Blue Courage

Battle for the Afterlife Saga #1-3

by C.J. Davis

Death is just the beginning for Navy SEAL Reese Hawthorne. After an unlikely encounter with the girl of his dreams during a rescue mission in the drug cartel filled jungles of Mexico, Reese awakens in a futuristic city in the Afterlife. A formidable, massive wall is the only thing protecting the city from countless ferocious prehistoric beasts, and hoards of ghoulish creatures, known as Lost Souls.

On the eve of a perilous cross-country race across the Afterlife realm between the forces of good and evil, war hangs in the balance on the heals of a loose treaty created hundreds of years ago. Armed with deadly weapons and their enhanced physical abilities, like strength, vision and quickness—the most gifted warriors, are pitted against each other. The first side to either destroy their opponents, or reach a distant ancient temple far outside the safety of the city walls, will win an unimaginable power, and change the outcome of humanity.

Reese must do everything he can to stop the forces of evil from winning the race and enslaving every free soul in the Universe. Watch the trailer at CJ Davis's author profile on Goodreads.

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2014

About the author

CJ Davis is an American writer who lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife and two little girls. By day he is a marketing executive for a software company, and by night he writes novels. His artistic influences include: J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, George Romero, George Lucas, Billy Corgan, Max Brooks, and of course Tolkien, Koontz and King.

CJ has a BBA from The University of Georgia with a specialization in marketing, and has published many articles in several major industry publications.

CJ is an avid runner, and just ran his fifth marathon this November in Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

He is a trained Navy SEAL, so diving headfirst into danger is part of his life. This time, though, something went wrong, very wrong and now he is an unconscious captive of a drug cartel in Mexico. When Reese wakes, he sees a woman who he has dreamed of, who he thinks he should know, but from where or when? It was the escape attempt he was trained for that could prove to be his last mission, or is it?
Reese awakens in a strange new world, with beasts, ghouls and its own battles against opposing forces. Welcome to the realm of Afterlife, an existence between the veils of life and eternity where souls find themselves tested, categorized and given enhanced abilities. This is where Reese will play a pivotal role in a cross-country race for survival against evil. Should he and his teammates fail, the outcome for Humanity will be forever changed. It is also where he will remember his past lives, his soulmate, and find loved ones who went before him long ago.

C.J. Davis’s BLUE COURAGE: BATTLE FOR THE AFTERLIFE BOOKS 1-3 is an adventure packed read that boldly takes a look at what could lie beyond life as we know it. Warriors will battle to another death with only their teammates, their enhanced abilities and their will to live to rely on. For Reese, learning what his abilities are and how to use them will play a pivotal role in the outcome, but his mind has been tampered with. WHY? What does it mean? What will happen if he remembers what has been hidden from him?

Fast-paced, intriguing and definitely entertaining, from page one, pay attention to the changes that take an abrupt shift as this tale follows a new path in an new world beyond us. Is this what the Afterlife will be like?

I received this copy from C.J. Davis in exchange for my honest review.

Series: Battle for the Afterlife - Books 1 - 3
Publisher: ArJean Publishing; 2 edition (February 20, 2014)
Publication Date: February 20, 2014
Genre: Fantasy | Science Fiction
Print Length: 256 pages
Available from: Amazon
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Clarice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reese is a highly trained Navy Seal who is good at what he does. He has the strength and the guts to do what it takes to get the job done. And it so happens, this job is going to Mexico and extracting a friend's daughter from a very dangerous cartel. In the process he is wounded and taken hostage. While being a prisoner, he meets the beautiful Kate. He is instantly drawn to her, almost like they have met before. But he would have remembered if they had. Unfortunately he and Kate are killed during the rescue mission and Reese finds himself in the Afterlife. Except this Afterlife is nothing like you would think. It's not angels and cherubs with harps, and rainbows in clouds. It's very much like Earth. It has a city with a wall surrounding it, and guess what? It comes complete with Lost Souls, or what we would think of as something like a zombie. They stay outside the city gates waiting for unsuspecting prey. Occasionally you will find one inside the city because they had recently turned into a Lost Soul. Lose your focus in this world, become complacent, and you're done for. Once you die in the Afterlife, there is nothing left of you. You don't get to go back to Earth reincarnated or anything. Despite having the ability to live forever, it's still a somewhat dangerous place at times with the Red and Blue factions against each other. The Blues take a more peaceful approach to things and help others during their earthly lives. The Reds are just the opposite. The most powerful of them were some very bad people when they were alive on Earth. And then there are the Greens who are neutral. They don't want to get caught in the middle of the fighting, should it happen.
This is the time when the Centennial happens during the Afterlife. Every one hundred years is a race between the Reds and the Blues, and everyone watches. If the Reds win again, there could be a tip in power and the truce between the two factions could be broken. Reese finds out that he is a Blue and a very powerful one at that. He will be a part of the small team participating in the Centennial. It's a dangerous business because one can die from the Reds, large beasts, or Lost Souls in this race. To make matters worse, Kate is in the race with him, and he must fight his instinct to continually keep her safe. This race is even more important than his feelings for her. The question is whether he could sacrifice her if it came down to it, so that the Reds won't win?



This was a very different outlook on the Afterlife. It was intriguing to thing that it's much like our lives here and now on Earth, but more dangerous in some ways because of the mighty beasts, Lost Souls, and the possibility of war between the Reds and the Blues. While it seems a bit cut and dried to have two factions that seem like one is obviously good while the other obviously bad, Davis does a good job of weaving a story more complicated than it seems. The farther you get into the book, the more you are able to see this. I thought it was a particularly nice touch adding the Lost Souls to the book. We would consider them to be zombies, but here they are lazy bums who lost their focus in the Afterlife and became complacent. Never bettering themselves, they turned into something awful. It is full of adventure, that's for sure.
The very beginning I felt was a bit rushed and not everything was clear, but much of it became clearer as I read more of the book. In fact, I felt like it became much more interesting once Reese entered the Afterlife. After all, that's where all of the major action went down. There were also quite a few grammatical errors. It just needs a little more polish for it to be a really good book!
I enjoyed how different this book was and hope to see more in CJ Davis's future novels!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

[Ange · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book, by the author in exchange for an honest review.

As a lover of fantasy I jumped at the chance to read this saga, especially after watching the book trailer and checking out the brilliant cover art for the 3 Acts. They drew me in like a moth to the flame.

In Act 1, Reese, champion boxer and ex-navy seal, tries to help a friend get their kidnapped daughter back from a Mexican drug cartel. He delivers the ransom and is jumped by the evil Hector and his Henchman, and finds him self a prisoner along with 3 others including his mate's daughter, a lovely nurse Kate and the helicopter pilot. Being the hero he is, Reese devizes a plan of escape...

In Act 2, Reese wakes up in the Afterlife, which he discovers is made up of 4 society's, the Reds (bad guys), Blues (good guys), Greens (neutrals) and Lost Souls (demented zombie-like souls). He discovers that he is actually a Blue warrior who has been through several life cycles to prepare him to win the Centennial to have control of the biggest and most pure galorim pool and to prevent an outright war between the Red's and Blue's. The tournament involves a race across the wild lands outside of the city walls, full of pre-historic wild beasts and other horrible creatures. Reese's training takes place and he gains extraordinary skills like super speed; he finds his dad and learns more about the history of the Afterlife.

In Act 3 the Red's start the Centennial tournament early which cuts off Reese's training. Reese enters the wild with his team mates Anna and Rajiv and they are hunted by a mob of Lost Souls who are being mind controlled by one of the Red's.... That is where Reese's journey, development and growth really begin. He and his team mates are tested along the way and discover much about themselves and their abilities.

