The Plague Forge

Dire Earth Cycle #3

by Jason M. Hough

After discovering the first key in the wreckage of a crashed Builder ship, Skyler Luiken and his crew follow the migrating aura towers in search of the four remaining relics. But time is running the team learn that the next Builder event will be the last, and one of the objects has already fallen into dangerous hands... Will the survivors finally reveal the Builders' plan?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Audiobook, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy, Aliens

450 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Jason M. Hough (pronounced 'Huff') is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dire Earth Cycle and the near-future spy thriller Zero World. In a former life he was a 3D artist, animator, and game designer (Metal Fatigue, Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction, and many others). He has also worked in the fields of high-performance cluster computing and machine learning.

The Darwin Elevator began life in 2008 as a project for National Novel Writing Month.  The book released on July 30th, 2013 and reached the New York Times Bestseller list the following week. Darwin was Jason’s first published fiction. The subsequent books in that trilogy were released that same summer, along with a prequel novella, The Dire Earth, in 2014.

Jason's latest novel, Zero World, released on August 18th, 2015 from Del Rey Spectra (US) and Titan Books (AUS/NZ). Publishers Weekly called it “a thrilling action rampage that confirms Hough as an important new voice in genre fiction.”

He lives near Seattle, Washington with his wife, two young sons, and a dog named Missbuster.

Reviews

[Experiment BL626 · Rating 1 out of 5]

It sucked. Horribly.

+ the writing

The writing didn't improve an inch. It remained excessively detailed. I swear, if a character went to the restroom to take a dump, the scene would have lasted FIVE full pages. Then, in the next chapter the character would still be shitting and it wouldn't be because of constipation. It didn't matter if there was action, which the book had a lot, the pace moved like molasses. I had less patience for book 3 than for book 2 so I skimmed more. I skimmed a lot. You know it's a bad book when you're skimming the action scenes.

+ the characters

I ceased caring for Skyler. He did improve from book 1. He did less angsting and more doing. Nevertheless, the character growth was nowhere enough for me to give a fuck whether the protag lived or died.

Tania, the second protag, improved a lot from the annoying-as-fuck damsel in distress she was in book 1. However, she regressed a bunch in book 3 by obsessing over Skyler. It was annoying enough to watch unrequited love from Skyler's side towards Tania, it was doubly annoying to watch it from Tania's side towards Skyler. The non-communication suffocated me.

Add in Ana, Skyler's current girlfriend, and a stinky love triangle exploded in my face. I felt bad for Ana because she loved Skyler but Skyler didn't love her as much, not as much as he secretly loved Tania. Honestly, the only reason I believe the two women loved Skyler was because he was the hero of the story and it's standard for heroes to have more than one love interest. In other words, the romance was forced and superficial.

The love triangle grated on my nerves. Tania and Ana seemed to be defined by their love for Skyler. At least with Tania, she was a protag of her own and had a life outside of Skyler. Though Ana was promoted from a minor character in book 2 to a major character in book 3, she existed solely as Skyler's sidekick. Without Skyler, she would have faded completely to the background. Thankfully, relief came in the middle of the big book when shit was so important that they couldn't afford the luxury of even a minute to obsess over Skyler. It was also depressing that it took that long and that much.

Samantha, the one major female character who wasn't a love interest of Skyler's, ceased to be my favorite character. I still liked her, which is hugely more than I feel for Skyler, but she wasn't doing anything that I thought was important shit. All she did was run, hide, and fight. It was pretty entertaining in book 1. But as the series progressed, it became boring. She didn't really serve a big role except to be one of the good guys for Skyler to save.

As for the villains, one of them disappointed me greatly. Blackfield broke character by performing a heroic act. After all that animosity and fighting against our good guys, suddenly he decided to help them towards the end because of, ew, altruism? No. I didn't buy it. I didn't buy the reason given that Blackfield was "varying the pattern," his motto of acting unpredictably to win. There's a thick line between acting unpredictably and acting altruistically, forgetting the fact that you're a despicable villain. What he should have done was backstab our good guys and survive like the cockroach of a person that he was.

As for Grillo, the other villain, he frustrated me, but it was in the sense that he was a great villain and he was kicking our good guys' ass. He didn't disappoint me as it was the good guys who disappointed me because they couldn't match him in war. What few victories the good guys gained were by luck in my opinion.

+ the ending

The ending was the worst offender of the book and overall, the series. It was rushed. It had dei ex machina. To add insult to injury, the epilogue was a letter addressed to the reader, telling the reader everything in one fat infodump. By everything, I mean all the things the book withheld from the reader. The reader learned about the reasons behind the apocalypse on Earth, the apocalypse in a galactic empire, the aliens' mission, and the characters' next adventure. The epilogue revealed the entire series as a prelude to the real story where the characters will fight supposedly evil aliens in a galactic war. A FUCKING PRELUDE. Why the fuck was this series not that story?

My feelings were confirmed in a Goodreads review which said that this trilogy was the first of three trilogies. *facepalm* I doubt that will happen if I have learned anything about series, sales, and publishers.

Conclusion

I rate The Plague Forge 1-star for I didn't like it. My only consolation was that I skimmed and the books were free courtesy of the very nice publisher humoring my requests. This series was essentially an unnecessarily expanded-to-the-extreme version of those prequel short stories you often see in Young Adult series.

If you read book 1 and didn't care for it but have a compulsion like me to know what happen at the "end," read book 3's epilogue. It's the only chapter that matters.

---
Review of book 1: The Darwin Elevator
Review of book 2: The Exodus Towers

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the thing about the entire series:

If you've ever been a fan of sci-fi movies or video games, the pacing and plot development will be very familiar to you.

In the hands of a writer like Neal Stephenson, this material would have been a million-word saga. And that's okay - he does that really well.

Jason Hough writes the whole thing in damn near-teleplay format - he knows how to write visually, how to set up light and sound and does it all with text. Pretty slick.

I found some of his characterization a bit...stock. Sometimes predictable. But fun.

Kinda wish he and Whedon would get together and do it as a miniseries. Alan Tudyk could play Blackfield and well...

No spoilers, I suppose.

Fun stuff. Enjoyed reading all three.

