Veil

by Aaron Overfield

Dr. Jin Tsay’s revelation entices the military with a potential to uncover and disarm any covert threats. The government that funded the engineer’s classified project orders Tsay’s death, so they can solely and secretly possess his alluring technological consummation: VEIL

Veil proves to be the purest, deepest form of espionage and anti-terrorism by endowing humankind with the ability to experience life through another person. Dr. Tsay's technology offers submersion into another’s mind; Veil provides a direct perception of their immediate thoughts, emotions, memories, and the rush of their most intimate senses. If it ever escapes the military’s relentlessly selfish grip, Veil swears to permanently alter the psychosocial, sexual, political, economic, and religious landscapes of our lives. Veil promises to usher in our ultimately unifying evolution: the New Veil World.

Retribution for Dr. Jin Tsay’s assassination comes in the form of his widow, who races to deliver Veil unto the world and share it freely, before those who ordered her husband’s murder can exploit it. Wielding the inescapable force of Veil, Suren Tsay seeks to inflict justice upon all those responsible for her husband’s demise, culminating in an unforgiving, brutal, obsessive hunt for the elusive killer of the father of the New Veil World: the Great Jin Tsay.

Taking Veil beyond limits Jin himself could’ve imagined, the revered Widow Tsay vows to get her revenge at any cost. Suren Tsay soon realizes she too must inhabit the world created by her husband’s invention and her own bloodlust.

Suren must learn to live in the New Veil World.
She must also fight to liberate it.

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

621 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2012

About the author

Apparently highly offensive but relatively easy on the eyes. He means everything he says, unless someone takes offense–in which case it was just a joke and perhaps they shouldn’t be so uptight.

He has a son, a lover, a mother, a father, sisters, brothers, good friends, a dog, and a foul mouth; therefore, he has all he needs. Veil is his first book, so he’s not entirely sure what he’s doing, but he gotsa liking for the story and the characters. His only hope is others do as well. If they don’t, screw 'em. He never liked them anyway.



Also the content manager for the Estate of Nina Simone: www.ninasimone.com

Reviews

[Sadie Forsythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the Widow Tsay decides to avenge the death of her husband the world will never be the same. In telling her story Aaron Overfield's Veil presents a convincing and frightening vision of social evolution.

The absolute best part of this book is the way people relate to one another. Emotions aren't just surface decoration, but are all encompassing. People love with their whole heart and hate just as strongly. They also contradictorily treat each other with complete irreverence. They call each other nasty names and fling politically incorrect insults at one another, as only those most comfortable with each other can. Most of which is really funny. So are a lot of the author's interjections. While this makes the book a joy to read there really is a serious message here. What is the moral responsibility of science and scientists? What marks us out as individuals and how much of this is necessary to live appreciable human lives? Like Huxley or Orwell, Overfield forces the reader to imagine how dangerous it can be to give up too much of their autonomy, no matter how well-intentioned the organisation involved.

Despite the bold characters I wouldn't consider the book to be character driven (unless you consider Veil as a character). It tends to leap at regular intervals, leaving the main cast to age unobserved. Every time it did this I thought, 'no I want to know more about what happened next.' I was quickly engrossed in the next epoch of Veil, however, and forgot my disappointment.

The book is quite long and does tend to repeat itself. This might or might not be a purposeful attempt to remind the reader of earlier events. I don't know. Either way, while it is noticeable it isn't particularly distracting.

If you pick this one up I recommend reading all of the book, and by all of it I mean everything from the copyright page to the epilogue and beyond. It's worth it. (Not something I have cause to say often.)

[Harv Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be interested to check out what Aaron Overfield is writing in 3 or 5 years more time. When he matures as a novelist, he is going to be Dangerous!

I got 13% into VEIL, then stopped, realizing that I didn’t really like any of the characters, or the waiting for the science fiction, or the way the story was being told, or the unnecessary expletives. Oops. I’m forgetting the excessive Naughty Bits and Uck-Fay Wordplay I used near the end in A WALK IN THE RAIN. My bad.

The whole “Being John Malkovich VEIL science fiction thing” was still hidden behind Aaron’s veil 13% into the novel. The most interesting character, Jin, was killed straight off (Jin’s constricted relationship with Suren reminded me of Brautigan’s work; at first, it seemed precious, but once it was gone, I missed it). I jumped ahead, several times, trying to find an enjoyable place to restart. Nope. Either I was unable to suspend disbelief on what was being presented, or the dialogue was too “on the nose,” or the writing seemed smoothly superficial, lacking depth.

On the plus side, Overfield’s writing is very easy to read (this is actually a considerable accomplishment for a novelist, which is why I look forward to future Overfield output). Most of the experts will confirm that “Easy reading is Hard Writing.”

I have been assured by a writer I respect that VEIL gets better later on. It can get better without me. @hg47

[Natascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved...loved it.
The best thing about this book is that it is completely different to any other book you've ever read. You don't have to be into Science fiction to enjoy it or to follow it, although the first few chapters tend to make you feel that the scientific explanation may be verbose. I found that the most fantastic design of this story is based around solid characters, each extremely different to each other and yet all completely intertwined to one another. The book draws you in through its characters and you have to know what happens next because you have to know what happens to them. They are the reason you turn the page and seeing as their interest is the development of the book's main storyline, Veil, you become intrigued to know what they want to know. Therefore, if you are not a follower of science fiction, you don't have to be to enjoy this book. The dialogue is excellent, rude, obnoxious and entertaining and only the easily-offended and closed minded would probably not appreciate this new angle of fiction and whole new category of futuristic prose that the author expresses from beginning to end. I imagine it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it will have many followers to this innovative trend and definitely intrigue you into reading the full trilogy.

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

It became a really intriguing story for me as I read along further. Glad I gave it a chance because right at first it wasn't my cup of tea. I'll applaud the author for taking what is a rather complex subject and making it understandable. A major portion of the story line involves creating the technology in order to read minds.

Really, Veil has a dense plot that I felt was well written. As I went along the harder it was to put down. I really like the retribution element to the whole story line, the woman scorned kind of thing.

[Kyle Conine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone wants another person to understand whats going on. We all want the same things... Feeling is the most powerful change in life you could possibly experience. Once you read that feeling then you can honestly understand how others feel! We all want to love laugh and feel! There's more feeling behind this book then the artist himself! I just want to thank u

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the book. I read it twice and the second time was magic. The book spans decades,and several characters, but you are invested in all of them. I can't wait to read book 2!!

[Cassandra Hemesath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has a dense well-written plot and dynamic characters. It's hard to write a review about this book because it is complex and it would take too long to summarize it. Instead I'll only offer my opinions.

The author can write wonderfully. There is a way with words that puts him on par with the masters. That being said, there is a little too much "telling" instead of "showing." His bio says this is his first book so I imagine that will improve with time. That being said as well, for a first novel, this is an impressive feat.

I can't comprehend the kind of mind that can not just come up with the techology described in Veil but then to take the story on the twists and turns in the second two parts of the book. At no point in time could I have guessed what was coming next and that could be the beauty of the writing here. This book takes your mind on a ride, introduces you to very interesting, complex, tormented characters, and then leaves you breathless in the end (and sad for some of the new characters).

Again, this is a hard book to review, all I can do is recommend that people read it. This isn't so much a "novel" as it is a vision of a world that leaves me haunted.

Considering how the book ends (I don't want to add any "spoilers"), I don't know where the next book (there are supposed to be three books if I understand correctly) could possibly go. I plan on finding out when the time comes.

[Dillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to give this book five stars but there were some errors I found through out it. I started giving indie books a chance because I enjoyed WOOL so much. This was the third or fourth indie book I read and after the quality of the other ones besides Wool I'm glad I ended up with Veil because it has such quality. It's a deep book in fact goes deeper than most and almost too deep for me at times. I had to read a couple parts again to make sure I understood what was being described. There are some parts where the technology is explained a lot but I figured since it was science fiction that's part of the genre. Either way I was blown away by this book. The ideas in it and the characters. There are moving scenes that can make you actually emotional. This is a wonderful book and I'll read more from the author.

[Everly Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shy away from doing reviews with plot outlines in them, mostly because I think they are unnecessary but also because I'm loathe to accidentally put in any spoilers. I feel the depth of this book warrants a more developed review than I might otherwise make.
This book is long, I'll just get that out of the way now. It's over 600 pages. I don't think it necessarily needs to be that long, with another round of editing, but I also don't think that it subtracts from the story in any way or makes it bogged down. The first two Harry Potter books could've been shaved down a hundred pages or so, so I don't slight this work and merely wanted to point it out. It's long.
The book is in three different parts and each part has its own feeling to it. That makes this book hard to review in its entirety, but I learned the author separated it into three separate books, which I agree with Anya's review, was a good idea. The parts are so different from each other that I could've read them as sequels and maybe felt more connected to each.
This is outside my normal realm of reading. I came across the book quite by chance or accident through a friend on FB. I then "followed" the author and he was giving away 5 books a month, and I won a copy. I didn't think too much of it when I received it as it's not on surface my cup of tea. I thought the cover was gorgeous but just outside of my genre. I started seeing the author's statuses pop up in my FB feed and more often than not they were hilarious and witty. So he got my attention a lot, which is hard to do, especially if I don't know someone. He mentioned an incident on here in which he and friends were called a "bully" author because they were appalled that people would leave low ratings or negative reviews for books by people who hadn't read them. Having been a member of this site many months ago and having left because (besides the Amazon acquisition), readers were acting like their words held more value than the authors themselves, I felt a bit kindred to the author and JA Huss, another author whose books I'll now be reading because of that exchange I witnessed.
I say all this because on the surface Veil is not my kind of book at all. It's not in my genre and it's not my cuppa tea. At least, that's what I thought.

The first part is the longest and a bit to trudge through, especially when he gets to explaining the technology of Veil. I suppose this was a necessary evil. Once I made it beyond chapter 4 or 5, I did notice the reading became much faster, and the action more obvious. Hidden inside this first part is one of the most emotional scenes I've read in any book and it left me feeling very raw and cut open.

My usual taste is for M/M. Curiously enough, while there is a M/M relationship in this book, the most emotional scene comes from one of the gay characters and his straight best friend. It also involves the gay character engaging in a M/F scene just for the benefit of his friend (I don't want to give any spoilers). In fact, there is very little mention of any M/M sex in this book, the only graphic scene is the M/F one. That usually wouldn't have been my cuppa tea at ALL because of my love for M/M but this book approaches sexuality in a way that makes it less of a spectacle and more of a human quality imbued with its own qualities that can't be pinned down or summed up. Refreshingly, the author deconstructs sexuality in a few different ways in this book and to be quite honest had he left that out, I don't think I would've been as interested in this book. It was one of its high points for me.

Going into part two, after their "goal" is completed in the first part, the second part begins in a much darker place. The characters have change and it's immediately noticeable. Many years have passed though so we find the characters with a new goal and in new relationships. Though I would say the entire book has its own form of ingenuity, I think it really starts to shine through in the second part and grows from there. The focus on the goal in the second part is to me masterful. The author could've gone so many predictable places using the kind of technology presented in the book but he remains focused on the main characters and paints a believable portrait of how their lives would progress in the situation.

This is where I want to speak of the characters. This truly seems to be Overfield's strongest ability. He KNOWS characters. He seems to know people very well, he makes convincing dynamics and his dialog is realistically spot-on. Overfield writes extremely well, if not a little wordy at times, but his true strength comes through in his characterizations. He masters nuances and real world relationships in which people love/hate each other and treat each other with irreverence. It was quite refreshing to see. One complaint is that it can border on parody at times, and one of the characters really started to remind me of Lafayette from True Blood, so I began to read his voice in the same manner, that made it hard to take him seriously when I needed to be able to. However the characters are some of the best I have read in a book in quite some time. And the way they are presented, with a slight shift in tone rather than a shift in POV, was masterful.

