to drink to drown it all out" to "This character not only has literally no issues but can also use his telepathy to control others, even multiple people at once" is such a point of whiplash my neck is still sore.
Also at the end Ash gains precognition? Or something? That helps him save the day? Super convenient, and also with zero grounds anywhere else in the book (considering that agent from earlier shot down multiple psychic abilities).
So yeah, a pretty gross, mediocre book. I stuck with it for my own morbid curiosity and because I'm a sucker for magic systems, but this was ultimately very unsatisfying. I don't expect to read the rest of the series.
Mostly from a subjective standpoint. For instance, if you like those slasher flicks with female characters with big boobs and no bras, running from a killer as their friends are picked off in gory ways...you might enjoy this book.
But if you're not a fan of one of the 2 female characters in a book being introduced as a pair of boobs (almost literally, I'm not even exaggerating here) then that's strike one. And it gets literally no better from there for her. She's borderline a bimbo throughout the whole book. The other female character, by the way? A thirty year old foul mouthed woman who everybody thinks looks like a child. It's played for laughs, of course, but personally I think there's enough (again, almost literal) infantilizing of women, especially women of color, in media.
Not to mention that the characters are just....dumb. I specifically recall a scene where the main character (the titular Ash) is being interrogated (or something) by an agent, and, despite the agent speaking in plain terms that anybody with half a brain would be able to follow, Ash is confused by the "code" the agent is speaking in.
There's also that the book takes place over the course of two days, when it would've been served much better to have been stretched out over longer. As it is, you have the main character being beat to shit and in fights constantly, only /just/ running out of energy at the very end of the book. A truly herculean effort for someone who's a barely in shape alcoholic.
I mean, in general, the book reads like a big power fantasy. And I understand that. Though this particular one is hyper masculine in a way that grosses me out. There's a way to make a power fantasy that's at least veiled enough to be a fun, engaging, deep story. This book does not do that.
Having said all that, I /did/ read all the way to the end, mostly out of a morbid curiosity. But yeah, it never really got better. The ending wasn't even satisfying. And not even in a sequel hook kind of way. It was just bleh. The plot is a loosely tied together string of events. Which, again, felt super rushed because it happened over the course of 2 days.
The "magic system" that I'm so fond of talking about felt fairly inconsistent. Granted, it's not /that/ crazy that Ash wouldn't have a very good grip on his powers or know the extent of his abilities. But to go from "This character has telepathy but he can't shut it off so he has to drink to drown it all out" to "This character not only has literally no issues but can also use his telepathy to control others, even multiple people at once" is such a point of whiplash my neck is still sore.
Also at the end Ash gains precognition? Or something? That helps him save the day? Super convenient, and also with zero grounds anywhere else in the book (considering that agent from earlier shot down multiple psychic abilities).
So yeah, a pretty gross, mediocre book. I stuck with it for my own morbid curiosity and because I'm a sucker for magic systems, but this was ultimately very unsatisfying. I don't expect to read the rest of the series.
amia's review
4.0
I really enjoyed reading Ash. It is full of excitement and the characters are well developed. There is a lot of violence and some cursing in case this is an issue for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.