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Convergence #4
Recon
From New York Times bestselling author Craig Alanson comes book four in the Convergence series, melding action-packed urban fantasy with his signature humor.
Kaz Wolfe has everything he needs to prevent a Convergence that would allow gods and monsters from the Nether to invade our world. Everything, other than a single clue about what a Convergence is. Or how it works. Or how to stop it. To get answers, he might have to take a fun-filled family road trip to the last place he wants to the Netherworld.
Kaz Wolfe has everything he needs to prevent a Convergence that would allow gods and monsters from the Nether to invade our world. Everything, other than a single clue about what a Convergence is. Or how it works. Or how to stop it. To get answers, he might have to take a fun-filled family road trip to the last place he wants to the Netherworld.
566 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 21, 2024
171 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Craig Alanson
42 books4,255 followersIf you want to stay up to date on releases, receive promotion alerts and speak to me directly, please join my Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/Craig.Alanso...
My Bio:
Craig Alanson used to create financial reports for a large IT services company. Writing fiction at nights and on weekends, he finally independently published three novels on Amazon. Within 6 months of his first ebook release, he was able to quit his day job and pursue a full-time writing career.
The breakout success of Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force, Book 1) reached new heights when Podium Audio released it in audio format, narrated by Audie Award Winner R.C. Bray. The Columbus Day audiobook was a huge hit, and a finalist for an Audie Award as Audiobook of the Year.
The ExForce series, as it is known to fans, has gone on to 10 books/audiobooks, many of which have hit the NYT best-seller list, with a 11th book releasing June 2021 and 14 books planned.
Craig has also published a spin-off series, ExForce: Mavericks; an ExForce audio drama, Homefront; a fantasy trilogy, Ascendent; and a young adult space opera, Aces. Craig lives in Virginia with his wife, who loves him even though he perpetually refuses to clean the garage.
https://www.facebook.com/Craig.Alanso...
My Bio:
Craig Alanson used to create financial reports for a large IT services company. Writing fiction at nights and on weekends, he finally independently published three novels on Amazon. Within 6 months of his first ebook release, he was able to quit his day job and pursue a full-time writing career.
The breakout success of Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force, Book 1) reached new heights when Podium Audio released it in audio format, narrated by Audie Award Winner R.C. Bray. The Columbus Day audiobook was a huge hit, and a finalist for an Audie Award as Audiobook of the Year.
The ExForce series, as it is known to fans, has gone on to 10 books/audiobooks, many of which have hit the NYT best-seller list, with a 11th book releasing June 2021 and 14 books planned.
Craig has also published a spin-off series, ExForce: Mavericks; an ExForce audio drama, Homefront; a fantasy trilogy, Ascendent; and a young adult space opera, Aces. Craig lives in Virginia with his wife, who loves him even though he perpetually refuses to clean the garage.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
May 30, 2024
Enjoyable Read...BUT
I like this author...I'm a big fan of his Expeditionary series. He's clever, witty, develops very likeable characters with some great dialogue AND...he has a solid grasp of common sense and articulates it well, generating a good deal of humor.
However, his last 2 books -- this one and his latest from the Expeditionary series -- are an English language teacher's nightmare. Both are riddled by grammar and spelling mistakes that make them both hard to read and understand at times. The issues break the reading flow and disrupt in a bad way.
The author was usually pretty darn good and consistent with his writing mechanics previously. Now? Something has changed -- editors, AI, focus groups...whatever. Please fix. I'd recommend anything from both of his series...I won't be able to do that in the future if the spelling n grammar issues aren't addressed. It's that disruptful -- BTW, my GPA from HS was 1.1, so don't knock the mechanics of my note here.
I like this author...I'm a big fan of his Expeditionary series. He's clever, witty, develops very likeable characters with some great dialogue AND...he has a solid grasp of common sense and articulates it well, generating a good deal of humor.
However, his last 2 books -- this one and his latest from the Expeditionary series -- are an English language teacher's nightmare. Both are riddled by grammar and spelling mistakes that make them both hard to read and understand at times. The issues break the reading flow and disrupt in a bad way.
The author was usually pretty darn good and consistent with his writing mechanics previously. Now? Something has changed -- editors, AI, focus groups...whatever. Please fix. I'd recommend anything from both of his series...I won't be able to do that in the future if the spelling n grammar issues aren't addressed. It's that disruptful -- BTW, my GPA from HS was 1.1, so don't knock the mechanics of my note here.