By the time the goal is reached in the 2nd part, my mind is blown. All hyperbole aside, I kept finding myself asking myself "How did he come up with this?" There is some heavy research into neuroscience and psychology at play here and I applaud the author for that. There is also some pure genius in where he takes the story because once things reach their conclusion I found myself thinking OF COURSE that is what would happen, it tended to make near-perfect sense. None of it felt contrived or seemed to be gimmicky. Events were natural progressions of other events, despite being in a totally speculative world where essentially anything could go. At the end of the 2nd part, I couldn't imagine what happened in the 3rd since, as another review pointed out, the book could have very well ended in the 2nd part.

Part 3 could very well be my favorite. It is here where I think Overfield grounded himself in his craft and having built this world had begun to really go how and where he wanted. It is the tone and style of the third part that makes me anxious to read the next book (get to that later). Part 3 and the group's new "goal" and how they go about achieving it is an example of Overfield's expansive imagination and I read with increasing stimulation, feeling like more and more was being revealed, it felt magical. The layers and layers of the story found its core in part 3 and it made so much sense linearly that after only reading one book of his (and many of his FB posts) I already consider Overfield to be a master of his craft. The author can weave a story, take the reader's mind on a journey, and inject a way of thinking into their mind. Layer after layer I began to understand that he was wanting the reader to THINK.

Possibly my only major gripe comes in the form of an Author Filibuster in part 3. There is one chapter in part 3 in which one of the main characters is being interviewed on TV. It is a perfect example of an Author Filibuster and while I felt it went along with the tone and pace of the story, I know it is a literary weakness in most instances and did pull me out of the story a little. It was by no means a John Galt moment but it was obvious for what it was. That being said, the information being covered and the ideas being presented are so intriguing to me that I did not mind the tactic, but I did notice it.

I can't say this book has an emotionally satisfying ending, but I don't think it was meant to. The book sets up a dystopia (which is an interesting way to lead into that), and by the end of the 3rd epilogue (did I mention there are 3 epilogues?), your heart has sank and your curiosity is piqued. It is because of how things are left at the end of the 3rd part that I'm very interested to see where the author goes with the 2nd book in the series. He has a lot of play room but he also has a lot of rope to hang himself with. I'm invested in the story enough to follow along and see where he takes the story, especially since the main characters will be years (decades? centuries?) in the past.

All in all, this is one of the best books I have read in quite some time. It's impossible to convey what this book did to me intellectually or emotionally, but I did find myself connect to (Some of) the characters very strongly and I felt the entire story developed here was something original, refreshing, and spun my mind in more ways than I'm used to. It's shown me I need to be reading outside of my preferred genre or because there are two sexy men on the book's cover. That's not to say I will stop reading M/M all the time but I will broaden my horizons once again. I could see this book being made into a movie, depending on how the next two go, and it will be exciting to know I had been there in the beginning. The only other time that's happened was with Harry Potter, and I felt the movies, while not adding anything to the actual story, breathed life into characters I grew to love. I can only hope to see some life breathed into Suren, Ken, Brock, and even that sassy Hunter.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to adult readers who can handle vulgarity and are interested in sci-fi enough to wade through some difficult material to understand a technology that has some serious implications.

This is a WONDERFUL read.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through First Reads and am ecstatic that I did. Though the book is long and expands over a rather wide period of time, I feel it is well written and intriguing. The story is different from anything I have ever read, which is greatly appreciated. The one thing I disliked about this story (okay, two things) is that the explanations for Veil itself were rather tedious and boring, but perhaps that was the only way to explain it without saying "it attaches to your head and reads your little brain sensory thingys". The other thing is the fact that the story skipped huge periods of time between parts. Perhaps it wasn't super important, but it would've been nice to touch on a bit, rather than skipping it entirely.

