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A sequel to 14, in which the Great Old Ones arrive to eat the world.


Terminus

Kavach Press, 2020, 333 pages



Murdoch’s past has finally come crashing down on him. His former girlfriend. The Family. He’s been happily avoiding them for ages, trying to live something close to a normal life. But now he’s been drawn back into another one of their ludicrous attempts to bring about the end of all things.

Chase has spent the past year just trying to get away. Trying to escape the memories that won’t stop following him, the moment when his life collapsed. He’s traveled around the world trying to stay ahead of it all, but those final moments may be catching up with him at last.

Anne is tired of living in the past. She’s finally looking to the future and embracing her destiny. She’s going to lead the Family forward on their greatest and ultimate crusade: to destroy the hated Machine of their long-time adversary.

Their paths will intersect in the middle of nowhere, on an uncharted island where the walls of reality are thin...and an apocalyptic threat is tearing its way through.


Basically a Cthulhu Now RPG adventure. )

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, Ex-Communication, Ex-Purgatory, Ex-Isle, 14, The Fold, and Paradox Bound.




My complete list of book reviews.
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The Ex-Heroes find more survivors, with an obligatory superhero brick battle.


Ex-Isle

Broadway Books, 2016, 389 pages



The spectacular fifth adventure in the genre-busting Ex-Heroes series.

The heroes are overjoyed when they discover another group of survivors living on a manmade island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But there's something very, very wrong with this isolated community and its mysterious leader - a secret that could put every survivor in the world at risk.


The fifth book in a series that seems to be settling in for the long run. )

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, Ex-Communication, Ex-Purgatory, 14, The Fold, and Paradox Bound.




My complete list of book reviews.
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Time travelers in search of the American Dream.


Paradox Bound

Crown, 2017, 373 pages



Nothing ever changes in Sanders. The town's still got a video store, for God's sake.

So why doesn't Eli Teague want to leave?

Not that he'd ever admit it, but maybe he's been waiting - waiting for the traveler to come back. The one who's roared into his life twice before, pausing just long enough to drop tantalizing clues before disappearing in a cloud of gunfire and a squeal of tires. The one who's a walking anachronism, with her tricorne hat, flintlock rifle, and steampunked Model A Ford.

The one who's being pursued by...something.

So when the mysterious traveler finally reappears, Eli's determined that this time, he's going to get some answers. But his hunt soon yields far more than he bargained for, plunging him headlong into a dizzying world full of competing factions and figures straight out of legend.

To make sense of the mystery at its heart, he must embark on a breakneck chase across the country and through two centuries of history - with nothing less than America's past, present, and future at stake.


An entertaining if forgettable caper. )

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, Ex-Communication, Ex-Purgatory, 14, and The Fold.




My complete list of book reviews.
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An experimental teleportation device - what couldn't go wrong?


The Fold

Crown, 2015, 384 pages



Step into the fold. It's perfectly safe.

The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn't much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he's content with his quiet and peaceful existence. That is until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve.

Far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to "fold" dimensions, it shrinks distances so a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step. The invention promises to make mankind's dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the door is completely safe. Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn't quite what it seems - and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.

As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there's only one answer that makes sense. And if he's right, it may be only a matter of time before the project destroys...everything. A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you'll never see coming, The Fold is that rarest of things: a genuine pause-resister science-fiction thriller. Step inside its audio and learn why author Peter Clines has already won legions of loyal fans.


The green cockroaches are back. )

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, Ex-Communication, Ex-Purgatory, and 14.




My complete list of book reviews.
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The next episode in the superhero/zombie post-apocalypse.


Ex-Purgatory

Broadway Books, 2013, 336 pages



The fourth novel in Peter Clines' best-selling Ex series.

When he's awake, George Bailey is just an ordinary man. Five days a week he coaxes his old Hyundai to life, curses the Los Angeles traffic, and clocks in at his job as a handyman at the local college. But when he sleeps, George dreams of something more. George dreams of flying. He dreams of fighting monsters. He dreams of a man made of pure lightning, an armored robot, a giant in an army uniform, a beautiful woman who moves like a ninja.

Then one day as he's walking from one fix-it job to the next, a pale girl in a wheelchair tells George of another world, one in which civilization fell to a plague that animates the dead-and in which George is no longer a glorified janitor, but one of humanity's last heroes. Her tale sounds like madness, of course. But as George's dreams and his waking life begin bleeding together, he starts to wonder - which is the real world, and which is just fantasy?


Agent Smith has them in the Matrix, and Los Angeles is still full of zombies. )

Verdict: You'll know if you'll like these books by whether the idea of superheroes and zombies sounds entertaining or stupid to you. Ex-Purgatory, the fourth book in the series, is as good as the third book and better than the first two. 7/10.

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, Ex-Communication, and 14.




My complete list of book reviews.
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Book three in the zombie apocalypse-superhero mashup.


Ex-Communication

Broadway Books, 2013, 352 pages



"All of us try to cheat death. I was just better prepared to do it than most folks." In the years since the wave of living death swept the globe, St George and his fellow heroes haven't just kept Los Angeles' last humans alive - they've created a real community, a bustling town that's spreading beyond its original walls and swelling with new refugees. But now one of the heroes, perhaps the most powerful among them, seems to be losing his mind. The implacable enemy known as Legion has found terrifying new ways of using zombies as pawns in his attacks. And outside the Mount, something ancient and monstrous is hell-bent on revenge. As Peter Clines weaves these elements together in yet another masterful, shocking climax, St. George, Stealth, Captain Freedom, and the rest of the heroes find that even in a city overrun by millions of ex-humans... there's more than one way to come back from the dead.