September 30, 2024
all reviews in one place:
night mode reading
; skaitom nakties rezimu
Had to exchange one more Series September book for yet another Convergence series book by Craig Alanson. But this time it’s because the one originally selected, I have, apparently, already read and reviewed, somehow. So, I got to treat myself to “Recon”, fourth in the series.
My Opinion: This series have not yet subjected me to emotional rollercoaster of this scale. From hope, to doubt, to worry, to doom and gloom. To the dog almost dying twice. TWICE. The plot twisted so hard, I’m still reeling with the knowledge of what happened there. And I can’t even tell you about it, because it would spoil the entire series, and I’d rather you discover this yourself. Kaz feared Nether because of the local god hating him there, which was a very valid fear, as they soon found themselves in need of a way to kill one such god. Sacrifices had to be made. Knowing this, the way everyone got endangered, I still mostly cared about the poor dog, and that must tell you something about the people, or at least that the character situation didn’t improve. Either way, it was very good. I see some people complain about the text book quality, so just know that audiobook is amazing. Highly recommend.
A solid 5 out of 5.
Had to exchange one more Series September book for yet another Convergence series book by Craig Alanson. But this time it’s because the one originally selected, I have, apparently, already read and reviewed, somehow. So, I got to treat myself to “Recon”, fourth in the series.
My Opinion: This series have not yet subjected me to emotional rollercoaster of this scale. From hope, to doubt, to worry, to doom and gloom. To the dog almost dying twice. TWICE. The plot twisted so hard, I’m still reeling with the knowledge of what happened there. And I can’t even tell you about it, because it would spoil the entire series, and I’d rather you discover this yourself. Kaz feared Nether because of the local god hating him there, which was a very valid fear, as they soon found themselves in need of a way to kill one such god. Sacrifices had to be made. Knowing this, the way everyone got endangered, I still mostly cared about the poor dog, and that must tell you something about the people, or at least that the character situation didn’t improve. Either way, it was very good. I see some people complain about the text book quality, so just know that audiobook is amazing. Highly recommend.
A solid 5 out of 5.
August 31, 2025
Why did they have to do me like that with this book?! So many TEARS!!!!! And now I have to wait months for the next and maybe last book? This book has a lot more answers and story movement than the last three books but WHAT THE HECK.. my HEART 😭 So good!!!! And of course RC Bray is the best narrator ever ❤️
July 17, 2024
Hire a Copyeditor Please!
There are comprehension hurting typos on nearly every other page. I enjoyed the story, but this just isn’t acceptable. Please fix this.
There are comprehension hurting typos on nearly every other page. I enjoyed the story, but this just isn’t acceptable. Please fix this.
January 8, 2025
20+ NOTICEABLE ERRORS such as wrong words (face instead of fake, if instead of it, etc), duplicate words and grammatical errors throughout this book.
Other than the non-existent proofreading, 4 stars. Not sure what happened with the proofreading, but the constant errors kept pulling me out of the story.
Other than the non-existent proofreading, 4 stars. Not sure what happened with the proofreading, but the constant errors kept pulling me out of the story.
May 27, 2024
I liked the book. I will buy book five when they release it. I'm just a little disappointed in the pacing and the character development. Perhaps I'm a bit impatient, but I would think an adult mage would know more of their craft by four books into the story--sadly, no. Additionally, the main story arc didn't advance as much as I'd like. It did advance some. I would not recommend skipping this book. One of my least favorite things happens at the end--a cliff hanger. It's a decent book and an OK series, so far.
May 28, 2024
I guess these guys didn't have internet or there were on search engines, or their entire party is filled with dumbasses. Nobody even tried searching Marduk.
July 1, 2024
Fun fun fun
June 5, 2024
This book grew on me. I thought it would be the last in the series, but I don't think it is. It seemed tedious at the start, but then I found I couldn't put it down. When I ended I wanted more. And that's the sign of a good story.
We had to lose a character or two in this one, we'd gone too long without that. I appreciated the humility of Kaz this time; he wasn't self-deprecating in a ridiculous way. He knows what he can do, he knows what he can't. He's honest about his motivations and he listens to reason when he's being ridiculous. That made the whole thing so much more authentic.
Bit of a shocker for the ending, it was abrupt and talk about a cliffhanger. No idea what's gonna happen next. But I'm sure RC Bray will make it worth the wait.
