The Cestus Contract

Weir Codex #2

by Mat Nastos

Malcolm Weir returns on a mission to bring the down the men who destroyed his life...but his greatest enemy may be himself!

Following his escape from Project Hardwired, Weir arrives in Manhattan to track down one of the men responsible for stealing his life and turning him into the cyborg killer known as Cestus. Unbeknownst to him, the government isn't quite ready to let him unravel their plans and are ready to do whatever it takes to stop him.

Genres: Science Fiction

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2013

About the author

Mat Nastos has been a film/tv artist, director and writer since the early 1990s. His work has been published by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Warp Graphics, Playboy and Highlights for Kids, and has been seen everywhere from the SyFy Channel to Cinemax.

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine a story about a girl, this girl is in a beauty contest. She has beauty; However, she refuses to use makeup. As she goes in this contest, the story unravels that she struggle with each challenge because she refuses to use makeup. The story focuses deeply on the fact that she won't use it ,because true beauty isn't about what you slap on your face, but rather what you are. As the story goes, the competition gets tougher and the contestants are starting to look better then her: they put make up, they wear great dresses, and they do everything physically possible to look their best. This girl knows she is being bested by the looks of the other girls' natural beauty let alone the when they wear make-up on. So she puts on makeup when she needs to win a battle--- and guess what--- she wins every time she puts on that damn makeup, she wins, hands down no problem at all. So ensues her story of how she can only win decisively when she puts on make-up, yet she hates it, but without it she would lose, because in essence she can only win with it.

In the same manner is the sequel in Weir Codex tale. It's stupid, Weir could easily win if he just fought properly with the right tools or a gun, but he refuses. He doesn't use his programing and he sure as hell won't use anything but his fancy arms, let alone his brains. Furthermore, he hates killing, yet he lets his programing take over and then kills everything in site when he loses his cool! Then he moans how he'll never kill again. He's such a jerk.

Despite having been a ranger, he can't really do much. Or is he actually special forces? He can't even fight a mall cop, quietly and discreetly. The story would be alright if it didn't be so stupid on so many different accounts. One of the biggest thing I really hated about it was how he decided he didn't care if he lived, yet in the first book, he had to live so they wouldn't steal his special little brain and they still want it in the sequel! Things just felt frustrating and annoying as he got his arse trounced up and down America.

Yeah, don't read this book. IT COULD MAKE YOU UNHAPPY!!!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are like a B movie or comic book. There isn't any real character depth and the plot is fairly straight forward punctuated with regular fights that nobody should survive, even the ultimate super-soldier - If you like terminator-style stories and fight after fight these books will appeal. I don't think the writing is very good but this book does seem to be a bit of an improvement over the first book in the series. I'll probably read book 3 simply to see how the story ends but I'm not expecting much from it.

[Samantha Françoise Dark Regions Press Proofreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this literary piece and had the pleasure of working on it with Crossroads Press. A must read! I have also read the following, which is wonderful to add to your collection: "The Cestus Concern".

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't say as to why I even bothered......