EDIT:

Okay. I'm dropping a star. I confess that everything in the above is true….but he shanked the ending. I mean, really shanked it. I'm not griping because I didn't *like* the content of the ending - I did, entirely.

What I don't like is that Hough clearly gave up. There was definite call for a fourth book. Instead, he wrapped everything up in an epilogue and asked the reader to take…well…pretty much every major plot point on faith. It was….disappointing.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am shocked, overwhelmed, reeling and feeling completely bereft that it is over. Suspense, tension, violence, non-stop action, plot twists and turns, Jason M. Hough puts us through the ride of a life time in the final Dire Earth Cycle book.

After discovering and removing a highly guarded key in the Builder ship, the power and players in this story quickly discover two things. One, that they are tied to the space elevators and Two, they are connected to the new ship that has just arrived. The race is on to obtain the keys and place them in the newest Builder ship. The clock is counting down to the arrival of the final Builder event.

The Plague Forge is an epic science fiction story. This is the kind of story you rethink in your mind, it flows into your dreams and the impact stays with you. Each and every characters' plight completely sucked me in. The writing style made you feel like it was your world you were watching battle for survival. Hough's even makes you feel sympathy for characters you would otherwise write off as evil. Keeping me on the edge of my seat till the very last word, I was utterly glued to the pages. Brilliant writing! The Plague Forge is being added as a wonderful addition to my favorite books of all time shelf.

I received this ARC copy of The Plague Forge from Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra in exhcange for an honest review. This book is set for publication September 27, 2013.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book of the Dire Earth Cycle, The Exodus Towers, ended with a slow, tense burn that continues into The Plague Forge. Skyler Luiken, the main character, now shares the spotlight with Tania Sharma and Samantha Rinn and all are on separate missions to retrieve the last three alien artifacts to complete the puzzle on the alien “Builders” Key Ship. Tania and Skyler’s teams deal with the ever present threat of subhumans and the SUBS disease, while Samantha, within Darwin, must steal the blue artifact from the cold and deadly Grillo and his Jacobites.

Initially, I appreciated the way the Jacobites, a cult based on Jacob’s Ladder, were unobtrusively incorporated into the story. I’m not fond of religious cults as authors often allow them to take up a lot of the plot with preaching and indoctrination. In the previous book, they did play a prominent role, which continued here as the official Big BadTM, but Hough did not bog the story down with their zealotry. The Jacobites and their leader, Grillo, existed as our heroes’ foil, and, while they did attempt to indoctrinate a few people here and there, it was not their prominent function within the plot.

Similarly, the characters of Pablo and Vanessa, Skyler’s new crewmates, served their plot function as efficient soldiers in Skyler’s new crew, but as actual characters, I would have liked to see them be more fleshed out. I never gained a connection with them as I had with Skyler’s original crew, no matter how often Skyler referenced them as “his crew.”

Otherwise, I really liked a lot of Hough’s characters, including some that were not meant to be liked, such as the deplorable Russell Blackfield. I’ve really enjoyed the insight into his character. When he was first introduced, he was the evil despot, but I loved that Hough allowed us to see more of him as the trilogy progressed without merely turning into a bad guy to be destroyed or redeemed. I respect that all the characters were very much flawed and the heroes weren’t necessary likable, while the evil despots weren’t necessarily bad, considering the circumstances. And I loved that Hough was not afraid to kill his babies. No one died needlessly, but it certainly raised the stakes to realize that any of them could die at any time.

As this was the final book in the trilogy, it meant that we finally get the answer to the question that hung over the entire story: What the hell do the Builders want?? Of course the heroes would obtain the three artifacts and of course they would put the puzzle together and meet the Builders, who were already on their way. But when I finally got to the answer, I was shocked by it and by the pithy perfection of its delivery. It offered the closure I needed, while opening an entirely exciting new door. Don’t walk into this expecting any sort of happy ending, considering the devastation the Builders have caused, but Hough left me with a bittersweet offer of hope and forgiveness that surprised me and left me in 2am tears.

With thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey Spectra for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

See more reviews at
The BiblioSanctum

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Plague Forge (Dire Earth #3) by Jason M. Hough is such a good finale to a wonderful series. I was really hooked on the story and the characters. I'm glad I got to see them again because this series does such a great job of bringing everything together. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future and I'm looking forward to reading whatever he cares to write.

[Neil Hepworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, I feel bad for The Plague Forge because this particular book had the dubious honor of competing for my time and energy with Dark Souls II. Ouch. Even my beloved Packers would have a hard time competing with Dark Souls II, so…

Anyway. I digress.

I often make fun of Baen book covers (but who hasn’t?). Secretly, however, any time I pass one in the bookstore, I linger on it because it just looks so damn interesting. The amount of lasers, monsters, explosions, and scantily clad space heroines does its thing - it gets my attention. These goofy covers work so well that, inevitably, once a year I pick up a Baen book with the hope of being taken away on such ludicrous adventures. And each year, about a hundred pages in, I put the book down, never to be picked up again.

The reason I bring up covers is because, well, just look at the cover of this book. Guns, grit, explosions, pyramids, overly groomed action heroes - and it’s all tinted in red - RED I tell you! Just in case you thought this was going to be a book of peace and harmony, well, it’s red. And so, just as you’d expect, this book take the action from the previous two novels and cranks it all the way up. Fortunately, unlike the Baen books I’ve attempted, the kitschy covers for the Dire Earth Cycle are gateways to highly entertaining, gun-toting space-romps around the world. If these covers appeal to you (admit it: they do), then you should read these books.

The plot of The Plague Forge, explosion riddled as it is, follows a variety of character and teams from the previous novels on their global quest to find the remaining Builder Keys and return them to the Builder ship parked in orbit. Naturally, things explode along the way. (Of all the plot threads, by far my favorite was that of Sam and Prumble busting into the Nightcliff complex. Even though the SUBS are interesting, the chapters that pit the teams against other, normal people are developed much better and have a lot more punch.) If you’ve read this far into the series, you should know what to expect, and this book does not disappoint.

A word about the ending: I can see why some readers wanted more. Hough leaves a lot of questions without answers, but I really like that the plot revolved around the people rather than around the world-building (does that make sense? It makes sense to me…). I can’t imagine how Hough could have revealed too much more about the Builders without a major info dump, or without strangling the plot - both of those options are bad, btw. The story is about the characters (and their many explosions), not about the Builders. Besides, because the ending is so nebulous Hough has opened many doors for other books in the universe. He could write more about Skyler and what happens after he ships out, or he could introduce totally new characters who explore Builder-related places, ships, events, etc. These ideas would make for great books, and I would read them all.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, and it continues to be very popular with my students. Now the countdown begins to book number four.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm trying to think of an analogy that encompasses all of the great things this book brings to the reader. First and foremost, while it falls firmly within the sci fi genre, it draws liberally from many others. There are strong mystery and adventure elements here that make the story almost ache with tension. It is not a book that is easy to put down, nor will you find sections that are easy to skim over due to lulls in plot or action. The story is layered, intelligent and if you are a bit of a nerd, littered with pop culture references that kinda fill you with glee. But more importantly are the characters. You will love the heroes! They are the kind of heroes that we flock to the movies to see! They are flawed, smart mouthed, get beat up, but still put every ounce of their blood sweat and tears into saving the every man. And even better are the villains. They do the most heinous things within the story but somehow the author sneaks up behind you and gives them plausible motivations that almost makes them likeable. It is infuriating and makes for excellent storytelling! The world building is superb but somehow manages to come across with a light touch. The science is woven in plausibly, believably and at a level that I think is accessible to the average reader. But beyond all of this is the readability. You know that thing that sets the good authors apart from the great? I'm sure there are hundreds of book critics who have spent thousands of reviews trying to explain what that untangible is, but suffice it to say, its here. Mr. Hough has it and I could not stop reading his amazing words. In all honesty I am now a life long fan and cannot wait to have the chance to read this story all over again from beginning. I hope it will become one of the great sci fi epics that we'll be reading for decades to come!

[Frank Hoppe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Potboiler only sparingly dispensing bits of the sci in sci-fi. The conclusion seemed tacked on at the end. It seems that the author feels confident in his skills for describing nonstop violent action over the course of three substantial volumes, leaving only 18 pages at the end for the "meaning" of the invasion. The explanation provided in these 18 pages seems like a set-up for the next volume. When Alan Cheuse first reviewed The Darwin Elevator on NPR, he claimed that it was the first of a projected nine volumes. Plague Forge concludes, I guess, the first trilogy in his series The Dire Earth Cycle. Having worked through these first three, I don't think I'm up for any more of this.

[Kribu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still hesitating about the rating. Would have been a solid four for most of the book, but some of the parts before the end started to drag a little, and I'm trying to decide whether the ending was fitting, a bit disappointing, or a bit of both.

A bit of both, I think.

In any case, The Plague Forge is a thrilling, action-rich conclusion to the Dire Earth Cycle. I think it's pretty safe to say that anyone who enjoyed the first two books will also enjoy this one (with the addendum that they might or might not care for the ending).

There's still just as much action (and gore! and deaths!) as in the first two books, but there's no doubt that this, unlike The Darwin Elevator, which started the trilogy and came across mostly as a zombie-apocalypse book with some strong science fiction elements, is much more a science fiction novel, with the "subs" relegated to the role of a secondary threat and the focus of the action on the "Key Ship" we encountered in the second book.

It's - overall - also probably the strongest of the three. The multiple points of view felt balanced (with Tania and Sam both getting a significant share of the narration as well as the action), the characters better developed. Flat characters were my main complaint in the first book, but there's no doubt that they ended up more rounded.

So... yes. There's really a lot to like about this book! Unfortunately there were a couple of chapters, mostly the ones with Skyler and Ana trapped in the "plague forge" building that ... well, I can't say bored me, because I had trouble putting the book down even then, but they did drag a bit for me, enough that I was tempted to skim at times. I realise and understand the purpose of those parts - and that a sense of urgency and impending doom was needed - but still had to wonder if they couldn't perhaps have been trimmed down a bit.

And then there's the ending.

On the plus side, I really appreciate getting answers! If there's one thing I hate, it's reading a lengthy tale with many unanswered questions and never finding out just what caused everything - just what it was all about. In this sense, I didn't have to be disappointed: we do get answers, and the answers, in context, were acceptable to me.

On the other hand... I really don't know how I feel about the way these answers were presented. The epilogue - just telling everything to us in a speech?! - felt rather a let down after everything that had happened. Almost as if the author had run out of time and needed to wrap things up really quickly. A bit of a cop-out, I suppose.

Then again, it's really hard to wrap things up after three books of nonstop action, to come to an ending, without it feeling a bit of a let-down, isn't it? Coming down from an adrenaline high, all that. I'm not sure I really have any bright ideas about how it could have been done better, and in some ways, it did feel fitting. Just, well, somehow not as satisfying as I'd have liked it to be.

In any case, I'm really glad to have read this series. It's not my usual fare, and writing-wise, this isn't particularly high art (not that everything needs to be, and I'm damn happy about that!), but it "clicked" for me. I enjoyed it. It pulled me in and didn't let go. And really, if one is after a high-octane post-apocalyptic action series with lots of shooting and some decent enough science fiction aspects, one could do a lot worse.

* ARC of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thanks!

[Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.mybookishways.com/2014/06/...

Skyler is still shaken from the events in The Exodus Towers and he’s also still a little conflicted about his feelings for Tania, who risked her life to save his. It turns out that the alien Builders have something else up their sleeves, but what? Skyler and Tania do know that they must find the remaining keys, and they’re hoping that the towers will lead them to the artifacts needed to complete the Builder puzzle. They decide that two groups will go in search of the artifacts, with Tania leading one, and Skyler leading the other, but Tania isn’t an immune, so she’ll be limited in what she can do on the mission, since exposure to any area beyond the auras that surround the space elevators could result in her contracting Subs:the dreaded disease that has wiped out so much of the world’s population and driven the rest mad. Luckily, the portable towers do provide protective auras, but the danger is still great. Meanwhile, back in Nightcliff, Samantha is having her own struggles with Grillo’s fanatic Jacobites and her own part of the mission, which is also to get one of the keys back to the Builder ship, and hopefully save her friend Kelly from his clutches in the process.

The danger level is as high as ever, and it doesn’t help that Tania must not only fight her way through hoardes of SUBS infected humans, alongside Vanessa and Pablo, but she’s got to wear a protective suit to do it, and Skyler and Ana are toting Russell Blackfield along with them, ostensibly to help them with any and all info pertaining to Grillo and his operation.


I kind of love this series, and if you’re wondering, there’s just as much action as the first two books, and more twists than you can shake a shock stick at. We also get to know Prumble quite a bit better, as he’s helping Sam out, and that was an added bonus. He’s a bonafide hero, guys. Samantha is one of my favorite characters (like, ever), and the scenes with her and Prumble are among my favorites. Russell Blackfield was also a bit of a surprise this time around. Hough gives him more depth and even though he’s still a jerk, he finds himself in a unique position during this mission, and there may be a little hope of redemption, even for a scoundrel like him. Turns out he is actually capable of a little introspection. Who knew? Of course, Hough loves to throw all kinds of obstacles at our heroes, so there’s plenty to thwart their efforts in getting those keys to the Builder ships between the infected and Grillo’s goons. Since this is the last in the series, though, the narrative must move toward solving the why of the Builders, but it’s not so straightforward as all that. I was pleased and a little surprised at the ending (in a good way), and admittedly, more than a little sorry that the series ended. The Dire Earth Cycle is the equivalent of a blockbuster action movie (but with considerably more depth), and the books are certainly paced like one. I had great fun with this series, and I can’t wait to find out what Jason Hough has in store for us next!

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

July, 2013 - Review on hold! And don't think it isn't killing me!

September, 2013 - Signed, sealed and delivered beyond expectations, The Plague Forge by Jason Hough brings his Dire Earth Cycle to a brilliant conclusion! Intense, detailed and flying by at breakneck speed in a race against time and an unknown alien faction with an equally unknown purpose, The Plague Forge holds on to its final secrets until the very end. Imagine a rollercoaster powering to the precipice, then plunging downward, leaving you breathless, waiting for your stomach to catch up, and that amazing adrenaline rush that makes you grin silly as you pull into the final stop, completely satisfied and ready to do it again after a short breather! The Plague Forge is that good!

Jason Hough is a master at his craft! He makes each scene real, I did the mental look around, seeing it all. With larger than life characters, surprising heroes, mindless SUBS, evil, manipulating power mongers, and the dark, looming unknown from beyond, I was living in the moment in each book! Did I lose a few too many friends in the battle? Yes! Did I witness true bravery in action? Yes! Did I see tons of gore, guts and brutality? Yes! Did I find the hard-fought resolution and hope for the future? Yes! Do I want more from the mind and pen of this great Sci-fi author? YES! Am I keeping the gun I used in the fights? No, silly, this was fiction, but I would like to return to see what is happening now!

I received an ARC edition from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra
ISBN: 9780345537164
Series: The Dire Earth Cycle, Book 3
Number of Pages: 448
Genre: Sci-fi
Recommended Audience: NA on up!
My Rating: 5 Stars
Available from: Amazon / Barnes & Noble
For more reviews check out Tome Tender's Book Blog or find us on Facebook.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall - the seeming trilogy gets 4 stars from me. I enjoyed the mystery, the nasty characters and the lead-up to what "the builders" were planning to do with humanity. The situation seemed dire, indeed, and it was so hard to guess how it was going to end, let alone continue at times.

I thoroughly enjoyed the books and the narration by Simon Vance, right up to the very end. It is hard to tell if there will be more books in this Dire Earth Cycle, but I don't think so.

If Mr. Hough has more stories like these up his sleeve, I am looking forward to reading them!

[Melanie Schneider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Habe es jetzt offiziell abgebrochen und bewerte nur, was ich bisher las (also circa die Hälfte).

Es ist repetitiv, es ist Rambomäßig, es ist langweilig. Nicht einmal das Geheimnis darum, was das letzte Schiff bergen wird, hat mich noch Interesse haben lassen.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid SiFi story. nice setting and good characters. I was a bit disappointed with the ending but overall a good read. recommended

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

In case you don’t know (I didn’t), a space elevator is a potential space transportation system made up of a cable anchored to the earth’s surface that extends into space. It’s meant to allow transportation along the cable from the Earth’s surface directly into space without the need for rockets. This concept is important because a space elevator is the focal point of the Dire Earth Cycle, a trilogy that consists of The Darwin Elevator, The Exodus Towers, and The Plague Force.

First, the setup: Several hundred years in the future, an alien ship arrives and creates a space elevator anchored in Darwin, Australia. The aliens, known simply as ‘The Builders’, are never seen or contacted. They simply build the elevator and are gone. Darwin quickly becomes the center of worldwide activity, as humans use the elevator to build space stations anchored to it in orbit. Then, a few years later, a disease begins to spread across the planet. Most of the infected die outright. Some, however, survive the initial infection and devolve into primal, fiercely aggressive creatures called Subhumans. Even fewer are immune to the disease.

The disease spreads all across the world, leaving only the area around the elevator untouched. This area is surrounded by an Aura (generated by the elevator) that protects those within it from the disease. So with the only remaining humans within the Aura at Darwin and in the space stations above it, the two locales develop a symbiotic relationship. Air and water are shipped up to the stations, and food (grown on enormous farming stations in orbit) is shipped down. In order for anyone to leave the Aura, they must wear bulky environment suits that limit the distance they can go and what they can do. So the few immunes are a huge commodity. They can go outside the Aura and scavenge for anything else. Of course, they have to worry about attacks from the Subhumans.

One of the main protagonists is Skyler Luiken, the [somewhat reluctant] leader of an immune crew. The other is Tania Sharma, a scientist in orbit, who is tasked with figuring out the Builders’ plans, the timetable for their return, and the events they might have planned.

With the background and synopsis out of the way, here’s what I thought of the books (as a whole): I absolutely loved them. They were, simply put, a lot of fun from beginning to end.

I gave the first book, The Darwin Elevator, four stars overall. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but all of the scientific explanations and setup were a bit confusing at times. They were completely necessary, though. Having no scientific background, I had to take it all at face value as to how things work in space. The action focuses on Tania’s research and discovery that a second Builders ship is on the way and tensions between the surface and those in orbit. The latter leads to a violent attack and takeover of the orbital stations from those on the surface, led by Russell Blackfield. During the attack, the second ship finally arrives and sets up a second space elevator over Brazil. So Tania, Skyler, and their band of rebels detach from the Darwin Elevator and head to the new one. Samantha, Skyler’s remaining crew member, is left in Darwin as Russell’s prisoner. This is the setup for the second book.

The second book, The Exodus Towers, got five stars. I had to force myself to put the book down when it was time to stop reading. The characters face more dangers on multiple fronts, including an attack by a psychopathic leader of another group of immunes in Brazil and the rise of a dangerous religious sect in Darwin. They also discover that they need to retrieve five keys to the Builders’ ship from across the globe before the final event occurs. The action continues pretty much non-stop until approximately the last third of the book. Then, it’s a slow burn until the thrilling (and cliffhanging) climax.

The third book, The Plague Force, gets another five stars. This book follows three groups of our heroes (one led by Skyler, another led by Tania, and a third led by Samantha in Darwin) as they try to gather all of the keys to the Builders’ ship before the final event occurs. The chapters switch between each set of characters in play, with each chapter leaving you wondering WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!?!. What a thrilling read. My only criticism of the end is that it felt really rushed. After the climax on the Builder’s ship, the story just kind of stopped. I was sort of let down that the author tried to fit so much exposition into a short epilogue. Overall, the explanation for the Builder’s motives seemed satisfying. And I’m hoping this will serve as a return to this world with additional installments. I would definitely be in for it.

The entire series is filled with well-developed characters. The heroes are of the action-movie type, complete with flaws and weaknesses. Skyler is the reluctant, but effective leader of his crew. Tania, the beautiful, brilliant scientist is also a reluctant leader who learns to step up and kick some butt when needed. Samantha is a powerhouse. I also really liked the supporting characters, including Vanessa, Pablo, and especially Prumble. I LOVED Prumble. The only character I never warmed up to is Ana. I’m not really sure why. The villains are people you love to hate and even have a few surprises for you.

I highly recommend all three books. They were excellent.

[Abhinav · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read the full review over at my blog:

https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...

Last year Jason M. Hough put out one of the best debut novels of the year, one that I even put on my “Best 2013 Debuts” list at the end of the year. The Darwin Elevator was a really fun and fast-paced action SF novel set in a post-apocalyptic future where the only remaining mass of humanity is concentrated in what used to be the (roughly) coastal city of Darwin, Australia and where humanity’s lifeline to the stars, a space elevator built by mysterious aliens, is located. He followed it up with The Exodus Towers and that too was a great read, though not as good as the predecessor. Still, they were both enough for me to love Jason’s writing and I’ve been looking for time to read the final novel ever since.

I finally got the chance to read The Plague Forge last month and the experience proved to be worth the wait for it falls squarely between the previous two novels and he gives quite a resounding conclusion to the Dire Earth Cycle trilogy. The revelations at the end are mind-boggling indeed, and though the ending is rather natural, there are also plenty of hooks for Jason to return to this setting at a later time, which I sincerely hope he does. But in the meantime, I had as much fun reading The Plague Forge as I did the other two novels, and I loved how he closed out the story of all the characters, whether I hated or loved them.

The Plague Forge is about bringing to a close all the disparate storylines that have been featured in the series so far. Camp Exodus, the Jacobites’ takeover of Darwin, the story-arcs of all the major characters, the mysteries of the Builders and the aura towers and what not. Everything come to a head in this novel, and Jason executes the final product with aplomb. He gives every character, whether hero or villain, a good send-off and none of them makes it out of the novel as well as Russell Blackfield does. Russell was very much the bad guy for the first two novels, and a character I really came to hate because of some of the things that he did. His scenes were often very… putoff-ish, and that didn’t change in The Plague Forge, but damn, Jason gave Russell a chance to be a hero of sorts, and I loved that aspect. All creatures of opportunity and the realities around them, that’s the lesson you take away from this novel.

One of the things that I was looking forward to here was how Jason would continue to incorporate the Jacobites cult into the final installment here, and how their storyline would play out on a macro scale. And I wasn’t disappointed, not really, because Jason made them an integral part of this novel, and he finally gave us some damn good kickass action against these guys, whether you talk about heroes like Sam and Prumble or the villains like the Jacobites’ nutty leader Grillo. Lots of tense action scenes here filled with a lot of bloodshed, which I suppose was coming.

If there’s one thing that made me uncomfortable with this novel, to a degree, it was that the body-count is so damn high. Some of my favourite characters got bumped off, often in some really inane crazy ways, and that made me really sad. For them, I’d always imagined that they’d go down in a grand way, but none of that here. Jason shows that sometimes really bad stuff happens and people die just like that, for convenience if nothing else. It stings of course, but that’s the beauty of Jason’s writing, because he gets you to care for all these characters so damn much and when they leave you, you are left feeling as if there’s a big gap in the story now. Amazing stuff.

The true stars are of course Skyler and Tania. They were the protagonists of the first novel, in the truest sense of the word and the novel certainly ends with their stories, in all the different myriad ways that Jason twists and turns the character arcs to serve a greater agenda. And that greater agenda is the true reason for why the Builders sent the two space elevators to Earth and why they sent another ship to do the same, except that this one sent down multiple elevators. The unveiling of the mystery, something that had nagged me at since The Darwin Elevator, was quite a cathartic experience and I loved the twist. And at the same time, Jason brings the stories of all these characters to a close, but also leaves a jumping-off point for more stories in the future, should he ever be so inclined. I’ve talked with him about it and while he’s busy on another trilogy at present, he was kind of open for this. I can only hope that he does, because the world as he presents at the end of the novel is very different to what I was expecting, and I’m very curious as to how we get to that point.

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goodness, this has been a long ride. I'll have to digest for a day or so before getting a feel for how this series sits with me.

In book 1 we're introduced to the characters, by name if not in person and the world building begins. Hough is a master at this craft. His descriptions are solid.

That said there was a huge raging debate on thread elsewhere where some people were taken about by what they perceived to be inexplicable 'holes' in the plot. Personally I didn't notice but one, and as it turns out though there is a gap and the publisher is to blame, having asked that some material be removed. I imagine in years to come that we'll be buying editions with the magicked away material restored.

In any case, I thought The Darwin Elevator was darn clever and a ton of fun.

In Book 2 we get complication upon complication and the it's hard to go into too much detail without bringing on the threat of spoilers.

Book 2 though had me a froth to find out why the hell the builders did what they did, and why were they looming overhead. The cognitive dissonance of them giving us the Elevators while at the same time wiping out our species kept me page turning and turning.

Book 2 also has my favorite scene, where finally I started give some serious love to the main character, Skyler. You see, the strange thing is that while Skylar is the lynchpin about which the action revolves, Hough presents him to us more through the viewpoints of the other characters. And interestingly enough, it's the other characters who evolve more. Tanya in particular ceases to be annoying, and we see other sides to Tim, Prumble, Sam, Skadz, and heaven forbid, Blackfield too. Skylar though remains more or less as he was.
.

Book 3 brings the series to a close. And no doubt how you feel about the truth about the Builders will determine how you feel about the series. I won't say much at this point, except that this is really a monumental work. It's not perfect, but if you like mysteries and scifi, I think you'll like this story.

The tale has a nice blend of kick-ass action and mystery. There are some truly evil bad guys to dislike, but they aren't cardboard. In fact, there are my favorites; they are so well done.

You get the story from an number of viewpoints, but this is handled beautifully. The transitions are smooth, and done perfectly to build tension.

This is an adult series. There is lots of cursing and violence and adult 'situations'.

I thought The Dire Earth Cycle was a great read. And I haven't felt like this about a scifi author since I read my first Sanderson novel. Cannot wait to see what Hough writes next.

Pam T~

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished The Plague Forge at 1:30 this morning, and my first mental response was to say "iiiiiiiiiinteresting" in a slightly foreign villainous accent. Yes, this book kept me up until all hours, pressing onward towards the action packed conclusion. Yes, Mr. Hough does his best George R.R. Martin impression with some of the characters. And yes, the stage is set for a potential return to the Dire Earth universe. And, like with the previous books, many of the events that unfolded did so in a way that was just slightly off from what I expected. So, more of what I have come to expect from this very enjoyable series.

I would say that Mr. Hough's greatest ability is to play with the reader's expectations. While many of the major plot twists and character arcs can be somewhat figured out ahead of time, he executes them in such a way that it still feels like a surprise. And I appreciate the unexpected. His books fall into that rare spot between familiar comfort and the completely out-of-left-field.

This being the final book in The Dire Earth Cycle, all of the plot points and divergent storylines finally come together, usually with explosive results. It was nice to have Skyler and Sam back together again, and it was good to see more of Kelly, even if her sections were still small. Tania's predicament on Earth was a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, it happened so incidentally that it was completely plausible. On the other, it was handled so incidentally that it didn't have nearly as much impact as I feel it should have. Russell Blackfield's storyline was somewhat unexpected, and might be a little too much out of character for him for me to swallow, but c'est la vie. Everyone else has their moment to shine, especially Mr. Prumble, who is always a welcome addition to any chapter he is in. Some of the "relationships" that developed seemed a little forced to me, and this seems to be the only area that Mr. Hough stumbles a bit in the narrative. Still, it's basically the apocalypse as far as some of these characters are concerned, so I'll give them the leeway to find love in the strangest of places.

Ultimately, I found this a fitting end to a pretty grand and gritty sci-fi tale. Like I said in my review of The Exodus Towers, I am still hoping for a prequel tale of Skyler and his original crew on the Melville (even a short story! I'm not picky!), but with the way the final book ends, I am expecting to see sequels instead of prequels. Oh well, I will contain my sadness, and continue to read anything that Mr. Hough writes.

[Daniel Farrelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno. Its okay i guess. The writing gets a bit sloppy, especially as chapters stop having any meaning, and it gets hard to follow. But otherwise yeah, it was alright. If youve read this far you might as well finish the trilogy. Just dont expect anything more than a smattering of cliches, some character deaths, descriptions that are over detailed yet still dont tell you very much at all, and page after page of "ooh, the gravity has shifted, so now the ceiling is the floor! Ooooh"

That ending though. My goodness. I think it might be a contender for the laziest endings in fiction. Either the author hit his word limit and couldnt work out which overly descriptive scene (which didnt progress the plot) to cut down, or was really afraid is fan base would grow bored if he didnt get the book out immediately. Tip for my fellow writers out there: the key to breaking through writer's block is not to end your book four chapters early, and then jump fifty years into the future and present a letter written by one of the main characters, explaining the aliens plot all along, what all the characters decided to do, and then hastily say that earth is all better now, yay. I wont say much more, because ive already put more effort into this than the author put into finishing his trillogy, but if your going to throw drama at your characters, devisive, thought-provoking drama that breaks relationships, sends a bunch of people away to the deptha of space, never to be seen again, and heralds the start of a new era on Earth.... dont skip over it and then make the last chapter a lazily written letter that attempts to trick the audience, by having it be written by someone who would have had no motivation to write said letter.
Desired reaction: "OH MY GOD! I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TANYA BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY ANNA!!!11!1!"
Actual reaction: "Hm? Oh, it was Anna? But why didnt she go with skyler, she was obsessed with him. Why is she writing to the science society (or whatever bogus organization it was) when shes dumb as a post? Didnt tanya spend the last chapter complaining about the builders and why they were jerks? I sure would have liked to see anna decide to end it with Skyler,
And head back to earth, and hear about her motivation for leaving literarly everyone she knows and go for a life of loneliness."


I put this at 3 stars originally. That ending lost it another star, bringing it down to 2. Thats what i rated my own book as, and i really hate that piece of garbage. So yeah, dont really recommend this trillogy. Starts off average and sinks lower over time.

[Penforhire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't feel the payoff was worth the journey. Jason Hough may have a future as a talented writer but this trilogy was flawed and I expect he will look back on this work and cringe. Where was the editing?! t felt like this third book was badly rushed.

I still like the premise or frame that surrounds the story but at the end I feel let down in too many ways.

I think the characterizations are okay, maybe even good, but the action scenes are muddy, confused, and improbable. One or two improbable turns in a fight are understandable. Such turns in almost ever single action scene is cartoonish. Some action descriptions were too difficult for me to visualize. Others were absurd and broke my ability to disbelieve. Skyler and friends defeat time-accelerated angry subs. Tania outruns a field full of subs the same way a bicyclist shakes off a dog running toward them. And more of the same. Riiight.

I just shook my head and tsked at the endless stream of impossible predicaments they successfully go through in search of the artifacts.

The very end turned into an infodump because the author was too lazy to feed this information to us earlier, bit by bit, with a "show don't tell approach." That is a cardinal writing sin, what separates the men from the boys in this field. I would have preferred a continued mystery to what we were fed at the end. Maybe let Skyler, Ana, and the others be shanghaied to the stars without a word as to why.

Hugh worked so hard on Blackfield's character, making him a complex antagonist, and wasted it in his resolution. Heck, Grillo was nearly as wasted. Grillo and Skyler are both superhuman in both ethics and abilities. He also wasted some development of Grillo, as someone who not only got the better of Blackfield but also organized all of Darwin, there had to be more to the man than the one-dimensional villain he is at the end.

Even Kelly's end was seemingly a waste. She was used a a quick escape from the frying pan into the fire. She deserved better.

I desperately wanted to like Tania and I thought the post Krav Maga trained Tania would do the trick. Nope. That was a momentary increase in competence, with her backsliding and becoming a victim too easily again.

Oh well, some neat ideas and an author who needs to grow.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

At the end of the previous novel (The Exodus Towers) it became clear that this book would be filled with lots and lots of killing subhumans. It turns out that the mindless killing is about the only good thing in the book. (And I hate horror and zombie novels because of the mindless killing.)

I expected more than just "collect the keys and everyone ends up at the Mother Ship." That isn't too much to ask for, is it? Apparently it is.

The ending was absolutely horrible - not because it was abrupt and sad but because the author didn't put together a logical conclusion. We already knew that lots of people were slaughtered by the Builders so no amount of roses and apologies at the end would make it better. But then wham, inconsistencies hit you in the face and then it's over.

My recommendation - skip the series or just read the first book (The Darwin Elevator) and imagine your own conclusion.

Spoilers about the ending and why it's simply awful...'The Builders' are actually just a sentient spaceship. The plague was nanotech designed to interface with new species and oops, it didn't work. Never mind that the elevators and towers "stopped" the plague...how does that work? The long-distance transmissions between nanotech and elevators caused brain damage? Or there's no nanotech inside the radii of the elevators and towers? I can't see the logic, though I'm not as smart as the sentient spaceship.

The nanotech was intended to find "worthy" species who could travel back to the aliens' home world and rescue the aliens from invaders that the sentient ship couldn't get through. So it's like some sort of interstellar Olympics that just happens to kill everyone who doesn't qualify for the Games? The aliens themselves don't know about the actions of the ship because the ship has been cut off and is acting on its own.

Skyler volunteers for the rescue mission and leaves within minutes of this revelation, leaving Ana by herself. Fifty years later she gives a speech about how this is ok.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced release copy of the book via NetGalley.

I will tread carefully here to avoid spoilers--a tricky thing, since this is the third in a science fiction trilogy that oozes with violence, tension, and a death count that would make George R. R. Martin proud. To summarize the basics of the previous two books: aliens delivered a space elevator to Earth. Soon after, a terrible illness called SUBS spread across the globe. It rendered people into mindless brutes. However, the space elevator in Darwin, Australia, radiates a protective aura. Humanity has huddled in slums there to stay alive. There are also rare immunes who cannot contract SUBS and act as scavengers amidst the ruins of the outer world.

Politics are deadly in this new world, especially as the aliens continue to deliver troubling gifts. Factions rival for control of meager resources, and it becomes clear that there are set stages for the aliens and their gifts. Earth is nearing the end of that cycle. What happens then?

Hough is a master of tight tension and solid science fiction. He creates alien technology that embodies a sense of wonder and mystery as it freaks you out. This third book is more frantic than the previous ones (which says a lot) but it's still easy to follow the various perspectives. For me, though, everything depended on the ending. That looming question of "Why did the aliens do this?" is the constant, nagging issue from page one of book one.

The pay-off here works.

I'm not quite sure how he did it. So many things remained a mystery up to that point, but the ending absolutely works. In retrospect, I can see the little hints along the way.

I'm eager to see more of Hough's writing in the years to come.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

"After discovering the first key in the wreckage of a crashed Builder ship, Skyler Luiken and his crew follow the migrating aura towers in search of the four remaining relics. But time is running out: the team learn that the next Builder event will be the last, and one of the objects has already fallen into dangerous hands...Will the survivors finally reveal the Builders' plan?"

That is a very short paragraph describing the action in The Plague Forge, book three in the Dire Earth Cycle and yet it says it all. There was not that much substance in the third book.

The book followed various characters from the previous books as they retrieved the keys for the Builder’s ships. While each team faced unique challenges after awhile each one sounded a lot alike. This is worth reading if you have followed the first two books but otherwise you can skip The Plague Forge. The ending was not what I expected. They did find out what the Builder’s wanted and it may set up a new series but for me it was a bit of a disappointment.

I received an ARC of The Plague Forge from Netgalley

[Daniel Learn · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH my, where to start; I loved it, I hated it (mainly that it ended), and i'm confused by it(NEED MORE ANSWERS).

The end of this book answers so many questions but not until the VERY VERY end. At the same time it just leaves you with more questions to be answered. The book is left in a very good position to write spin offs and additional novels, AND WOW do i hope the author continues. I want to know more... WAY MORE... I want to get wrapped into more intense fights with who knows what kind of enemies. I want to know more of what happens to Earth I just want more of these amazing books.

I really enjoyed reading each of the exciting scenes presented in this book it is repetitive in regards to there are lots of fights but each is different depending who is fighting what and where. You can really tell each character has their own way of doing things and it makes each scene just as engaging as any other.

[Glennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The more I kept reading the book, the less and less I was rooting for anyone to finish getting the parts up the the Builder ship. And the last part of summing up who the Builders were and why they were doing it just felt like I read a 3 book prequel to a whole new series. If you like two fisted SF with a heavy dystopian feel then this is for you. But I think I am done here.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

[Elana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple recipe for writing an SF series: a mysterious alien artifact, at the beginning, a humdrum explanation at the end, and in-between three volumes of people killing each other in predictable ways.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real payoff for the time invested. Frustrating.

[Philip Hollenback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I saw this series through to the bitter end. Sunken cost fallacy comes to mind.

[Jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

originally posted at http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2013...

OK so first off YES the conclusion to the Dire Earth Cycle! Ever since picking up The Darwin Elevator this has been a series that I have been looking forward to read. Its action packed, has great characters and what is up with the Builders! What do they want from Earth!?


But let me skip back a few paces. So far the story has been well established in the first two book with a lot of twists and turns. The first book, The Darwin Elevator, introduced us to the concept of Jason M. Hough and the main protagonist of the series, Skyler Luiken. The Darwin Elevator left the series on an cliffhanger and produced a direct take off point for the second book in the series The Exodus Towers. In here you found that a second elevator was placed on Earth. But what more came to show is that Jason M. Hough explored the new Earth in much more depth and used everything that was told in the first book in his advantage. Introducing new characters and further developing the others. Similarly like The Darwin Elevator, The Exodus Towers was left on quite the same premise, but one more important thing, the new Builder events introduced a Key Ship! What the.. ok so this does not nearly come to sum up all that has been show in the first books, but show the big lines.

The Plague Forge picks up after The Exodus Towers and the focus is again on Skyler. I actually assumed that the story would have been picked up in the Key Ship after all the events that happened in the second book, but instead you are placed in Belem, Brazil. I was thinking what has happened to Tania now that Skyler is back on Earth. Soon you do find out what actually transpired in the Key Ship, and that Tania must count herself quite lucky that she is still alive. The story itself is now much more contained with a single goal in mind: Finding out what the Builder are up to. With one last event, will this be the a doom scene? There were some important revealings made in the second book and Jason M. Hough doesn't spare you one moment by following them up. Skyler and Tania set out to find key that could possibly tell more about what the Builder have in store. There were still two locations to discover. The way that the story is divided is similar to that of The Exodus Towers, with one story focusing on Belem, Brazil (with Skyler and Co.) and the other on Darwin, Australia (with Samantha and Grillo). Finding these Keys might sound simple, and they are actually quite easy to locate, but actually getting them to safety proved to be quite the hardest part of it.


In The Exodus Towers, Jason M. Hough introduced quite a few new characters, or at least put their perspectives into a brighter daylight. First you had Samantha and in this last book she really takes the reins into her own hands and guide the story and all that happens surrounding Darwin, Australia in her own hands. Her parts of the story were cool to read especially when you look back on the first book when she was first introduced. Jason M. Hough made a correct call in adding her as a new perspective. However in Darwin a new leader stepped up to the plate, Grillo, who leads the Jacobites and has other things planned with the elevator. Now Grillo is just this nasty piece of work, even though he is a man of the book, this guys is just vicious and relentless. He is one of those bad guys that is just down right bad, and at least I had it when things happened to him that I was shout "ha in your face, you deserved that!". "Abandoning" Russel as the bad guy of the story and taking on Grillo was again a solid decision. And this does bring me to Russel, well, it is hard to say, but you will quite remember this character for a time. Russel is changing and seeing that all that he probably has done in Darwin were all bad decisions. Though he still holds a grudge against Skyler, what he does is something that will change your view of his characters as well. Other character that really pull through are a lot of secondary characters like: Vanessa, Prumble and Ana. Now all had assumed quite background roles in the earlier books, but Jason M Hough now takes each of these character and keeps on developing them, and in this he introduces qutie a few unexpected twists. Just like Russel it's quite something...


All in all the characterization in The Plague Forge shows just that extra step. In the first book the focus was really on Skyler and yes he is still the main characters of it all but Jason M. Hough shows more and more of the other as well creating a character cast that you will remember.

I praised the first two book on the amount of action that was shown, and The Plague Forge isn't an exception either. Though mostly is shown in the way when Skyler and company are looking for the Keys, the encounters with the SUBS are just a thrill. But about halfway through the book the story does take a new direction, it seemed for me that the pacing slowed down, but there was no sacrifice in showing action. Instead it felt like Jason M. Hough was building up the suspense for the conclusion of the book and perhaps unavoidable encounter. By taking the end of the story is a bit of slower pace, allowed me the recount all that had happened until now. One thing in the beginning of the story was really cool and that is how even the characters are constantly speculating what the Builders want, do they want to destroy the humans? Is it a sick and twisted game? Undoubtedly if you read the first two books you will have the same questions. I can say that: yes you will read the Builder's plans in The Plague Forge. And is it worth it? Well that is for you to judge for yourself. But for me it was worth the wait. I can honestly say that I have thrown away all my earlier assumed idea's because yes I thought it was a twisted game of powerplay. But it is something totally different. I was actually quite pleased that Jason M. Hough took to a different ending that I has assumed, and looking back to all that has happened it actually does seem logical (by Builder reasoning then). Writing a trilogy with introducing a concept and keeping everything in the dark is a hard thing but Jason M. Hough has created a satisfying and rewarding conclusion to the Dire Earth Cycle...


The Plague Forge is a rewarding and satisfying ending to the Dire Earth Cycle. From initiating the story in The Darwin Elevator down to the conclusion this has been a non stop ride. The way that the story was build-up; with multiple perspectives from different places but with one common "problem", that of the Builders, allowed you to make a few free guesses, but in the end you will most likely abandon them. The story itself is riddled with enough exciting twists and turns but when you find out what the Builder actually are, well that's the major curveball right there. If you are looking to read an engaging and unputdownable fresh science fiction series, get the Dire Earth Cycle.

...And it feels that Skyler's adventures might not be over just yet. There is a nice epilogue that skips a few years to the future and I think and moreover hope that these years in between will be explored further.

[Klobetime · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third entry of the Dire Earth Cycle neatly wraps up most of the mysteries while creating an obvious jumping-off point for the following duology. The plot is fairly straightforward, with three separate quests joining together at the conclusion. The action is non-stop and constantly moving, like jumping out of an airplane. Adventure is the focus here rather than character development, but the pacing is such that it isn't really an issue. I found the ending to be a bit abrupt; many of the big questions are answered, but in a mere handful of pages and a heavy dose of deus ex machina.

The recipe for this trilogy: one part Indiana Jones, one part Aliens, one part The Fifth Element; populate with Mary Sues and stir vigorously. The result: light and fluffy, but delicious.

First Sentence:

Seconds from collision the vehicle lurched.