We had to lose a character or two in this one, we'd gone too long without that. I appreciated the humility of Kaz this time; he wasn't self-deprecating in a ridiculous way. He knows what he can do, he knows what he can't. He's honest about his motivations and he listens to reason when he's being ridiculous. That made the whole thing so much more authentic.
Bit of a shocker for the ending, it was abrupt and talk about a cliffhanger. No idea what's gonna happen next. But I'm sure RC Bray will make it worth the wait.
June 21, 2024
Could’ve been a good book, but the absolute 1st draft quality of the writing makes it a loser. Literally from the first page, there are missing words, wrong words, and missing punctuation. Later on, there’s a section of the book where the errors got so bad and frequent that it was actually hard to tell what was happening, and there were several major continuity errors in this section as well, like it was added on later or written by someone else and pasted in.
I’ve seen erotic fan fiction with better writing and editing than this.
What happened? Was there a major deadline? Generate the book using free AI? Who knows? All I know is, the quality of this series dropped to zero in this episode.
I’ve seen erotic fan fiction with better writing and editing than this.
What happened? Was there a major deadline? Generate the book using free AI? Who knows? All I know is, the quality of this series dropped to zero in this episode.
July 13, 2024
Enjoyable with plenty of imagination shown by the Author
Lots of spelling and grammatical errors, eg he hoped on the bed, it this sun here, when he was frail and undersized when he was born. For some this is really important and you can see it in their reviews. I include (some as above to show what I mean) there are loads. Deal breaker? Too annoying? More annoying for me was the random yellow highlighted text areas found after turning a page. Not mine as I couldn’t remove/turn them off. I found that distracting, as in “why is that text highlighted? breaking my attention from the storyline”
So in short, good story, I’ve given it 5 stars and where in this world or the Never are we going next?
And hire a copy/proof reader the book does need some attention!
Lots of spelling and grammatical errors, eg he hoped on the bed, it this sun here, when he was frail and undersized when he was born. For some this is really important and you can see it in their reviews. I include (some as above to show what I mean) there are loads. Deal breaker? Too annoying? More annoying for me was the random yellow highlighted text areas found after turning a page. Not mine as I couldn’t remove/turn them off. I found that distracting, as in “why is that text highlighted? breaking my attention from the storyline”
So in short, good story, I’ve given it 5 stars and where in this world or the Never are we going next?
And hire a copy/proof reader the book does need some attention!
July 6, 2024
The book picks up right where book 3 left off. It is full of adventure, shock reveals, unexpected complications, and humor. The team of convergence preventers also faces their first major loss. My only complaint is the number of times the same conversations seem to happen. Some of the repetition helps with recalling what happened in earlier books, but other times it feels like the author expects us to forget what happened three pages earlier. Looking forward to what the team will do next in book 5.
July 8, 2024
Dogs, cats, snipers, gods, what doesn't this book have?
Craig Alanson, known for his modern time military /Sci Fi writing, gets to try his hand at a little bit of fantasy for once.
How does one stop a convergence? How does one survive and an area that's completely controlled by the enemy? These are things they're going to have to find out as the appropriately named book, Recon, unfolds.
Craig Alanson, known for his modern time military /Sci Fi writing, gets to try his hand at a little bit of fantasy for once.
How does one stop a convergence? How does one survive and an area that's completely controlled by the enemy? These are things they're going to have to find out as the appropriately named book, Recon, unfolds.
March 9, 2025
excellent storytelling
Really enjoyed this book, it had been a while so I had to refresh my mind on the characters. It’s not like I had Skippy to help me. I have grown to like the series as it has developed. I encourage readers to read the previous books in the series prior to reading this one.
Really enjoyed this book, it had been a while so I had to refresh my mind on the characters. It’s not like I had Skippy to help me. I have grown to like the series as it has developed. I encourage readers to read the previous books in the series prior to reading this one.
July 1, 2024
Good story but hire an editor!
Very good continuance of the story. Thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters and series development. However, significant and serious spelling, contextual and grammatical errors. Had to continuously try to figure out what the author meant not what was written on the page. Please hire a proofreader!
Very good continuance of the story. Thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters and series development. However, significant and serious spelling, contextual and grammatical errors. Had to continuously try to figure out what the author meant not what was written on the page. Please hire a proofreader!
May 29, 2024
What can I say about Craig Alanson's Convergence series. This was not all action, but saw young Kaz grow in his abilities. The whole team really grow and have some tough times. I cannot wait for the next booknin the series.
June 1, 2024
The book started off very slow. It took maybe 1/3 of the book to actually settle into a decent cadence of conversation and action. Usually, Duke has me laughing throughout the book. It just didn’t happen this time. Looking forward to book 5.
June 3, 2024
Fire Your Editor!
The story is still engaging enough to keep me interested, but the grammatical and punctuation mistakes are the worst I've ever seen. Hopefully the next one is better proofed.
The story is still engaging enough to keep me interested, but the grammatical and punctuation mistakes are the worst I've ever seen. Hopefully the next one is better proofed.
June 17, 2024
Very good read
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action and a different magic system.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes LitRPG and progression type of books with lots of action and a different magic system.
September 1, 2024
Craig's done better
It was good for a long drive but definitely not the best in the series. I really wish there was an audio book way to skip the predictable setup to every conversation with Azib. And thank you for the latest development of Macarius' character arc.
It was good for a long drive but definitely not the best in the series. I really wish there was an audio book way to skip the predictable setup to every conversation with Azib. And thank you for the latest development of Macarius' character arc.
May 26, 2024
Cliffhanger
Lots of suspense toward the end of the book. Loss of one of the characters was sad. Hopefully a resurrection in the future.
Lots of suspense toward the end of the book. Loss of one of the characters was sad. Hopefully a resurrection in the future.
June 2, 2024
The nether-world battle was SO good! Love all the quirky characters and banter. Plus an ogre named Kevin? Say no more.
June 15, 2025
The review is for the whole series since it's not an episodic storytelling but rather one big story. Nevertheless, here are my separate rating for the first 4 books:
1. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. ⭐⭐⭐
3. ⭐⭐
4. ⭐⭐
More details:
GOOD
In general, the story is interesting and makes you keep reading. The main character is likable and the rest of the team is colorful and engaging. Additionally, sidekicks—a talking dog, cat, and jinni—are fun. At least in the beginning. Hence, the highest rating of the first book. It keeps you reading despite further listed negatives.
BAD
Jokes, snarks, and whining of the talking animals and jinni become stale pretty fast. They are fun in the first book, then tolerable in the second, but they just blatantly annoy in the third and make you want to completely stop reading in the fourth book. And they never change. It's constant recycling of annoying pets' talks about food and desire to eat. Again, and again. It's just too much and becomes extremely annoying and not funny anymore.
The story develops too slowly. Craig Alanson, apparently, is more interested in writing about talking animals and recycling their food demands than developing the story. It looks like the author is fighting procrastination: he throws in anything possible—mostly in the form of stale recycled food jokes, bickering, snark comments, and useless conversations—just not to move the story further. A 20-minute episode of the Rick and Morty show has more story than all 4 books in this series.
As a result, if we cut out most of the annoying interruptions by useless bickering about food that doesn't move a needle, the four books could be neatly packed into one proper book.
I'm not sure I'll read the next book. I already can't stand these animals with their constant whining about food.
1. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. ⭐⭐⭐
3. ⭐⭐
4. ⭐⭐
More details:
GOOD
In general, the story is interesting and makes you keep reading. The main character is likable and the rest of the team is colorful and engaging. Additionally, sidekicks—a talking dog, cat, and jinni—are fun. At least in the beginning. Hence, the highest rating of the first book. It keeps you reading despite further listed negatives.
BAD
Jokes, snarks, and whining of the talking animals and jinni become stale pretty fast. They are fun in the first book, then tolerable in the second, but they just blatantly annoy in the third and make you want to completely stop reading in the fourth book. And they never change. It's constant recycling of annoying pets' talks about food and desire to eat. Again, and again. It's just too much and becomes extremely annoying and not funny anymore.
The story develops too slowly. Craig Alanson, apparently, is more interested in writing about talking animals and recycling their food demands than developing the story. It looks like the author is fighting procrastination: he throws in anything possible—mostly in the form of stale recycled food jokes, bickering, snark comments, and useless conversations—just not to move the story further. A 20-minute episode of the Rick and Morty show has more story than all 4 books in this series.
As a result, if we cut out most of the annoying interruptions by useless bickering about food that doesn't move a needle, the four books could be neatly packed into one proper book.
I'm not sure I'll read the next book. I already can't stand these animals with their constant whining about food.
