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The Phoenix Group: Rising
When archaeologist Mark Gillian uncovers a deadly artefact in a lost temple along with a list of three other locations, he relies on his old school friend Cook, the one person he can trust who has the abilities to gather the remaining pieces.On their quest they soon discover they’re not the only ones interested in the artefacts, the most ultra-secret organisation in the world, The Phoenix Group have been searching for nearly 50 years and have already unlocked their dangerous secrets.From undiscovered temples in the Amazonas to caverns under London’s Westminster Parliament and from the mysterious Brown Mountain range to beneath a secret American Air Force base, there will be no greater puzzle or chase…To stop the end of civilization.If they lose this fight…so will you.
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 4, 2011
45 people want to read
About the author
Colin Andrews
1 book62 followersWell I've sat here for five minutes thinking 'What should I write about myself?' I have no idea, so I'll tell you how I came to write my first book 'RISING' instead.
Nine years ago (while my partner was expecting our 1st son) I had a motorcycle accident which left me in a wheelchair for four months. And?...I hear you say, well there's not much to do when you can't get out and about and go to work, so I decided to write a short book for my child to read when he was older and that's where it all started. I managed to get 25,000 words written in about three months, then our first born son decided it was time to arrive and that was the end of that...I never managed to get back to writing until last year (2010) when my son now 9 years old, decided he wanted to read the first part and has bugged me ever since to finish the book.
The Problem is... that ten years or so is long time and you end up adding or coming up with new ideas, or at least my son and I did, so I had to re-write the whole first part again and the idea for the book is so large now I've had to split it between three books instead...now possibly four..we'll see.
Nine years ago (while my partner was expecting our 1st son) I had a motorcycle accident which left me in a wheelchair for four months. And?...I hear you say, well there's not much to do when you can't get out and about and go to work, so I decided to write a short book for my child to read when he was older and that's where it all started. I managed to get 25,000 words written in about three months, then our first born son decided it was time to arrive and that was the end of that...I never managed to get back to writing until last year (2010) when my son now 9 years old, decided he wanted to read the first part and has bugged me ever since to finish the book.
The Problem is... that ten years or so is long time and you end up adding or coming up with new ideas, or at least my son and I did, so I had to re-write the whole first part again and the idea for the book is so large now I've had to split it between three books instead...now possibly four..we'll see.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 19, 2011
Author Colin Andrews opens up his first novel like a poker dealer dishing out several hands at once. You are introduced to several characters in short order as the action gets fired up right away. It hardly slows down from that point, whisking the reader along for the ride.
In the beginning it can be a little difficult to keep track of all of the different characters but that settles down once Andrews focuses the story into two main threads, one involving Archaeologist Mark Gillian, his students and the other involving a pair of special operation soldiers, Cook and Oz. Our plucky band of adventurers span the globe racing to discover the mystery behind ancient ruins and mysterious artifacts as they uncover a plot that could change the world.
The story has a good dose of National Treasure and Indiana Jones with a dash of The A-Team thrown in for good measure. The Phoenix Group: Rising is a large story to tell for a new writer but Andrews pulls it together.
The novel was little light on character development in the beginning of the story and I found myself with some questions about the characters I wanted answered. There are some details that might have been fleshed out a bit more like the origin of the attraction between two of the principal characters and the background of the soldiers. Whether that was done to keep the story pace consistent or to save details for the next installment, we'll have to wait for the sequel to find out. I won't say that it felt like a distraction from the story, I really didn't. It was just my impression and more a matter of personal taste than anything.
There were some minor issues with editing that often crop up in independent books. (One of the reasons I have not finished any my own work. I'm too busy fixing my typos and grammatical goof ups to get it done...) There were some punctuation issues and a few spots where phrases were repeated a few times but those mistakes tapered off pretty quickly. I was able to immerse myself in the story and enjoy the ride. When writing my review, I try to boil my experience down to whether or not I enjoyed the story and would read follow up work from the author.
The answer to both of those questions is an emphatic yes.
thepocketgeek's blog
In the beginning it can be a little difficult to keep track of all of the different characters but that settles down once Andrews focuses the story into two main threads, one involving Archaeologist Mark Gillian, his students and the other involving a pair of special operation soldiers, Cook and Oz. Our plucky band of adventurers span the globe racing to discover the mystery behind ancient ruins and mysterious artifacts as they uncover a plot that could change the world.
The story has a good dose of National Treasure and Indiana Jones with a dash of The A-Team thrown in for good measure. The Phoenix Group: Rising is a large story to tell for a new writer but Andrews pulls it together.
The novel was little light on character development in the beginning of the story and I found myself with some questions about the characters I wanted answered. There are some details that might have been fleshed out a bit more like the origin of the attraction between two of the principal characters and the background of the soldiers. Whether that was done to keep the story pace consistent or to save details for the next installment, we'll have to wait for the sequel to find out. I won't say that it felt like a distraction from the story, I really didn't. It was just my impression and more a matter of personal taste than anything.
There were some minor issues with editing that often crop up in independent books. (One of the reasons I have not finished any my own work. I'm too busy fixing my typos and grammatical goof ups to get it done...) There were some punctuation issues and a few spots where phrases were repeated a few times but those mistakes tapered off pretty quickly. I was able to immerse myself in the story and enjoy the ride. When writing my review, I try to boil my experience down to whether or not I enjoyed the story and would read follow up work from the author.
The answer to both of those questions is an emphatic yes.
thepocketgeek's blog
August 1, 2011
Rising - Colin Andrews
A reminder again of how the scoring works: Low scores = GOOD. High scores = BAD. Points are earned based on flaws. They're taken away for super awesome moments. Star ratings are done based on number of points in comparison to the number of pages in the book. 0-20% = 1 20-40% = 2 40-60%= 3 60-80% = 4 and 80-100% =5.
REVIEW: RISING - Colin Andrews
SCORE: 55 points.
RATING: 4 stars
SYNOPSIS:
That can be found here: http://www.colinandrews.info/Book%20E... (along with the pretty cover and other shiny things from the author's webpage. Gorgeous site!)
And here is a book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u39VaP...
WHAT WORKS
This story begins with action, which I like. It gets right to the point of things and takes the reader on a wild Indiana Jones kind of adventure. The style is easy to read and understand. I liked most of the characters (sans one, but I have a feeling Tom was supposed to be annoying, right? right? If yes, you did a good job with that one). I don't want to give away spoilers, because that's not my style, but I will say that if you enjoy action stories with good details and diverse unique settings? You'll no doubt like this book. There's a touch of romance, gunfire, and giant crocks! This book is a creative and imaginative work, and it's the kind of story I've been looking for because it fills a void left behind with the influx of vampire/werewolf/witches phenomena that's overloading the market. It's a great sci-fi adventure, and fairly clean. There's a little swearing, but I'd recommend it to anyone who's about fifteen and older.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK (aka earning the points)
There were a few things that threw me off. The first being some of the language didn't quite feel right. The characters spoke a lot like they were from the UK, but the narrative never specified that was where they were from so I got a little confused because I thought they were from America. I could have missed something though, because that is known to happen, but it threw me off all the same. There was a lot of British slang used in the narrative as well (non-character development type stuff), which isn't a complaint necessarily, but as an American reader it wasn't necessarily what I would call universal language use. I know enough about the terms to figure things out, but in a few areas it threw off the narrative for me all the same. Formatting was weird on my Nook, but I didn't give points for that. I'm just making a mention of it so the author knows. Over all though, the writer has a good handle on how to write.
A few spots needed some tightening, but it was refreshing to read a book by an independent author who knows how to write and bring a good story to life. I'm definitely ready for a sequel.
A reminder again of how the scoring works: Low scores = GOOD. High scores = BAD. Points are earned based on flaws. They're taken away for super awesome moments. Star ratings are done based on number of points in comparison to the number of pages in the book. 0-20% = 1 20-40% = 2 40-60%= 3 60-80% = 4 and 80-100% =5.
REVIEW: RISING - Colin Andrews
SCORE: 55 points.
RATING: 4 stars
SYNOPSIS:
That can be found here: http://www.colinandrews.info/Book%20E... (along with the pretty cover and other shiny things from the author's webpage. Gorgeous site!)
And here is a book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u39VaP...
WHAT WORKS
This story begins with action, which I like. It gets right to the point of things and takes the reader on a wild Indiana Jones kind of adventure. The style is easy to read and understand. I liked most of the characters (sans one, but I have a feeling Tom was supposed to be annoying, right? right? If yes, you did a good job with that one). I don't want to give away spoilers, because that's not my style, but I will say that if you enjoy action stories with good details and diverse unique settings? You'll no doubt like this book. There's a touch of romance, gunfire, and giant crocks! This book is a creative and imaginative work, and it's the kind of story I've been looking for because it fills a void left behind with the influx of vampire/werewolf/witches phenomena that's overloading the market. It's a great sci-fi adventure, and fairly clean. There's a little swearing, but I'd recommend it to anyone who's about fifteen and older.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK (aka earning the points)
There were a few things that threw me off. The first being some of the language didn't quite feel right. The characters spoke a lot like they were from the UK, but the narrative never specified that was where they were from so I got a little confused because I thought they were from America. I could have missed something though, because that is known to happen, but it threw me off all the same. There was a lot of British slang used in the narrative as well (non-character development type stuff), which isn't a complaint necessarily, but as an American reader it wasn't necessarily what I would call universal language use. I know enough about the terms to figure things out, but in a few areas it threw off the narrative for me all the same. Formatting was weird on my Nook, but I didn't give points for that. I'm just making a mention of it so the author knows. Over all though, the writer has a good handle on how to write.
A few spots needed some tightening, but it was refreshing to read a book by an independent author who knows how to write and bring a good story to life. I'm definitely ready for a sequel.
February 6, 2012
The Phoenix Group: Rising is book 1 of a 4 part series. It starts out with an action packed sequence that reminded me of a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. After which, the adventure continues to be filled with pages of pure entertainment. There are mysterious artifacts, ancient ruins and various exploits that keep you on your toes and wondering just what the heck is going to happen next.
Introducing us to the archaeologist, Dr Mark Gillian and his team, which includes his nephew Pacey, Sam (Samantha), Tom and, a surprise addition to the team, Captain Reynolds, The Phoenix Group: Rising does fairly well with character development, although I would like to learn a bit more of the back story behind some of the characters. Others involved in these exploits around the world are soldiers Jack Collins, Oz and Cook, who get pulled into the adventure by Captain Reynolds to locate another of the artifacts.
The Phoenix Group: Rising takes us to various parts of the world in search of the artifacts and the mysteries behind said artifacts. Puzzles that activate columns and stairways, swarms of insects and gigantic crocodiles attempting to enjoy a snack of archaeologist and hidden passages under neath the foundation of Parliament. Collin Andrews does a wonderful job taking us on a great and detailed adventure around the world.
Keeping in mind that The Phoenix Group: Rising is book 1 of 4, I would highly recommend this book for those who enjoy tales similar to those of National Treasure and Indiana Jones with a bit of military tech and strategies added into the mix. I cannot wait to read book 2 The Phoenix Group: Ascension which is, hopefully, available soon.
Introducing us to the archaeologist, Dr Mark Gillian and his team, which includes his nephew Pacey, Sam (Samantha), Tom and, a surprise addition to the team, Captain Reynolds, The Phoenix Group: Rising does fairly well with character development, although I would like to learn a bit more of the back story behind some of the characters. Others involved in these exploits around the world are soldiers Jack Collins, Oz and Cook, who get pulled into the adventure by Captain Reynolds to locate another of the artifacts.
The Phoenix Group: Rising takes us to various parts of the world in search of the artifacts and the mysteries behind said artifacts. Puzzles that activate columns and stairways, swarms of insects and gigantic crocodiles attempting to enjoy a snack of archaeologist and hidden passages under neath the foundation of Parliament. Collin Andrews does a wonderful job taking us on a great and detailed adventure around the world.
Keeping in mind that The Phoenix Group: Rising is book 1 of 4, I would highly recommend this book for those who enjoy tales similar to those of National Treasure and Indiana Jones with a bit of military tech and strategies added into the mix. I cannot wait to read book 2 The Phoenix Group: Ascension which is, hopefully, available soon.
December 6, 2011
Full review to follow.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews