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The Emergent Earth #2
Liar's Harvest
Abe put an end to the threat of the Devourer once and for all.
So why does the world keep getting more dangerous?
Unsettling events pile up one after another: animal corpses appear on the front porch each night, an abandoned graveyard in the North Carolina woods is now home to something unnatural, and wooden men with eerily familiar faces are spotted lurking in the nearby town of Halfway.
Abe finds himself caught in a game set in motion long before the rise of mankind. A game in which even the Devourer was merely a pawn and where losing means the death of every man, woman, and child on earth.
Standing with him are the survivors of Belmont: Anne, Chuck, Leon, and his old squadmate, Henry "The Professor" Monroe. Together they intend to hold the line against the encroaching darkness and prove that there are still things in the light to be feared.
So why does the world keep getting more dangerous?
Unsettling events pile up one after another: animal corpses appear on the front porch each night, an abandoned graveyard in the North Carolina woods is now home to something unnatural, and wooden men with eerily familiar faces are spotted lurking in the nearby town of Halfway.
Abe finds himself caught in a game set in motion long before the rise of mankind. A game in which even the Devourer was merely a pawn and where losing means the death of every man, woman, and child on earth.
Standing with him are the survivors of Belmont: Anne, Chuck, Leon, and his old squadmate, Henry "The Professor" Monroe. Together they intend to hold the line against the encroaching darkness and prove that there are still things in the light to be feared.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 16, 2012
9 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Michael Langlois
4 books43 followersMichael Langlois lives in Texas with his family, two dogs, a cat, and BB, The Most Confident Rabbit in the World.
When he's not playing tabletop board games, video games, or waxing nostalgic about zombies on his blog, he will occasionally stop procrastinating and write something.
You can follow his antics at http://michael-langlois.net.
When he's not playing tabletop board games, video games, or waxing nostalgic about zombies on his blog, he will occasionally stop procrastinating and write something.
You can follow his antics at http://michael-langlois.net.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 29, 2013
Here's the deal: the book is interesting and entertaining. But as a sequel to Bad Radio, it just falls flat. (For those of you who are gamers, think of it as the difference between seeing Dragon Age II as just an RPG as opposed to the sequel to Origins).
What made Bad Radio so appealing to me was the fact that, despite being urban fantasy, it always stayed with one foot firmly planted in reality. Sure, it had people filled with worms and all other kinds of unbelievable things, but at the end of the day, the story was just about a group of people trying to stop another human being from going through with his world-destroying plan. If you were slightly drunk and squinted real hard, you could actually believe such a reality.
But Liar's Harvest goes all-out psychedelic. It starts off nicely with a few dead animals and a severed foot, but quickly moves onto shifting realities, spirits, talking animals, trees that attack and have faces. I kept searching for the horror element that I saw in Bad Radio, but the more I read, the more I realized it's just not there. It's just too fantasy, and not enough urban.
And I know that I'm bitching about an urban fantasy book not being believable, but I wouldn't feel the need to do that if the first novel hadn't set the bar just so high in terms of creating a horror world that you could actually see happening. Because that's a part of what makes UF and horror, the fact that you could somewhat see it happening one day.
Another thing I was disappointed with is planting little ideas here and there and then never following through or doing it half-assed. Like, for example,
But I did give it three stars, so that means the book is good. The characters are still as lovable as they were in Bad Radio and the occasional banter between them still caught me off-guard and made me laugh. The story is interesting, though a bit too psychedelic, and will keep you wondering how the final showdown will take place. There's also plenty of gun-wielding awesomeness that was present in Bad Radio.
So, all in all, a decent book. I just wish the author would have taken a few more risks in terms of storytelling but while also keeping the universe in the style of the first novel.
What made Bad Radio so appealing to me was the fact that, despite being urban fantasy, it always stayed with one foot firmly planted in reality. Sure, it had people filled with worms and all other kinds of unbelievable things, but at the end of the day, the story was just about a group of people trying to stop another human being from going through with his world-destroying plan. If you were slightly drunk and squinted real hard, you could actually believe such a reality.
But Liar's Harvest goes all-out psychedelic. It starts off nicely with a few dead animals and a severed foot, but quickly moves onto shifting realities, spirits, talking animals, trees that attack and have faces. I kept searching for the horror element that I saw in Bad Radio, but the more I read, the more I realized it's just not there. It's just too fantasy, and not enough urban.
And I know that I'm bitching about an urban fantasy book not being believable, but I wouldn't feel the need to do that if the first novel hadn't set the bar just so high in terms of creating a horror world that you could actually see happening. Because that's a part of what makes UF and horror, the fact that you could somewhat see it happening one day.
Another thing I was disappointed with is planting little ideas here and there and then never following through or doing it half-assed. Like, for example,
But I did give it three stars, so that means the book is good. The characters are still as lovable as they were in Bad Radio and the occasional banter between them still caught me off-guard and made me laugh. The story is interesting, though a bit too psychedelic, and will keep you wondering how the final showdown will take place. There's also plenty of gun-wielding awesomeness that was present in Bad Radio.
So, all in all, a decent book. I just wish the author would have taken a few more risks in terms of storytelling but while also keeping the universe in the style of the first novel.
March 30, 2013
Fast paced well written series! Enjoyed it greatly! Pick up the first book, Bad Radio, and buckle your seatbelt for a wild ride that leaves you turning every page without time to breathe! It has a touch of Hellboy, a dash of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the brassiness of Firefly! Characters are well-rounded and grounded enough to make this fantasy seem believable. Not one of them gets too bogged down in any situation to forget to find the "humor". Great Job, Mr. Langlois! Looking forward to more!
