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Fearful Symmetry by Michael McBride

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More than seventy years ago, five Nazi scientists embarked upon an expedition into the frozen Himalayas in search of the origins of the Aryan race. What they found instead was something beyond their wildest imaginations, a secret they would sooner take to their graves than risk releasing upon an unsuspecting world. Now nearly a hundred years old, Johann Brandt, the lone surviving member of the original party, shares his discovery with Jordan Brooks, an evolutionary anthropologist, who launches his own expedition into one of the most dangerous environments on the face of the planet in search of the evidence Brandt claims to have left behind. If Brooks and his team hope to find the proof, they’ll have to follow the historical footsteps of the Germans into the hunting grounds of a species that evolved in utter geographical isolation, and their only hope for survival lies in uncovering the truth about the ill-fated Nazi expedition…for those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.Black Voltage Series #47

Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

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About the author

Michael McBride

124 books478 followers
Michael McBride was born in Colorado and still resides in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. He hates the snow, but loves the Avalanche. He works with medical radiation, yet somehow managed to produce five children, none of whom, miraculously, have tails, third eyes, or other random mutations. He writes fiction that runs the gamut from thriller to horror to science fiction...and loves every minute of it.

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5 stars
243 (41%)
4 stars
206 (35%)
3 stars
91 (15%)
2 stars
33 (5%)
1 star
11 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly.
1,932 reviews2 followers
August 18, 2014
McBride makes use of the elements to such a remarkable degree that the environment in his novels becomes almost a "character" in and of itself. When he details the weather and elements his characters are up against--these become so REAL; they are truly the things that humans are at the complete mercy of. McBride seems to give life to these integral scenes effortlessly, so that you feel almost physically forced into the story you are reading. He has the talent to take you up those ice-coated mountains, and to lead you into the midsts of uncharted rain forests, where undiscovered worlds await you.

Another consistent strength I find in McBride's work is his carefully crafted characterization. You will get into their heads, and be left able to identify all the key players by their personalities, physical features, hopes, dreams, idiosyncrasies, etc.

The three things that often make the biggest impact on me when reading a new novel are 1.) atmosphere, 2.) characterization, and 3.) research. With those three things being strong, I feel a successful story can be built. Michael McBride is an author who has proven himself in all these areas time and time again.

FEARFUL SYMMETRY is a thoroughly engrossing read, that easily shifts between past and present happenings without any confusion to the reader. This is NOT the type of novel you will skim through; but rather, will find yourself hanging on every word of his incredibly dangerous journey of unmeasured importance.

Without any spoilers, I will say that this shocking ending was one of the best conceived I have read in quite some time. I simply can not give any higher praise than that.

My highest recommendation!

Merged review:

McBride makes use of the elements to such a remarkable degree that the environment in his novels becomes almost a "character" in and of itself. When he details the weather and elements his characters are up against--these become so REAL; they are truly the things that humans are at the complete mercy of. McBride seems to give life to these integral scenes effortlessly, so that you feel almost physically forced into the story you are reading. He has the talent to take you up those ice-coated mountains, and to lead you into the midsts of uncharted rain forests, where undiscovered worlds await you.

Another consistent strength I find in McBride's work is his carefully crafted characterization. You will get into their heads, and be left able to identify all the key players by their personalities, physical features, hopes, dreams, idiosyncrasies, etc.

The three things that often make the biggest impact on me when reading a new novel are 1.) atmosphere, 2.) characterization, and 3.) research. With those three things being strong, I feel a successful story can be built. Michael McBride is an author who has proven himself in all these areas time and time again.

FEARFUL SYMMETRY is a thoroughly engrossing read, that easily shifts between past and present happenings without any confusion to the reader. This is NOT the type of novel you will skim through; but rather, will find yourself hanging on every word of his incredibly dangerous journey of unmeasured importance.

Without any spoilers, I will say that this shocking ending was one of the best conceived I have read in quite some time. I simply can not give any higher praise than that.

My highest recommendation!
Profile Image for Paul Nelson.
681 reviews162 followers
August 24, 2014
In Fearful Symmetry, Michael McBride drags you chillingly terrified into an atmosphere that is so taut and harsh, you almost feel the need to massage the warmth back into your fingers and constantly look over your shoulder into the trees. You can sense something watching, waiting and you just know it’s a prelude to violence.

In 1938 a team of Nazi scientists ascended into the Himalayas chasing the origins of Germanic ancestral heritage, Himmler’s infatuation with the Aryan race, the mystical Nordics that escaped the sinking of Atlantis. What they encountered could radically revise the trunk of the family tree of man itself, the origins of man and only one survived to keep its secret.

Now aged 95 Dr Brandt with perhaps his final throw of the dice engages a team of four evolutionary anthropologists with very diverse areas of expertise to find and bring back his greatest discovery, finally scientific advancement has progressed to reap the potential rewards. They must travel into the harshest terrain known to man and face unimaginable dangers in a place they were never meant to go.

The first chapter begins somewhere near the end of the story, when tension is almost at the top of the scale, we then intertwine chapters from the expedition with the start of the story and finally with the Nazi scientists tale as the terror that awaits becomes a relentless onslaught.

The descriptive writing of the conditions endured by the team on this expedition was some of the best I’ve read, you felt the cold wind with them, felt the rain and then the sudden change in humidity and finally the all-out terror as night falls. A tale of one man’s secrets, one man’s lies, shocking discovery and the ultimate betrayal.

I always comment on how thorough Michael McBride’s research is and his level of detail beggars belief sometimes but he’s outdone himself with Fearful Symmetry, this time we touch on genetic engineering, evolutionary biology, anthropology, DNA sequencing & cloning, hominin or human ancestry and the physiological effects of viruses on human evolution. Certainly not to the point of being over-whelmed but you can appreciate how much effort goes into an epic thriller of this magnitude.

That’s the barest slither of the story, to give more away would be a crime and this without doubt is one of the best I’ve read from Michael McBride, he’s definitely on a roll following the excellent Sunblind and Ancient Enemies, all three highly recommended.

Fearful Symmetry is Highly Recommended.
Profile Image for Gregor Xane.
Author 19 books344 followers
Read
September 4, 2014
I'm setting this one aside unfinished. The writing wasn't bad. On a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph basis, I enjoyed the writing quite a bit actually. I'm certainly willing to give another McBride book a try. And by all rights, I should have liked this one: Nazis, the occult, Tibet!

However, there are two things about it that I just can't take:

1) Every other chapter so far is a journal entry. I find it very difficult to suspend disbelief when reading epistolary stuff. I keep thinking to myself: 'no one writes like this in journal entries!' I feel much the same way about 'found footage' movies. Why is he filming a monster eating his legs?

2) In this book, there is a modern day expedition to Tibet. The journal entries mentioned above detail another expedition to Tibet that took place in 1939. The same terrain is covered (so far) in both timelines, to an annoying degree. Modern day guys encounter leeches! A journal entry or two later, 1939 people encounter leeches! Modern day people run across crazy carnage in the woods! A journal entry or two later, 1939 people find crazy carnage in the woods! I can't handle a storytelling pattern like this for a whole book. And maybe this pattern doesn't persist. But I can't see moving forward in order to find out.

I think I'll give Sunblind a try. I've heard great things about that one.
Profile Image for Andi Rawson.
Author 1 book14 followers
February 15, 2015
4.5 stars.

Fearful Symmetry is actually one that I bought the signed limited Thunderstorm edition of the book before I read it. Michael McBride is one of the few authors whose books I buy before I read them because I already know they will be good and with Fearful Symmetry I was not disappointed. Plus, the s/l is freaking amazing.

An expedition into the Himalayas, Nazi's, and Yeh-Teh. How much more can you ask for in a book? I won't give you a plot summary because there are enough of them floating around already. Like I have come to expect from Michael McBride, the characters are solid. He doesn't go into lengthy detail about every single character because you don't need it. Although it starts out with somewhat of a good versus evil and blurred lines aspect, the ending will have you re-thinking everything you thought you knew. The story isn't cookie cutter. I loved the switching back and forth between the journal entries and present day. I found the then/now perspectives to be very well done.

Overall it was an enjoyable and fast paced read that I think read more like a true story than horror fiction. The amount of science and research in this book gives it a definite edge over a lot of the hard-to-believe plot lines I have become accustomed to in this genre, but once again, this is not a surprise from Michael McBride who excels at this.

You wanted to know what I think and that is that you should read this book and decide for yourself. And while you're at it, feel free to pick up Condemned (my favorite McBride to date), Sunblind and F9, which are my other favorites.

Profile Image for Mommacat.
605 reviews31 followers
August 2, 2016
Fearful Symmetry takes you into a world that ties the past with the present in a totally unexpected way. It immerses the reader in a period of history that most of the world would just as soon forget. It takes you on a voyage to a land of isolation where many things are possible. This is a story that raises one's blood pressure. It's a cliffhanger...all the way to the end.

Highly recommended.
Profile Image for BookLoversLife.
1,838 reviews9 followers
July 26, 2015
This was such a great listen. I started it and honestly had a hard time putting it down. It had the recipe of a great book anyway, Nazis, Himalayas and an expedition! Well I'm so glad to say that the author more than delivers.

The author puts so much into the story and it showed. The amount of detail and the vivid descriptions were amazing. I loved reading the scenes from the forest because it felt like I was there. He described them so perfectly.

The characters were all well developed and written. The plot was extremely fast paced and is told from the present and through a journal from the past. It was fascinating seeing the story unfold in both times.

In all a tense and thrilling read. I thought it was heading in a certain direction but the author threw in a twist that left me reeling. The whole way through I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to see where it was going.

The audio of this was fantastic. The narrator did an amazing job of voicing the different characters. He drew me into the story and made it that much more enjoyable. I'd highly recommend you listen to this!!
Profile Image for Shanna Tidwell.
735 reviews6 followers
April 7, 2024
This was a great story and a unique twist in the Yetti.
Of course there is so much of it that has you extinguishing your belief in so much. I thought it was great!
Scott Thomas did an amazing job narrating.
Profile Image for Ary.
446 reviews8 followers
April 7, 2022
A fast paced read and obviously well researched
372 reviews2 followers
September 9, 2014
Very good!

This book was very good. I did not figure it out until I read it. I like that. This book was scary, suspenseful, and kept me interested.
I am not a great typist!! My only complaint is that there were many typos in this book. I can live with it, especially since I read this as my free book of the month on Amazon Prime. The funniest mistake was using the word "fried" instead of "friend."
Please don't let that one complaint stop you from reading this book. It really was very good.
756 reviews14 followers
February 25, 2015
A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:

I grabbed this book to read on my Kindle while I waited for my library books to arrive and was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't put it down! The book jumps around in time a bit, which actually is a great way to learn additional information as the story unfolds. There was a lot of great information about evolutionary biology tied into the plot as well as a little botany just for kicks. But the most important part is that early on, I thought I had "figured it out" and the story would then become predictable, but I was wrong. The story and payoff were awesome!
Profile Image for Arran.
105 reviews4 followers
May 7, 2018
A great action novel that moves along with a sound pace. I wasn't a fan of the actual epilogue ending but thoroughly enjoyed it up to the last few pages. Its very much in the style of scott sigler and matthew reilly. So if you like your novels fast and bloody with heaps on action this is a winner.
188 reviews1 follower
October 26, 2016
Good

It kept me reading I liked the book but it was not what I expected it was a bout but good
202 reviews
April 2, 2023
And yet another tale about a (modern day) expedition in the unexplored regions of the Himalayas searching for the legendary yeti.

The story is rather novel, spanning about 80 years and includes Nazis and the latest findings in genomic studies.

Overall, I thought the story moved rather slow. It took nearly to the end of the book for things to really start picking up. There were some surprises at the end. I’ve read a few other books by this author, including the two, “Snowblind” and “The Killing Ground” both about North America’s counterpart hominid, so when I went into the book I already had some expectations. That being said, the story was not quite what I expected, it being more cerebral than visceral. The author provided an interesting concept as to the origins of the yeti.
832 reviews
February 15, 2023
Wow, what a ride! A little slow getting started but once the team got to Tibet it was one wild ride. The story tended to get bogged down with the occasional science dump. This is something I've complained about before with this author. That said, Mr. McBride certainly knows how to write a monster story. I could hardly take a breath thru the entire last quarter of the book. And the twists and surprises...WOW! Right up to the last page. I'll be picking up more of this author's books. Recommended if you're looking for a good monster tale and can overlook the technical science aspects.
Profile Image for Sarah Elizabeth.
184 reviews31 followers
May 7, 2019
"Eh." I REALLY loved this book up until the last two pages. They left me feeling very underwhelmed and lackluster. The twists and turns and surprises kept me going and truly interested me, up until the absolute final last-page-of-the-book revelation. Then I felt very "eh". Had to knock a star for the blah endings.