And now... wizards and demon lords. )

Verdict: Zombie/Superhero novel should tell you all you need to know. If you like those things, then start with the first book in the series; Ex-Communication is a decent third installment.

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, and 14.




My complete list of book reviews.
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It's your basic Call of Cthulhu adventure in modern Los Angeles.


14

Permuted Press, 2012, 350 pages



Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.

There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment. Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much. At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s. Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends. Or the end of everything....


It's the apartment building to hell. But NO ZOMBIES. )

Verdict: 14 is not Hugo-worthy, but it's a nice little Call of Cthulhu adventure in a Los Angeles apartment building. There is a little romance, a little death, a little SAN loss. The big reveals make sense, given the necessary suspension of disbelief, and Peter Clines has created a consistent world in need of saving.

Also by Peter Clines: My reviews of Ex-Heroes and Ex-Patriots.




My complete list of book reviews.
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The zombies + superheroes mashup adds super-soldiers, mad scientists, and a Transformer, and it actually improves the whole.


Ex-Patriots

Permuted Press , 2011, 310 pages



It’s been two years since the world ended. Two years since the dead rose and the plague of ex-humanity decimated mankind. For most of that time, the superhero called St. George, formerly known to the world as the Mighty Dragon, has protected the people of Los Angeles at their film-studio-turned-fortress, The Mount. Together with his fellow heroes - Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth - he’s tried to give the survivors hope and something like a real life. But the swollen population of The Mount is becoming harder and harder to sustain, and the heroes are feeling the pressure.

Hope arrives in the form of a United States Army battalion, based in a complex a few hundred miles away in Arizona. This is not just any base, however. The men and women of Project Krypton are super-soldiers, designed and created before the outbreak to be better, stronger, and faster than normal humans. They want the heroes and all the people of The Mount to rejoin America and have normal lives again.

But can the military be trusted? And is there even a country left to rejoin? There is a secret at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it have an awesome power that will help them keep that secret hidden. The power of Freedom.


It's still cheesy as hell, but it's getting better. )

Verdict: Superheroes plus zombies. If that concept alone is enough to interest you, then read these books, they're fun, light fare. They aren't the best superhero novels I've ever read, but they're not the worst, and the author does show enough signs of improvement to make me hope that in book three I might actually start caring about the characters instead of just wanting to read dumbfun superhero/zombie action.

Also by Peter Clines: My review of Ex-Heroes.




My complete list of book reviews.
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The zombies + superheroes mashup adds super-soldiers, mad scientists, and a Transformer, and it actually improves the whole.


Ex-Patriots

Permuted Press , 2011, 310 pages



It’s been two years since the world ended. Two years since the dead rose and the plague of ex-humanity decimated mankind. For most of that time, the superhero called St. George, formerly known to the world as the Mighty Dragon, has protected the people of Los Angeles at their film-studio-turned-fortress, The Mount. Together with his fellow heroes - Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth - he’s tried to give the survivors hope and something like a real life. But the swollen population of The Mount is becoming harder and harder to sustain, and the heroes are feeling the pressure.

Hope arrives in the form of a United States Army battalion, based in a complex a few hundred miles away in Arizona. This is not just any base, however. The men and women of Project Krypton are super-soldiers, designed and created before the outbreak to be better, stronger, and faster than normal humans. They want the heroes and all the people of The Mount to rejoin America and have normal lives again.

But can the military be trusted? And is there even a country left to rejoin? There is a secret at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it have an awesome power that will help them keep that secret hidden. The power of Freedom.


It's still cheesy as hell, but it's getting better. )

Verdict: Superheroes plus zombies. If that concept alone is enough to interest you, then read these books, they're fun, light fare. They aren't the best superhero novels I've ever read, but they're not the worst, and the author does show enough signs of improvement to make me hope that in book three I might actually start caring about the characters instead of just wanting to read dumbfun superhero/zombie action.

Also by Peter Clines: My review of Ex-Heroes.




My complete list of book reviews.
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Superheroes + Zombies = Author hoping for a Hollywood deal.


Ex-Heroes

Permuted Press, 2010, 274 pages



Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes. Vigilantes. Crusaders for justice, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.

Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Despite the best efforts of the superheroes, the police, and the military, the hungry corpses rose up and overwhelmed the country. The population was decimated, heroes fell, and the city of angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland like so many others.

Now, a year later, the Mighty Dragon and his companions must overcome their differences and recover from their own scars to protect the thousands of survivors sheltered in their film studio-turned-fortress, the Mount. The heroes lead teams out to scavenge supplies, keep the peace within the walls of their home, and try to be the symbols the survivors so desperately need.

For while the ex-humans walk the streets night and day, they are not the only threat left in the world, and the people of the Mount are not the only survivors left in Los Angeles. Across the city, another group has grown and gained power.

And they are not heroes.


Cheesy enough to serve with macaroni, and very blatantly a superhero RPG campaign, but not without entertainment value. )

Verdict: Ex-Heroes is no more and no less than what it promises on the cover: zombies versus superheroes. If that idea sounds cool to you, then go ahead and read it. It's not brilliant or stunningly original or particularly well-written, but it's not bad either. It is perfectly passable fun, mindless entertainment. If you're a huge superhero nerd, you'll probably want to start "statting" the characters after you read it. I'm not going to hold this book up as a gem of the genre, but I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably read the sequel, Ex-Patriots.

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