All in all, it's a great book that I would definitely recommend. I can't wait to read the second book!

[Skye Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall I have to give the book 5 stars but if i rated the parts separately, my favorite would be the 2nd part, then the 3rd, and then the 1st part was probably my least favorite, mostly cause there was a lot of info dumps in it. I understand the need for them it just made it slower to read and harder to get through or stay interested in. But I loved the book and the story. Loved the characters. It's almost unlike any book ive read before. It's a very fresh read.

[SweetCheeses And Coffee Dreams · Rating 2 out of 5]

STILL reading Veil, and honestly, I feel the book should have ended a LONG time ago. (Like directly after "Big thing" involving Ken and Suren and affecting Hunter in a huge way) It is just dragging on and on, but I can't just quit now. It's an interesting story, but he also really overplayed the concept of Veil. Veil has taken over the world and is used to pass laws, run a court system, and the United States Congress approves everything the makers bring to them because they are afraid the veil will be taken away? There is a temple built to the originater of veil, and there is even some religeous overtones towards the Tsay name (Jin Tsay is the originator of the Veil). Time is counted in Veil years and life is seen as Pre or Post Veil. Veil has not only taken over the United States, it has taken over the world, and there is no reason for money, or room for prejudice, because it has become the great equalizer. The writer finds a way to put v or veil in every word or concept, and is found on almost every page (ok, so not every page, but holy crap is it in that book a LOT!). Here is an example of the Veilization of EVERYTHING..."Velebrities, vElementary school, the NewVeilWorld, Veillusion, vGriever, vAtoner, vNet, vPort, vKey, Surveillors, Veilinquish/Veilinquishment, Veilological, the list is endless, and a little ridiculous.
The insult fest that is HUNTER is really over the top and annoying as well. It's like the author just had a ball inventing insults for asian women, gay men, and later on, short young women. What is supposed to be an interesting and maybe funny battle of wits between Hunter and the “Great Widow Tsay” and then later Peyton is at first rather funny, but then it’s just tiresome. I found myself skimming over the ramblings of Hunter and his supposed creative ways to reinvent his prejudice and anger towards others.
And lastly, the author really needed a better editor, because there were more than a few errors that I had a hard time overlooking. ("redden" breasts should have read "reddened breasts" on page 124. "Not tears of sorry" was an oddity on page 480. "When was she finished" on page 534. And there was a few more that I failed to notate but I felt messed with the flow of the story because it bothered me so much) It took away from this work. It was the editors job to tell the writer that there is some excess writing that should be cut out. I am not sorry I read this book, but I am sorry that it did not go through more serious editing. It has potential to be a fresh and original read. I am interested to see more from this writer, but I advise him to fire his editor.

I should add that I DID in fact finish the book and stand behind this review.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer - I'm friends with a friend of the author and this book got suggested to me. Just wanted to put that out there first although there's no bias to my review because I don't know the author personally and did purchase a copy it wasn't given to me.
This falls outside my usual genre, which is True Crime. This isn't a book I would've probably read otherwise. The cover is interesting but it looks like what I guess I'd consider a chick-flick type book, so I doubt I would've ever picked it up. That would've been a mistake. This book was highly interesting and entertaining. The ideas REALLY made me think. I'm used to reading about real life characters and one of the best things about this book was that the characters felt real to me, that was really important to me. This book definitely makes you think and comes up with ideas that I have NEVER come across. I'm happy I did read it.