This saga was fantastic! While reading the first Act I wasn't sure where the book was heading, but it really gave you a good look at Reese's nature. It was a great way to show his true colours and some of the other character's personalities too.
The second Act gave you a really good insight into the Afterlife. It was described so well I can still picture the city of Asgelot in my head. I also enjoyed Reese's training scenes.
The third Act was where all the excitement was for me. It was great following the Blue's journey, I felt like I was fighting along with them. The action scenes were very well written.

I loved how CJ has envisioned the Afterlife. The idea of it being a city that we return to after every life cycle is really nice. Then he added the turf war, lost souls,( souls that have lost their will to live), inseparables ( souls that find each other every life cycle because of the depth of their eternal love), and some awesome battles with God-like abilities... What is their not to like?!

A killer combination of fantasy, sci-fi, action and romance makes for a compelling read. I'm looking forward to the sequel, to see what the future holds for the Blue and Red's in the Afterlife.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Battle for the Afterlife is written by C.J. Davis, and is an action packed SciFi/Fantasy that took me to a little bit of everything. There's dinos, hovercrafts, war, zombies, Schwarzenegger-like action.
So first couple of chapters we meet Reese, off to Mexico to save his coach's daughter from a cartel drug lord. And then he dies. But that's not the end, folks! Reese awakens in the afterlife, to find out he's to compete in the Centennial, the ultimate televised obstacle course. He finds out he’s been dead and alive before, and is a warrior for the Blues. The Afterlife is split up into different types of people: Reds, Blues, Greens, and Lost Souls. There is a rivalry between the Reds and the Blues, and Reese must stop the inevitable war. Action ensues when Reese starts training for the Centennial and gets even more intense when it begins.
This book was a fun read that kept me wondering “what’s gonna happen next?” I had a hard time starting out, but when the main character dies (no spoilers...I mean, it’s a book with the word “afterlife” in the title), I felt the story picked up the pace, and it gets more exciting. I really enjoyed the world of the Afterlife, and it was never wanting for something new. You look one direction to see dinosaurs, another and see zombies, and up you see hovercrafts.
I also really enjoyed the unstability of the people of the Afterlife. A war is raging between colors, you’ve the possibility of becoming a Lost Soul….it’s not completely peaceful, and it’s an interesting take on the afterlife.
All in all, The Battle for the Afterlife started off shaky, but soon picked up. I highly enjoyed the ride and looking forward to more from C.J. Davis!

[Dave Edlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Davis has brought to life an intriguing story line in which souls enter an afterlife that is, in many ways, like their Earthly life--but there are some important differences. What is thankfully absent is the notion of heaven and hell. Reese and Kate are Inseparables--souls joined forever in true love. When we first meet Reese he is a Special Ops soldier fighting a drug kingpin for the release of Kate, who has been kidnapped. Since this is a story about the Afterlife, needless to say Reese and Kate soon end up in this kingdom... where they have lots to learn.

Much of this volume is introducing the reader to the workings of the Afterlife, especially the Centennial--a death race that pits two cultures against one another in a bid to maintain peace and avoid a widespread war.

At times the story felt a bit retro, with scenes including ancient temples and grand gardens, and the wild lands beyond the city walls infested with monstrous creatures including dinosaurs. It definitely caused my mind to drift to Conan Doyle and "The Lost World". Whether intentional or not, I liked this feel.

Throughout the beginning and middle, the pace never seemed to pickup and build momentum, instead moving along predictably. But Davis gives us a surprise and treat with a marvelous finale. The book brings sufficient closure, and yet is clearly a prelude to the next two volumes.

If you enjoy fantasy that borders on sci-fi, read "Battle for the Afterlife Saga, Blue Courage" for a refreshingly different story. This book is also suitable for young-adult readers.

