Indefatigable

The Push Chronicles #2

by J.B. Garner

Three months ago, the Whiteout changed the very nature of reality across the globe, spawning in its wake superhuman beings, both good and evil. For every day since then, Irene Roman, armed only with a strange immunity from the powers of the 'Pushed', has donned the guise of Indomitable to try to reverse that change and protect the normal people from the worst excesses of the Pushed. She may never have wanted to be a hero, but she had no choice in the mater. Unfortunately, Irene is still only mortal. Her never-ending duties have pushed her to a breaking point. Now, what began as a simple kidnapping investigation catalyzes overnight into the worst threat the city of Atlanta has had to face. An unholy plague, old enemies, and new challenges are coincide at once, landing squarely on Indomitable's shoulders, despite the help of her small cadre of allies. How much burden can any one person carry and how much strain can she take? Will Irene crumble or will she prove to be indefatigable? Indefatigable is the second novel of The Push Chronicles. This tale of an altered Earth will conclude with Incorruptible, coming in 2015.

158 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2014

About the author

Talented top flight author and editor Jamie Beth "J. B." Garner has written over twenty novels across multiple genres and edited hundreds more. J.B.’s seen and done many things in her life, from honors student to factory worker to garbage collector to construction worker. In addition to doing so many fascinating things, she's lived in the wonderful cities of Baltimore, Atlanta, and Pensacola, before landing in the beautiful city of Chicago.

She's an avid gamer, particularly Pathfinder and Final Fantasy XIV, an enjoyer of comic books, anime, and movies of all stripes. She guests, exhibits, and panels at cons across the U.S., large and small, fueled by a love of fandoms and the desire to connect with readers and fans. Through it all, her true passion has always been the written word.

She writes fantasy, sci-fi, and pro-wrestling epics, among other things, and is always out to entertain and amaze.

Reviews

[David Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can honestly say I enjoyed this one more than the first. The first book was a clear-cut good vs bad tale whereas this book has more to it…some motives aren’t 100% clear at first which made it more interesting.

After the events of the previous book Irene and her friends are still tackling their fair share of Push crooks.

Epic is still around but has cleaned up his act a little..although he still believes he should rule he’s helping protect the people from the Push crooks too, although him and Irene have very different views and their teams try to stay clear of each other.

In this tale an old enemy resurfaces and starts to wreak havoc and Irene/Indomitable has to do everything within her power to find out who is behind things and what the ultimate end goal is.

Indomitable isn’t like the Pushed and with the constant workload she’s running on empty..pushing herself to the limit and at times you think she’s one step away from collapsing. The first book was a fight of good vs evil, in this book I feel the fight was more an internal one for Irene.

The plot builds nicely on the first book in the series and it definitely felt stronger, I enjoyed it more. What made the story even better was the addition of the Argent Archer character, he’s one of Epic’s crusaders sent to help Indomitable in her time of need.

There’s a few decent twists in this tale that keep you engaged and we get a lovely cliff-hanger ending that has me itching to follow this one up quickly.

At 167 pages it’s a short and fast paced book. It’s easy to follow and suitable for YA and big kids alike.

My thanks go to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[J.A. Cipriano · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good:

You can really tell the author “leveled” up his writing in between Indefatigable and Indomitable. The writing is much tighter, and well, crisper. Imagine biting into a really crisp apple after eating that one that has been sitting at the bottom of your lunch box for a week. It’s like that.

I also have to say, I enjoyed the new hero, Argent Archer, a lot. He was probably my favorite character in the book by a huge margin.

I like how Irene, the main character, suffers with the idea of taking a ton of pain killers. It made me think of how Batman must go home after getting his ass handed to him and swallow a handful of Vicodin.

The ending, and by which I mean the last 2 chapters of the book, are simply outstanding. It almost made me want to throw the book at the author through my phone because I was like “that’s it?” I need the next one, like right now…

The Bad:

The book suffers from being “just another day in the life of” book. Imagine you’re a super hero, you fight bad guys. That’s what you do, and therefore, it comes as no surprise that’s what Irene and her merry band of adventurers do in this book. I felt like I missed the sense of coolness coming from the first book.

I also really didn’t enjoy the vampires as villains. I feel like in a world where you have an essentially infinite amount of cool bad guys, that it was a cop out. I want to see Irene battling people with cool powers, and figuring out how to beat them. Everyone kills vampires. Don’t be everyone when you have infinite possibilities.

That was the other issue; there were no really cool super battles in this one. No awesome powered villains. I want awesome powers, and adamantium claws! The first book did a really good job with that, but this one… not so much.

The Ugly:

Seriously? The “main” vampire was one of the worst things about the book. I get the idea, I get it, really. But I didn’t like it. I “barely” liked Ian as a bad guy. I felt like both main villains were people the author really wanted to use as villains… and they just weren’t up to snuff.

Spoilers after this line:

If Ian had a super thing like he did to bend reality, why didn’t he just lock Epic in the phantom zone. For serious? Also, if Epic knows that Ian has to be in the area… why doesn’t he just LEVEL the next square mile or something, clearly it was something he thought about doing… Or you know, throw the vamp into the goddamn sun… No one uses the sun enough… and now I’m rambling.

Spoilers end:

The Verdict:

I gave this one four (4) stars solely because of the last two chapters. Before that it was a three star book. It didn’t have the passion of the first book, the sense of wonder, but the writing quality is WAY better.

[Jaffa Kintigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The urban fantasy series with the heart, soul and humor of a self-aware comic book continues here after its impressive start with Indomitable . Wishes became reality under the warped plan of an unsure, mad scientist in the series opener. At his mind's bidding, superheroes and supervillians burst onto the scene. The eternal battle between good and evil was to be led unquestionably by neo-God, Epic--the former professor/mad scientist. Protagonist, ex-girlfriend Dr. Irene Roman leads the charge in countering the comic-inspired madness. She's one of the few that can see through the new reality to the old one. She's accompanied by a ragtag band of loyal new superheroes that don't necessarily agree that everything new, including their powers, is bad.

Another unaffected person takes center stage here, but his methods are too extreme for Irene and he either wants her help or her death. This new mega-foe has lost his moral compass as he coaxes corpses into zombie-like vampires to help bring down the superheroes.

Irene must decide whether everything about the new reality is bad, or if something redeemable lies therein. It's this internal struggle that makes the series. That, and its sheer sense of fun. The series is recommended.

I received my copy of this novel directly from the author through bookreviewdirectory.wordpress.com.

[Michelle Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review - Indefatigable - J.B.Garner - 4 of 5 stars Book 2 of the Push Chronicles showed an improvement on book 1. The first action scene was easier for me to follow and I enjoyed it. Garner had slowed things down and better described the scene. However, when more characters were involved in later battles, I lost focus again and had to skip chunks. It also came unstuck for me when there were things that went beyond the physical and once more dealt with issues a true superhero fan would have latched on to. eg. "We need a constant unbroken field." "Ah," the Indian psychic intoned. "Yes, I will make it happen." "Zounds, now I grasp yon intellect," ... I felt like sticking my hand in the air and saying, "Um, excuse me ... er... I don't! Can someone... um..."Garner goes further here and takes the occasion to venture deeper in to the soul of humanity, starting to delve in to what we are and the reasons why we mostly fail to become who we could really be. While it is possible to opine that action is better suited to the drawing board, ventures of the soul definitely carry more weight when executed by a more traditional press, and Garner doesn't waste the opportunity to use the written word.Yes, there were still a very few grammatical/spelling errors and odd words which were out of place, but that is nothing to be ashamed of and only provided the very occasional jar; certainly not enough to spoil the enjoyment of the book. This is definitely a more solid four star than its predecessor.

[David Key · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read my review of Indomitable, you'll have a good idea of what I have to say about Indefatigable. In short, Mr. Garner continues to leave me wanting more, and I am invested enough in the story and characters that I want to follow it through to the end.

This book builds on the mythology of the first one, adding some interesting twists and turns and continues to keep me on the edge of my seat.