Edit 6/20/13
Wanted to add this image below since user Shoujo is deleting comments on her post. Pathetic and talk about censorship.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great, hilarious most of the time. The most impressive part is the technology, makes you wonder why no one ever thought of it before. I thought this was well written and entertaining from beginning to end (seriously, you have to even read the copyright page and the last page). Liked the story and how it unfolded. Just enough detail and not too much altho the technology was explained a lot. But it's a sic-fi book so I expected some of it. It's hard to review this book because it's so complicated so will just say read it for yourself and give it a shot. You'll get some laughs and there's even some sad scenes. Well not sad but moving. I'll read the next one when its out. I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

[Pat Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a rare author who can take a piece of philosophy, be it about physics, psychology or ethics, and wrap it into a fictional story that is engrossing and entertaining. If I were to dream of fiction by Michio Kaku, Steven Hawkins, and Richard Dawkins they would take the form of novelists such as Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and this one by Aaron Overfield. To present such a beautiful understanding of the human psyche within such flawed, human characters is a task of rare form. This book grabbed my soul and shook it.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this book was free through the first-reads giveaway, so thanks! I think the idea for the book was interesting, and made a good story, but the story itself needed a bit of editing. There were unnecessary, repetitive portions that sort of slowed down my reading enjoyment. The author's strength seemed to be in description and explanation, but the characters needed a little more work. (though I was happy to see a variety of characters).

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise. Very dated due to current cultural references. I hope that the sequel has a more timeless quality to it.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Thanks for the read.

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sci-fi dystopias, like Veil by Aaron Overfield, are awesome for the thought experiments they play out and the possible futures they warn us of. Overfield dreams of a technology that allows humans to experience what it is like to be one another, what is is like to think like another person for a few hours or a lifetime. But Overfield doesn’t stop at “isn’t that a cool idea?” oh no, that would be a waste. Instead, Overfield shows us the true implications of such a technology, both the beautiful, humanity-changing and the apocalyptic. Veil is less a story of characters and more a story of, well, Veil itself. I received the book Veil (not the technology alas ;-)) from Aaron Overfield in exchange for an honest review, thanks for the opportunity!
Veil by Aaron Overfield Goodreads | Amazon



Title: Veil
Author: Aaron Overfield
Pages: 604 (paperback)
Genre-ish: Sci-fi dystopia (mature content)
Rating: ★★★☆☆- awesome idea, needed polish
Dr. Jin Tsay’s revelation entices the military with a potential to uncover and disarm any covert threats. The government that funded the engineer’s classified project orders Tsay’s death, so they can solely and secretly possess his alluring technological consummation: VEIL
Veil proves to be the purest, deepest form of espionage and anti-terrorism by endowing humankind with the ability to experience life through another person. Dr. Tsay’s technology offers submersion into another’s mind; Veil provides a direct perception of their immediate thoughts, emotions, memories, and the rush of their most intimate senses. If it ever escapes the military’s relentlessly selfish grip, Veil swears to permanently alter the psychosocial, sexual, political, economic, and religious landscapes of our lives. Veil promises to usher in our ultimately unifying evolution: the New Veil World.
Retribution for Dr. Jin Tsay’s assassination comes in the form of his widow, who races to deliver Veil unto the world and share it freely, before those who ordered her husband’s murder can exploit it. Wielding the inescapable force of Veil, Suren Tsay seeks to inflict justice upon all those responsible for her husband’s demise, culminating in an unforgiving, brutal, obsessive hunt for the elusive killer of the father of the New Veil World: the Great Jin Tsay.
Taking Veil beyond limits Jin himself could’ve imagined, the revered Widow Tsay vows to get her revenge at any cost. Suren Tsay soon realizes she too must inhabit the world created by her husband’s invention and her own bloodlust.
Suren must learn to live in the New Veil World.
She must also fight to liberate it. – Goodreads

Strengths:
When there is action and emotion in Veil, Overfield writes powerfully. All you have to do is read the first scene to get a taste for what Overfield can write when he wants to focus on the characters instead of the thought experiment.
That being said, the thought experiment is freaking awesome. Veil is an amazing technology and an amazing idea. The amount of research that Overfield did into neurology and the amount that he thought about what the repercussions would be in the near and far future are impressive. This is what science fiction should have in it always in my opinion.
Even though the focus seems to be less on the characters than I would have liked, since Veil is so long, you do come to know and understand the characters by the end, even though I didn’t like most of them to begin with. This, more than anything, shows good development and a lot of potential for Overfield in the future.
Weaknesses:
The biggest (haha) thing you’ll notice about Veil is that it is freaking long. 600 pages might not seem too bad for a book (I’ve read some very good 600 page books), but Veil shouldn’t have been 600 pages. It definitely should have been 1/3 shorter, maybe even 1/2, with another round of editing to cut out repetitious sentences and paragraphs. These paragraphs in particular made Veil just seem even longer than it was.
On a similar note, Overfield seemed much more interested in the Veil technology than with the characters or plot, so many paragraphs were info dumps for him to explain the intricacies of how Veil works or what is happening around the world as the technology spreads. This lack of action also makes the book proceed slowly in parts.
There is a lot of swearing, particular the f-bomb, as one of the characters is quite crass. I just got sick of reading that kind of language after a while, and I swear plenty.
The first part of Veil is told mostly from the crass character’s (Hunter’s) perspective, and this also includes a lot about his sex life and habits about guys that I just really didn’t need to know… ever.
Summary:
The explicit content in Veil bothered me, and is a warning that I must heavily stress to my readers since I know a lot of you won’t be comfortable with it. However, if you are looking for gritty sci-fi with a really impressive idea, then at least try out the first scenes of Veil perhaps. I also noticed on Goodreads that the three parts that the book I received have now been separated, and they are available to purchase separately on Amazon. This is a very big deal, since these are basically three separate books and I applaud Overfield for releasing them separately. I will say that if you go that route, the second book was much better than the first in my humble opinion. If I could rate the parts separately (which I now have on Goodreads), I would rate Part I 2 stars, Part II 3 stars and Part III 4 stars. So, I think that Overfield has a lot of potential with this series, but maybe cut back on the grit in the next book ;-).

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book a while ago through the first-reads giveaway and it has taken me a while to finish but I finally did! I entered the giveaway because the cover drew me in, honestly. I am a real sucker for amazing covers and I absolutely loved this one! Now, this isn't one of my usual picks in genre but I couldn't resist and I wasn't disappointed. It really was better than I expected but I did find that a few things started to really irk me. The characters were lacking and I like to be able to caught up in the characters and their emotions and feel like I am experiencing things right along with them but I just don't feel that from this book. Also, I agree that the author's ability to describe the scenes was great but it does need to be edited a bit. I did struggle with myself to finish the book sometimes because it's not just long but I felt the story was a little slower in pace than I like. I would recommend giving it a read but it probably isn't something I would read again.

(I swear, I think the funniest thing I have ever read was the copyright page and the About The Author page. I love the author because of that, it was too funny lol I don't know if I was the only one who noticed or not. It was probably only on the copies from the giveaway, right? I don't know. lol)

[Yeliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read.
Kinda slow moving for me at first, and I didn't like the way the characters talked, but the idea was interesting and thinking of how people have abilities/talents which might not be useful to others and might not be noticed by those possessing it. I'm sure many people thought of how awesome it would be if we could read minds, I think the novel will make you realize how we are better off without that. Everything is the way it is for a reason. The novel also shows how love can bring the best out of some, and the worst out of others.
I enjoyed it but it isn't one of my favorites and I won't be re-reading it, maybe it's just not my type of books.

[Lizzy Lessard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the only book on my list that might get a second look. People who finish the book give it great reviews. People who don’t finish the book, give it horrible reviews. So it might be worth it. I don’t know.

The scenes are written very well, although wordy. My problem is that the pacing is excruciatingly slow. Something happens. It’s explained in 6 or 7 different POVs. Something else happens. It’s explained in 6 or 7 POVs. I felt like I was reading for eternity, but I only made it 15% into the novel. It is 621 pages…and boy does it feel like 1000. - DNF

[Jaleh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never read a book more in need of an editor.

[Lekeisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*