[Jessica Nicole]

See this review and others like it in a more awesome format at Ramblings On Readings 

I am really striking out recently on my review requests. I am starting to understand why many bloggers don’t accept self-published books. That is certainly not to say there aren’t excellent self published books out there; I’ve read and reviewed a few that I’ve really enjoyed.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them.

I’m super bummed about this particular book, because the concept is very interesting. The main character, Reese, dies somewhere around the third chapter, and he immediately enters the afterlife, only, he doesn’t remember how he died (though the reader knows) or much of anything from his life on earth. The afterlife is made up of shiny, futuristic cities (our setting is called Asgelot) where power hungry clans fight for galorim, a mysterious substance that…apparently gives power? They drank it like it was water, with little side effect other than saying it was delicious, so I don’t really understand why they were fighting wars over it. Anyway, Reese finds out he’s a member of the Blue clan, a selfless group of heroes who did noble acts in their earthly lives, even though he can’t remember it. But apparently, he has to fight in this Centennial thing, which from what I could gather was some sort of race/fight hybrid? I’m not too clear on the details.



That was about as far as I got, sadly. Here are my issues with the book.

#1. We don’t know anything really about the characters, except the stereotypes of Reds (horrible, evil, kill puppies for fun people) and Blues (walk little old ladies across the street, jump in front of a bullet for a friend, feed the homeless, save the world types) and Greens (do they do anything? They were just kind of there). Reese doesn’t remember any of his past, so he’s an extremely boring character (he was mildly interesting in the first three chapters and then he died and became super boring). He just kind of does what people tell him, and he appears to say what he thinks people want to hear.

#2. As I mentioned in a previous paragraph, all of this hullaboo about wars and fighting in the afterlife is over the mysterious substance galorim. But…they literally drink it like they’ll never run out and they don’t get any perceived side effects. So what the crap are they fighting over it for?



#3. I felt that we should already be in this mysterious Centennial. Fights for survival, racing for power, trying to keep friends (and possibly soulmates? there's another part of the story that wasn't very well developed) alive...this would have been exciting, and more interesting. But at 52%, there was no end in sight to training for said Centennial and even more lack of character development.

#4. Because there was no character development, and the plot didn’t have a driving conflict over than ‘bad guys are bad’, I was rather bored.

Sigh. I hate that my “DNF” pile continues to grow.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blue Courage, Battle of the Afterlife is a fantasy book. We are introduced to Reese in a present day situation as he demonstrates his Navy seal training in a daring kidnap rescue from a Mexican drug cartel. It ends with his death and a leap to the afterlife where Reese arrives as a Noob (Newbie)

Here Reese is very naïve and trusting of all those around him, accepting all that he is told without question. We are introduced to groups within the afterlife and Reese discovers that he is destined to become a Centennial Warrior for the Blues in a contest of power and skill. He is taken to a healing chamber and then trained as a warrior with three others for a tournament.

When the Reds start the Centennial contest early the Blues must also head in to danger even though they may not be battle-ready. The contest is watched by other inhabitants of the afterlife on large screens and the story ends with a big power showdown and the promise of more battles to come in the second book of the series.

There are a lot of characters in this book and I would have liked the main characters to have been fleshed out more so that I engaged with them and they stood clearly out from the minor characters. There is a lot of back story to set the Afterlife scene and the Centennial battles and I would have liked to see more time spent on Reese, his feelings, his questions, his life.

Overall I felt there was room to tighten the writing style, and the copy I had needed another proofread.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give 4 or 5 stars for the premise, but this seems like the author came up with a fun, creative, exciting story, and did his or her best to finish this as soon as possible. The characters are not at all developed or examined enough to care about, the dialogue is juvenile, and everything is just so rushed that you never get lost in the story. I don't think I could get through the next book.

If this had been three times as long with good dialogue and character/world development it would of been great though, the premise really is that much fun.

[Joseph R Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit sappy.

It's like Twilight set in the afterlife. If that's the genre you like you'll probably love this book. It is a fun enough read, just not my cup of tea.