July 9, 2024
This is a review of book 4, if you have not read any of the first three, this is not where you start. You need to go back and start with book 1. This is not a story of the week, its a continuous story from book 1 on.
If you read books 1-3 and want to know if 4 is good then yes of course its good! What the heck is wrong with you even questioning if you should read book 4, you should have pre-ordered it the moment the pre-order option became an option. I read this the day it came out, now I have to wait for the next book which sucks to have to wait but I got to read this one the day it came out!
I am not into fantasy, I have not read any of the big fantasy series that people who like fantasy books have read. Normally the moment there is an orc or a gollum I am out of there. So to those of you who have read the expeditionary force series and are like me, not into fantasy at all. I can tell you that you will not care. This is an excellent series. If you like good characters and Craig Alansons writing you will love this in spite of the fact that its fantasy. It eases into the fantasy stuff and its not some Lord of the Rings ripoff like to much out there seems to be. Its just rollicking good fun!
If you read books 1-3 and want to know if 4 is good then yes of course its good! What the heck is wrong with you even questioning if you should read book 4, you should have pre-ordered it the moment the pre-order option became an option. I read this the day it came out, now I have to wait for the next book which sucks to have to wait but I got to read this one the day it came out!
I am not into fantasy, I have not read any of the big fantasy series that people who like fantasy books have read. Normally the moment there is an orc or a gollum I am out of there. So to those of you who have read the expeditionary force series and are like me, not into fantasy at all. I can tell you that you will not care. This is an excellent series. If you like good characters and Craig Alansons writing you will love this in spite of the fact that its fantasy. It eases into the fantasy stuff and its not some Lord of the Rings ripoff like to much out there seems to be. Its just rollicking good fun!
September 30, 2024
This is a fun series. Good but not great. There are a lot of parallel personalities to those in the Expeditionary Forces series. However, the characters in this series are not as likable and I would rather be dealing with technology than magic.
Bottom line, this series remains fun and humourous enough to round it up to 4 stars but falls short of the 4-star ratings earned by the Expeditionary Force.
Bottom line, this series remains fun and humourous enough to round it up to 4 stars but falls short of the 4-star ratings earned by the Expeditionary Force.
May 29, 2024
PG-13 L
The latest installment in the Convergence series continues to impress. I can't get enough of the witty banter and pop culture references. All women should watch Hallmark movies while cleaning their guns and sharpening their swords, right? The cat and dog continue to amuse me but also provide many thought-provoking insights into human nature. I'm looking forward to more!
The latest installment in the Convergence series continues to impress. I can't get enough of the witty banter and pop culture references. All women should watch Hallmark movies while cleaning their guns and sharpening their swords, right? The cat and dog continue to amuse me but also provide many thought-provoking insights into human nature. I'm looking forward to more!
June 6, 2024
I hope you like Duke, as this story is very Duke centric. It's another good continuation of the story and boy do things happen. The Duke anecdotes somewhat overshadow the stories of the other characters but as I said, it's a good continuation. Very much enjoyed this, very much awaiting the next book.
August 10, 2025
excellent series so far, but…
I love this series.
I promise I’m not the grammar nazi, but the mistakes in this particular book were enough to drive me crazy.
I’m sure it was written in haste, please go back & fix it….
Now I’m off to read book 5… even if it has a gazillion errors. No one is perfect.
I love this series.
I promise I’m not the grammar nazi, but the mistakes in this particular book were enough to drive me crazy.
I’m sure it was written in haste, please go back & fix it….
Now I’m off to read book 5… even if it has a gazillion errors. No one is perfect.
November 12, 2025
another great read
Like I said, great read. Nothing particularly surprising mind you. Just a logical continuance of the story, perfect for the longer winter evenings. Hope that doesn’t sound bad? Predictability can be good. Hopefully the next installment will have more action and a few surprises 😎
Like I said, great read. Nothing particularly surprising mind you. Just a logical continuance of the story, perfect for the longer winter evenings. Hope that doesn’t sound bad? Predictability can be good. Hopefully the next installment will have more action and a few surprises 😎
May 31, 2024
book 4
Entertaining read overall. Enjoyed the Barney & Princess Donut references! Starts slow but then gets going about 100 pages in. Really looking forward to the next book!
Entertaining read overall. Enjoyed the Barney & Princess Donut references! Starts slow but then gets going about 100 pages in. Really looking forward to the next book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews