This book had so much potential at the beginning... the protagonist (Carl Sebastian) is a down-on-his-luck genetically modified super-soldier who gets recruited to help stop a rash of alien mutations that are turning humans into monsters across their multi-planet territory. Carl's gene modifications make him an excellent soldier, but also come with side effects like severe anger issues and a dependence on a drug to keep his senses intact.

I loved this setup. The protagonist is flawed and struggling despite having special abilities (he's not just some invulnerable demigod running around in no danger of being harmed), and the backstory seemed super interesting. The problem with the book was that Carl's "anger issues" basically mean he's an asshole all the time. His "anger" rarely gets the better of him in any other way than having him mouth-off to someone he probably shouldn't and then he gets reprimanded for it. So much for a flawed protagonist.

The other part of the book that was annoying is that it was only 160 pages and clearly just a sales tool for the rest of the series. They probably sold this for $0.99 or gave it away for free as a lead-in to the whole series hoping to convert readers and... well... I generally don't go out of my way to invest in series where the first book isn't much more than a teaser for the rest of the books in the series.

Verdict: Super Meh. I wish it would have something a little more original somewhere.

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Created Mar 06, 2024 at 5:36pm • Submit your own review...