Scan barcode
beingshort's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
readerxxx's review against another edition
4.0
,I had really low expectations for this book going in but was really surprised when I got captured by it. A specialized seal team for dealing with the undead. What's not to love? Can't wait for book 2.
seak's review against another edition
2.0
I hadn't heard much about this one, but the description convinced me to give it a go. A military group is assembled to take on supernatural occurrences and with my experience with Myke Cole's Shadow Ops series, which is really only similar in the fact that the military is involved, I thought I couldn't miss.
Sadly, what started out as a fun romp with the military and monsters turned out to be a cliched and underwhelming frustration.
The Cliches
I don't outright hate cliches. I think they can be used well and it's an easy way to get people into the story or characters without having to waste time (i.e. pages) explaining things. The problem I had here was that once you make reference to "it's like I'm in a movie" one too many times, it starts to pull you out of the immediate story. It's no longer its own story, it's someone else's. And it just plain started to bug me since just about every character had to make mention of being in a bad horror movie.
And I was even impressed that the cliches weren't so much in the monsters themselves. Obviously there were some monster cliches, but I liked the idea behind the vampires/zombies. Sadly it wasn't enough.
Why I Was Underwhelmed
One of the big promises I felt that were made early on was that this team was collected to take on the supernatural occurrences in the world. Occurrences is plural right? So, I figured we would get more than one.
Okay, technically there are more than one because of the backstory of the characters, but the team itself only ever takes on one ridiculously long occurrence of the supernatural and that's the end of this rather short book. Just a couple more would have made this so much better. Let's see what else they can do. Are they really here for just the one event? It makes the whole idea behind supernatural threats seem much less ... erm ... threatening.
Longest Drawn Out Fight Scene Ever - Spoilers
This was the kicker. The last bit of the story has these guys throwing just about everything at the "boss" bad guy monster thing. She's a vampire so she's pretty much impervious to it ... except at one point you get enough holes in you and you kind of fall apart right? But I digress, what drove me nuts at the ending was that this scene just kept going and going ... and going!
They chase here through the building, then down the road, and it's always just in the nick of time that she gets away/protagonist gets saved. And then it happens again ... and again.
I was so done with this scene. There's tension and then there's a time when you've built up the tension so much it breaks. When nothing has actually occurred in terms of resolution, I just can't care anymore.
The Narrator
The narrator, Todd Haberkorn, did a good job. He definitely matched the cliches well and did solid work. I can't say he was my favorite ever, but that may have been the lines he was given to work with as well. It's hard to say.
Conclusion
I really hate to bad-mouth anything that people have worked this hard on, but it really wasn't for me. I was intrigued at first and then about midway through I was frustrated and then it only got more so.
2 out of 5 Stars (Okay, but frustrating)
Sadly, what started out as a fun romp with the military and monsters turned out to be a cliched and underwhelming frustration.
The Cliches
I don't outright hate cliches. I think they can be used well and it's an easy way to get people into the story or characters without having to waste time (i.e. pages) explaining things. The problem I had here was that once you make reference to "it's like I'm in a movie" one too many times, it starts to pull you out of the immediate story. It's no longer its own story, it's someone else's. And it just plain started to bug me since just about every character had to make mention of being in a bad horror movie.
And I was even impressed that the cliches weren't so much in the monsters themselves. Obviously there were some monster cliches, but I liked the idea behind the vampires/zombies. Sadly it wasn't enough.
Why I Was Underwhelmed
One of the big promises I felt that were made early on was that this team was collected to take on the supernatural occurrences in the world. Occurrences is plural right? So, I figured we would get more than one.
Okay, technically there are more than one because of the backstory of the characters, but the team itself only ever takes on one ridiculously long occurrence of the supernatural and that's the end of this rather short book. Just a couple more would have made this so much better. Let's see what else they can do. Are they really here for just the one event? It makes the whole idea behind supernatural threats seem much less ... erm ... threatening.
Longest Drawn Out Fight Scene Ever - Spoilers
This was the kicker. The last bit of the story has these guys throwing just about everything at the "boss" bad guy monster thing. She's a vampire so she's pretty much impervious to it ... except at one point you get enough holes in you and you kind of fall apart right? But I digress, what drove me nuts at the ending was that this scene just kept going and going ... and going!
They chase here through the building, then down the road, and it's always just in the nick of time that she gets away/protagonist gets saved. And then it happens again ... and again.
I was so done with this scene. There's tension and then there's a time when you've built up the tension so much it breaks. When nothing has actually occurred in terms of resolution, I just can't care anymore.
The Narrator
The narrator, Todd Haberkorn, did a good job. He definitely matched the cliches well and did solid work. I can't say he was my favorite ever, but that may have been the lines he was given to work with as well. It's hard to say.
Conclusion
I really hate to bad-mouth anything that people have worked this hard on, but it really wasn't for me. I was intrigued at first and then about midway through I was frustrated and then it only got more so.
2 out of 5 Stars (Okay, but frustrating)
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
Mini-Review:
4 Stars for Narration by Todd Haberkorn
4 Stars for Setup/Concepts
3.5 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for First 3/4 of Book - Great Pacing
- 1 Star for Last 1/4 of Book - It was all action but story pacing bogged down.
Except for the end, I have to say this was one of the best books I've read this year for "the world is blowing up into chaos" aka possible apocalypse/world catastrophe type. I didn't know much about the story before I went into it but I figured it would be no loss because I snagged it on KU Read & Listen. At most, the story would be cheesy fun with lots of action.
Seal Team 13 is a great setup for a new series. I can't wait to read the next book! Solid characters, fun setting, a couple of neat tweaks to well known UF tropes, plenty of action and a sprinkle of humor. I'm already hooked to the background stories and want more details.
Yes the ending was anti-climatic in comparison to how the book started, but it didn't make me dislike the book. It just made me grumpy because I had hoped for a cool exit to match the great intro.
4 Stars for Narration by Todd Haberkorn
4 Stars for Setup/Concepts
3.5 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for First 3/4 of Book - Great Pacing
- 1 Star for Last 1/4 of Book - It was all action but story pacing bogged down.
Except for the end, I have to say this was one of the best books I've read this year for "the world is blowing up into chaos" aka possible apocalypse/world catastrophe type. I didn't know much about the story before I went into it but I figured it would be no loss because I snagged it on KU Read & Listen. At most, the story would be cheesy fun with lots of action.
Seal Team 13 is a great setup for a new series. I can't wait to read the next book! Solid characters, fun setting, a couple of neat tweaks to well known UF tropes, plenty of action and a sprinkle of humor. I'm already hooked to the background stories and want more details.
Yes the ending was anti-climatic in comparison to how the book started, but it didn't make me dislike the book. It just made me grumpy because I had hoped for a cool exit to match the great intro.
trish204's review against another edition
5.0
I was expecting good action from this book since the author delivered quite a lot of it in his "Odyssey" series, but I got what I wanted and then some. Awesome start to a new series! Of course there was a lot of one-liners that weren't all too deep but they were all funny and simply fit right in. Also, the general theme of "things" known to us simply by mythology and legend struck a nerve with me since I always liked stories about that ever since I was a little girl. :-)
Can't wait for the next volume to be released - I'm hooked!
Can't wait for the next volume to be released - I'm hooked!
auspea's review against another edition
5.0
Great Military Horror story. I am really looking forward to next installment. Currie does a great job providing a glimpse behind the vail of unknown supernatural forces that threaten the world and the military forces trying to defeat them.
xdroot's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this book was going to suck. Ha! Surprisingly fun read. Lots of action, violence and gore, some humor. The last quarter of the book was the big boss fight which I thought was dragged out. The central conceit of the book (the veil) was hard to swallow. I assume the author will develop thy mystery in a later book. Overall, a satisfying popcorn read.
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
Mini-Review:
4 Stars for Narration by Todd Haberkorn
4 Stars for Setup/Concepts
3.5 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for First 3/4 of Book - Great Pacing
- 1 Star for Last 1/4 of Book - It was all action but story pacing bogged down.
Except for the end, I have to say this was one of the best books I've read this year for "the world is blowing up into chaos" aka possible apocalypse/world catastrophe type. I didn't know much about the story before I went into it but I figured it would be no loss because I snagged it on KU Read & Listen. At most, the story would be cheesy fun with lots of action.
Seal Team 13 is a great setup for a new series. I can't wait to read the next book! Solid characters, fun setting, a couple of neat tweaks to well known UF tropes, plenty of action and a sprinkle of humor. I'm already hooked to the background stories and want more details.
Yes the ending was anti-climatic in comparison to how the book started, but it didn't make me dislike the book. It just made me grumpy because I had hoped for a cool exit to match the great intro.
4 Stars for Narration by Todd Haberkorn
4 Stars for Setup/Concepts
3.5 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for First 3/4 of Book - Great Pacing
- 1 Star for Last 1/4 of Book - It was all action but story pacing bogged down.
Except for the end, I have to say this was one of the best books I've read this year for "the world is blowing up into chaos" aka possible apocalypse/world catastrophe type. I didn't know much about the story before I went into it but I figured it would be no loss because I snagged it on KU Read & Listen. At most, the story would be cheesy fun with lots of action.
Seal Team 13 is a great setup for a new series. I can't wait to read the next book! Solid characters, fun setting, a couple of neat tweaks to well known UF tropes, plenty of action and a sprinkle of humor. I'm already hooked to the background stories and want more details.
Yes the ending was anti-climatic in comparison to how the book started, but it didn't make me dislike the book. It just made me grumpy because I had hoped for a cool exit to match the great intro.
tomasthanes's review
2.0
The strength of this novel was the language, protocol, and culture of the Navy SEALs. I liked how the author dealt with the only woman member of the team, Captain Judith Andrews.
(possible spoilers - read at your own peril)
However, the story took several liberties with the "vampire canon" that did not seem justified. The concept of vampire and zombie seemed to overlap too much. I didn't mind the idea of "zero generation" vampires and their significance. The concept that the reason that the cross was effective against vampires was because it was an ancient Celtic symbol for the sun seems far fetched and even counter to Bram Stoker's original story.
The author used the concept of "The Veil" to separate the familiar world from the world of ancient terrors and "gods", as well as "communities" of people who'd crossed the "Veil" and "the Clan". I found these concepts vaguely unsatisfying and Hollywood-like. In fact, several scenes, as they switched from one POV to another opened and closed with the same phrase ("You're really treading past the limits of my medication") as if this were more of a screenplay than a novel.
The story did end strong with the formation of SEAL Team 13 for the next novel, however, as soon as the villain chased him into the jeep, I knew how the novel would end.
The book seemed like it was self-published because I found at least 3 typos during the reading.
(possible spoilers - read at your own peril)
However, the story took several liberties with the "vampire canon" that did not seem justified. The concept of vampire and zombie seemed to overlap too much. I didn't mind the idea of "zero generation" vampires and their significance. The concept that the reason that the cross was effective against vampires was because it was an ancient Celtic symbol for the sun seems far fetched and even counter to Bram Stoker's original story.
The author used the concept of "The Veil" to separate the familiar world from the world of ancient terrors and "gods", as well as "communities" of people who'd crossed the "Veil" and "the Clan". I found these concepts vaguely unsatisfying and Hollywood-like. In fact, several scenes, as they switched from one POV to another opened and closed with the same phrase ("You're really treading past the limits of my medication") as if this were more of a screenplay than a novel.
The story did end strong with the formation of SEAL Team 13 for the next novel, however, as soon as the villain chased him into the jeep, I knew how the novel would end.
The book seemed like it was self-published because I found at least 3 typos during the reading.
More...