Dead Forever: Resonance

Title: Resonance
Author:William Campell
Series: Dead Forever Trilogy (Book Three)
Preceeded By: Apotheosis


Ratings

Score: 9/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: There isn't any :-(

Review
If I'm honest, I would have to say I wasn't expecting a lot from this book. Not because I doubted the author's talents, but because of where the last book left things. Essentially what had been a story set in the vast expanse of the galaxy has been reduced to the story of someone on a single planet, Earth.

I'm happy to report that actually, Campbell pulls this off really well. I mainly expected the story to be for a large part stand-alone, but it integrates with the previous books quite impressively. It's difficult to explain how well it does work without just simply copying the first few chapters, but from the start, it does work well. So, alleviated of my fears, I could allow myself to simply enjoy the book.

Dead Forever: Apotheosis

Title: Dead Forever: Apotheosis
Author: William Campbell
Series: Dead Forever Trilogy (Book Two)
Preceeded By: Dead Forever: Awakening
Succeeded By: Dead Forever: Resonance (coming 2011)

Ratings

Score: 9/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite!

Review

The first thing that I want to say about this book is: Read it! Although I didn't give the first book in the series a particularly glowing reference, this book is a great read, and very thought provoking.

But I'll get to that in a moment. For the last book I began with the cover, and I'll start there again. It's a great cover, mainly an wraparound of the world the first part of the book is set on, overlayed with one of the final scenes and an image of the main female character, which ties it in nicely to the previous cover (see image above). This time the cover is more representative of the full story, and works really well.

But even if you don't like the cover, This is a great book to read. It's as entertaining as any good book, but unlike many it tackles some of the deep problems and questions of the world today, in a way that is subtle as you read the book, but makes you think when you put it down. If you are looking for a book that makes you think about the world, then this is a great one to read. I don't want to give anything away, but the theological implications are fascinating.

If you aren't looking for such a book, then don't worry, the book is great entertainment even if you ignore the philosophical ideas it presents. The first part in particular is very cleverly written, and great to read, while the second is full of action and humour. Well, on saying that, the whole thing is full of humour.

This is probably the most indescribably good book that I have read, and the only bits I found annoying were the main character's dreams, which seemed to get more and more confusing as the book progressed. But since there are few of these scenes the good far, far outweighs them.

If I were you, I would hunt a copy of this book down until you find one. Of course, I'm not you, and already have a copy, but I would seriously recommend this book to anyone.


More Information

Main Protagonist(s): 1 male, with other secondary characters (mixed genre)
Main Antagonist(s):  1 male + 1 association
Main Relationships: Heterosexual
Genre: Science Fiction, Bordering on Religous Fantasy...
Amazon Synopsis:

A god? No thanks, too much responsibility. Sequel to Awakening, the adventure continues as our hero travels to the Restricted Zone, where mistakes mount and the mission falls apart. Plunged into an alien world at war, the hero is caught between battling natives who either worship him as a god, or another heretic scheduled to burn alive. The hero struggles to bring peace among chaos but his nemesis has arrived, and he likes playing god, poised to launch unthinkable wrath that fulfills a world-ending prophecy. The natives are confident their savior will prevail, but trouble brews back home: the rebels are under siege, two planets ruined, and the body supply is depleted. More of all the hero is expected to fix while he only longs to be a child again, the one dream denied him for lifetimes. He hatches a daring plot to outsmart the enemy but in doing so risks his own life, in the last body to enjoy as a free soul. A single choice could spell his end, for real this time. Dead forever.


ISBN: 978-0-9717960-5-8
Website: Books Page on Series Website
Amazon Link: Dead Forever: Apotheosis
Pages: 357
First Published: 2010
Publisher: Glyd-Evans Press

Dead Forever: Awakening

Title: Dead Forever: Awakening
Author: William Campbell
Series: Dead Forever Trilogy (Book 1)

Succeeded By: Dead Forever: Apotheosis

Ratings

Score: 5/10
How long I would stay up reading: 11-12pm
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: I would if it came my way, but I wouldn't look for it. (The cover looks exciting though...)

Review

Where to begin? The first thing that most people see is the cover, and despite the popular adage it is normally a large part of the decision to buy a book. For a Science Fiction book, this cover has it all: A spaceship, A rather attractive young lady pointing a laser-gun type weapon and plenty of mysterious figures over a metropolis backdrop. Good Stuff. This cover however, meant that it took me a few pages to realise that the main character was male. So brilliant but misleading cover.

Now we can look inside the book. The first two chapters are confusing and quite hard to get through. For me, it took some work. Things change rapidly, confusingly, and since the main character knows nothing, neither do we. I nearly put the book down out of disinterest. My obligation to review the book however, meant that I had to continue.

Fortunately, the Book gets a lot better very quickly. As soon as the main character is rescued it get's more interesting (and funnier). The character's friends have a sort of drunken humour, which can creat an interesting mind effect when reading sober. As for Adam, the protagonist, his observations of the world around him can be highly amusing.

The author is rather good at writing sexual tension, but when emotion starts to be an issue he loses it slightly. This could be because we don't understand the feelings, Adam's returning memory makes feelings apparently come from nowhere, for a character we don't meet until the very end.

In addition, there seems to be no main objective to the plot, which weakens it somewhat, although the ending is a direct suggestion of a sequel (which does exist). I've read other reviews saying that the author tackles the subject of reincarnation well, but I disagree. Not that his ideas on the matter are well written, but that it is truly reincarnation. It's a different sort of process. I would be interested to see where the author takes it next, but for me the sequel is not a priority read.

In all, the book is entertaining and not entirely frivolous, but if you are looking for a strong plot and realistic human characters, you'll need to look elsewhere.

More Information

Main Protagonist(s): Male, with mixed secondary protagonists
Main Antagonist(s): A group, gender not specified
Main Relationship(s): Heterosexual
Genre: Science Fiction
Brief Description: (from amazon)

Imagine a world where death is merely an inconvenience. A new body awaits, and we resume living, fully aware of the past. Every talent, love and distaste is retained, from one life to the next. But this immortal paradise has a price--eternal life as slaves, oppressed by masters who forbid individuality, creative expression, and free thinking. A band of rebels refuses to surrender their freedom, and these misfits have no place in a world that enforces social harmony. But for a population that reincarnates, the conformist rulers are powerless to eliminate insurgents. Putting them to death is useless. The rebels will return, again and again. The final solution is devised--perpetual amnesia. Kill all memory of past lives. Identity erased, origin unknown, and destiny uncertain, the rebels are banished to a lonely corner of the galaxy and left for dead, forever. Having suffered the enemy's amnesia by design, a reluctant hero awakens under a bridge, and without a past, he regards himself as insignificant. But he is not the loser he imagines, as he learns when agents in black come to collect him. His decision to flee begins a journey of rediscovery, but some of it he would rather leave buried. He must face his past, and take charge of the future, or the rest of his immortal kind are destined to share his fate--Dead Forever.

ISBN: 0971796025
Website: none
Amazon Link: Dead Forever: Awakening
Pages: 270
First Published: 2010
Publisher: Glyd-Evans Press