March 2, 2018
My rule for sequels is pretty much "Don't tell me the same story twice, and make me feel compelled to read this one as much as the last one". Liar's Harvest is a good sequel. Langlois gave us some room for a sequel, gave Abe some more rope to hang himself with, so I'm hoping to see a third book. He's still looking for the signpost that says "Beyond this point there is not enough of you left to be considered a person".
There's this thing authors tend to do when they have to make an antagonist smarter than the main character--they can either make the antagonist essentially magical or a mind reader, or they can make the protagonist stupid. That's not what happens here. I was repeatedly surprised-but-of-course-they-did by Evil Tree Face, who theoretically has the strategy and tactics of a special ops soldier. And everybody gets to be human, to tire from unrelenting action or to recoil from gory carnage.
And here's a thing I'll say: This book seems more charnel house gruesome than Bad Radio. Yes, the book with a quarry pit filled with human blood. I think that was defeated by the Street Fair Sacrifice.
There's this thing authors tend to do when they have to make an antagonist smarter than the main character--they can either make the antagonist essentially magical or a mind reader, or they can make the protagonist stupid. That's not what happens here. I was repeatedly surprised-but-of-course-they-did by Evil Tree Face, who theoretically has the strategy and tactics of a special ops soldier. And everybody gets to be human, to tire from unrelenting action or to recoil from gory carnage.
And here's a thing I'll say: This book seems more charnel house gruesome than Bad Radio. Yes, the book with a quarry pit filled with human blood. I think that was defeated by the Street Fair Sacrifice.
August 9, 2017
Just a really well-written, well-paced fun read.
Just a really well-written, well-paced fun read. The characters are really likable and the plot definitely has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged until the very end.
Just a really well-written, well-paced fun read. The characters are really likable and the plot definitely has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged until the very end.
July 18, 2019
Good book
Good book and interesting story. Antagonist was is intriguing and the plot is engaging. Would read more in the series
Good book and interesting story. Antagonist was is intriguing and the plot is engaging. Would read more in the series
June 23, 2013
Liar's Harvest by Michael Langlois is the second book in The Emergent Earth series. After the horrifying events that took place in Bad Radio Abe and the rest of the gang are living with Henry trying to figure out their next move. It seems like the world is getting worse and they are pretty sure it relates to the events that they had a part in.
There is still some strange stuff going on around the group, especially with Abe. I'm not going to go into any major detail due to the fact that it could really spoil some stuff from the first book. When an old human foot shows up on the porch one day Abe, Chuck, Leon, and Anne head to an old cemetery and are attacked by creatures that pull themselves out of the ground. During the melee a fox drops a delivery off for Leon on the battlefield and it begins a whole new adventure.
Once again Michael has written a fantastic horror/action novel. This is a great example of the second book building off of the first wonderfully. With the majority of the character's personalities already being established the story and interactions really shine. There is some pretty amusing dialogue that works well to break up the tension of what is a very serious situation. The plot of the book also really stood apart for me. I haven't read anything remotely similar to this and very much enjoyed it.
I'm very impressed with this author and will be checking out his other series, starting with Walker, soon.
Review copy received from the author.
There is still some strange stuff going on around the group, especially with Abe. I'm not going to go into any major detail due to the fact that it could really spoil some stuff from the first book. When an old human foot shows up on the porch one day Abe, Chuck, Leon, and Anne head to an old cemetery and are attacked by creatures that pull themselves out of the ground. During the melee a fox drops a delivery off for Leon on the battlefield and it begins a whole new adventure.
Once again Michael has written a fantastic horror/action novel. This is a great example of the second book building off of the first wonderfully. With the majority of the character's personalities already being established the story and interactions really shine. There is some pretty amusing dialogue that works well to break up the tension of what is a very serious situation. The plot of the book also really stood apart for me. I haven't read anything remotely similar to this and very much enjoyed it.
I'm very impressed with this author and will be checking out his other series, starting with Walker, soon.
Review copy received from the author.
May 22, 2013
To see my full review:
http://wp.me/p1jhaj-3le
This second book in the Emergent Earth series is just as good as the first, but this time, the adversary is even more cunning and malevolent. I have to admit, when I first read the synopsis and saw there would be “wooden men” lurking throughout the story, I was a bit perplexed and couldn’t fathom how the book would play out or how it would even seem feasible. But, Langolis is an absolutely amazing author and he presents these wooden men in the most sinister of ways, explaining their origin in full, and whisking readers off on a adventure that won’t soon be forgotten.
Abe is back, along with the remaining crew that helped take down the Devourer in the last novel, Bad Radio, and I have to say, I really adore him. He’s a phenomenal character, fully fleshed out and real, combating a host of supernatural entities set on destroying the world. Langlois’ vivid imagination, extreme character building, and fast-paced prose will keep readers glued to the pages as the story unfolds, and I absolutely can’t wait for more! Five stars.
http://wp.me/p1jhaj-3le
This second book in the Emergent Earth series is just as good as the first, but this time, the adversary is even more cunning and malevolent. I have to admit, when I first read the synopsis and saw there would be “wooden men” lurking throughout the story, I was a bit perplexed and couldn’t fathom how the book would play out or how it would even seem feasible. But, Langolis is an absolutely amazing author and he presents these wooden men in the most sinister of ways, explaining their origin in full, and whisking readers off on a adventure that won’t soon be forgotten.
Abe is back, along with the remaining crew that helped take down the Devourer in the last novel, Bad Radio, and I have to say, I really adore him. He’s a phenomenal character, fully fleshed out and real, combating a host of supernatural entities set on destroying the world. Langlois’ vivid imagination, extreme character building, and fast-paced prose will keep readers glued to the pages as the story unfolds, and I absolutely can’t wait for more! Five stars.
March 21, 2016
Another fun fantasy adventure, albeit a little less engaging than the original.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews