Ageless

by Jeanne M. Haskin

Before 2020, no one dared to attack democracy directly from the inside, but OWL, the invisible one-world government, has plans for America. If it can install its presidential candidate, along with enzymatic control, a poisoned food supply, and enslavement to toxic cures, it will rule the U.S. efficiently.


Standing in its way are five of OWL’s top Russian operatives. Foul-mouthed and funny, they were birthed by Creation before there were gods or Creators. As warrior-born of the Ageless, Jihanna, Toro, Andrei, Juran, and Kirov defect simultaneously. To deprive OWL of hostages, they attempt to extract the gifted children undergoing hostile conditioning. Then they recruit rebels from The Morgue, slum-cities of the desperate, ruled by The Undertaker. Their objective is to overthrow OWL in Russia and wherever it may spread.


Unfortunately, the face of their enemy is Dr. Rudolph Flange, Jihanna’s former handler. When Flange launches the Apocalypse as a self-fulfilling prophecy, America joins the battle—and not on the side of the rebels.

ebook

First published July 15, 2013

Reviews

[Crash Froelich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creation is more than the eye beholds or the mind comprehends. In the gamut from the quantum to the cosmic, human understanding is an infinitesimal interstice, a mere sliver of knowledge which leaves the workings of the Universe largely unknown. And the unknown can touch people in devastating ways.

Ageless peers beyond the mortal horizon, opening the door to comprehension of that which has been called magic or myth. An orphaned girl with the potential to unravel the greater meaning of existence is manipulated, tortured, abused, and forced to kill. Worst of all, she’s coerced into formulating the means of reducing the entire human race to a state of abject slavery, a bondage as inescapable as one’s own biological processes. It’s possible for a runaway to defeat chains, flee pursuing hounds, and disappear into the places unfit for civilization. It’s impossible to elude the inexorable death of a body turned against itself.

The girl finds a way to free herself, with the help of fellow warriors who have already realized their potential and can help her nurture her own power. This band of Ageless, immortals who exist unseen in the mists at the fringes of reality, must find the means to defeat the One World League and their misanthropic drive to dominate all of mankind for their own benefit. Otherwise, life with freedom of thought and self-determination will cease to exist. They have the power and the determination, but will it be enough?

Ageless blends existential horror, fatalistic humor, cutting-edge science, and a compelling conflict that moves with urgent grace. And in these times of over-reaching government and cronyism, something more – a warning. Read it and you will know.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

[Jeanne Haskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Ageless, Jihanna Karapova faces the world that evolved by the year 2020. Bankrupt governments, forced to downsize militarily, resort to population control via slavery and disease. One the one hand, cloning and biogenetics poison the food supply. On the other, modern medicine provides cures that are worse. Shackled to low-paying jobs, lest they lose access to “live-saving” drugs, the drudges and the mudders—the former uneducated, the latter interracial—are left without choices or hope. Girls who show promise, like Jihanna, are raised by surrogate keepers to be sold to handlers of OWL, the invisible one-world government. Boys with advanced reflexes become OWL’s executioners.

Conditioned by non-sexual abuse and rewarded with the power to kill, Jihanna becomes the world’s only tech-mage. Trying to hide CHLOIE—a chemical hybrid of self-energized intelligence who can access information from any conceivable source, Jihanna designs a terrible trade-off—altered human enzymes that behave as “thought police” and can kill their human hosts.

Then Jihanna has no choice but to weaponize CHLOIE in a bid to overthrow OWL in Russia, with help from four of OWL’s top operatives. Almost too late, they learn that Jihanna’s handler has launched the Apocalypse via self-fulfilling prophesy. To gain absolution and remove the mark of the Beast, Jihanna must turn to death magic—and a terrible sacrifice.

--Editorial Review

[C.N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ageless is one of the rare books that are truly different, like a breath of fresh air sweeping away cobwebs and vitalizing everything in its wake. This story takes the urban fantasy genre and gives it a refreshing make-over. Vampires and Weres? Oh but these ones are different. What is more, there is a well-thought reasoning behind their existence. Civilization threatened? Yes, but like never before. The scientific research that has gone into the concept is mind blowing.

The story follows the course of heroine Jihanna’s coming into power as a tech mage, something that has never been encountered before and something that happened as a result of unspeakable torture. In escaping from her tormentor, Jihanna joins up with a group of independent warriors, already the masters of their own powers, and now she must evade the clutches of an evil government. She must find a way to fight back, for if she does not, the world will end.

[D.A. Cairns · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this fantasy of truly mind blowing proportions, the author has created a world of extraordinary imagination. So extraordinary that I couldn't really get me head around it. The story is fast paced and filled with some wonderful and powerful language.The characters strong:good guys and bad guys. The bad very bad. The images shocking, the plot intricate. A good read but not one which engaged me emotionally, and as I said I was lost at times.