I feel like, having read four or five of his books, McBride is now interred as the "Man Who Can't Write An Ending To Save His Life."

Ugh.
206 reviews2 followers
November 22, 2022
Long

The basic story of the book is good. Suspense, hunting, gore. But there was wayyyyyy too much talking and thinking and explaining. I found myself skipping pages. I finally became invested about 65% of the way through.
I liked the main characters and while I did figure out the twist early on I enjoyed seeing it worked out. The end was satisfying.
And this author definitely knows how to make the reader feel and experience the weather.
3 reviews
July 5, 2018
Nice story. Interesting theories on DNA and evolution.

I liked the way the story unfolded. The flashbacks were a bit annoying at times but they worked well in building up suspense. There were some obvious grammatical/spelling errors but I knew what was intended so that didn’t matter.
283 reviews1 follower
July 10, 2023
Wow

This book took me to places I never knew existed and talked about the characters in so many twists! Scary and thought-provoking. Does man really want any of this? I don’t even believe in evolution nor in any of the theories in this book but it definitely was an interesting read and I’m glad I had the background to understand some of the science and theories.
39 reviews
January 15, 2018
Great Book

Michael McBride is one of my favorite authors. Each of his books have something to say, whether it be about beliefs of indigenous peoples, cryptids, or other stories not believed but based on fact; and the heroes that are strong enough to find out the truth. Enjoy!
Profile Image for Susan.
470 reviews12 followers
February 4, 2018
Fascinating story

A captivating story with some fascinating characters. Be prepared for lots of scientific talk but also lots of adventure. A few twists to make the storyline even more captivating.
763 reviews2 followers
April 11, 2018
Good read

Was a good read but heavy on scientific terms at times. They tended to bog down the reading. Very interesting premise and it unfolded nicely. Characters not strongly defined which made it difficult to know them or care about them.
33 reviews
June 5, 2018
Loved this story! Full of adventure, thrills and mystery.
Got bogged down in some of the genetic discussions, but kept on going.
I would not recommend this book for anyone who is a closed minded anti-evolutionist.
Oh how I wished for some sketches of what Brandt observed.
Profile Image for letizia costa.
25 reviews
August 16, 2018
A great read!

I was really captivated by this book ! It kept me reading well into the night! There were very few dull moments which I skipped thru ! The last half of the story was fantastic a must read for any one that loves a real thriller! By the way a great ending!
2 reviews
January 20, 2019
Great story

5 stars for a well written, informative, suspenseful story .
Evolution of humans is always a great basis for an unending double edge sword of ugly and beautiful outcomes.
29 reviews
April 3, 2020
Quite a thriller at that.

What can I say about a genius. I don,t know if the science is dark or made up, but I feel smarter having read this book. He has been one of my favorite authors to a while now. The plot was a little tricky , but it all works at the end.
45 reviews1 follower
June 24, 2020
Excellent storyline, but confusing!

I really liked this story, but found the flipping back and forth with the time-line to be confusing. Then I became confused about just who some of the characters were. But it was interesting!
Profile Image for Jesse Miller.
184 reviews6 followers
December 15, 2021
I somehow didn’t see that coming!

The ending made me cheer. It also made me really hope there is a sequel in the works. Lots of adventure, and science tossed around make this book very fun.
94 reviews2 followers
February 6, 2022
wow hope there is a book 2?

Awesome book. I hope there’s a sequel. It would make a great movie but they have to have a sequel where, the young anthropologist professor goes back, to save his love.
69 reviews1 follower
January 3, 2023
Simply awful

There are those few reading experiences that one simply slogs through just to prove to oneself you can finish. I suppose a deeply devout follower of advanced genetics and the inner workings of the Nazi Party would find this book palatable, buy not me.
23 reviews1 follower
November 21, 2020
Highlights man's Stupidity!!!

The theory of evolution is from Satan the devil,One can only gain true knowledge, from the source of all Knowledge(Jehovah,the only true God)😁😁😁
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews

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