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The Emergence
They were just sinkholes, harmless sinkholes that were spreading like wildfire across the country. Then the disappearances started. A few people here and there then the entire army, gone in one night. Jay and Jule quickly find themselves thrown in the middle of a dangerous situation that only gets worse when something else comes that takes everyone by bloody surprise.
As they make ready to leave to gather with the rest of the family, something comes out of the sinkholes and begins attacking and killing everyone in sight. Before they know it they are in the middle of a war with an unknown enemy and an unknown agenda.
Will Jay and Jule survive their encounter or will they find themselves twenty-six feet under at the bottom of a sinkhole?
As they make ready to leave to gather with the rest of the family, something comes out of the sinkholes and begins attacking and killing everyone in sight. Before they know it they are in the middle of a war with an unknown enemy and an unknown agenda.
Will Jay and Jule survive their encounter or will they find themselves twenty-six feet under at the bottom of a sinkhole?
- GenresDystopia
259 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2015
About the author
A.O. Khalil
1 book5 followersA. O. Khalil was born in the late summer of 1985 in Yemen. By the age of 16 he attended St Andrew’s College Cambridge in England. After completing his studies he left Cambridge for Bath University, where he earned his degree in Sociology.
In 2010 he moved with his wife to Slovakia and decided to set up their own business. It was then he started writing whenever he had free time.
When not writing or working he enjoys fine dining, cooking and going to the movies with his wife, daughter, family and friends.
In 2010 he moved with his wife to Slovakia and decided to set up their own business. It was then he started writing whenever he had free time.
When not writing or working he enjoys fine dining, cooking and going to the movies with his wife, daughter, family and friends.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
April 29, 2015
Once I began this book I realized that I would have to cancel my plans for the day. I was hooked from the first chapter. One thing that I find in mystery/horror books is that they’re terribly paced but The Emergence always had something happening. Always.
However, there were parts in this book I thoroughly enjoyed and others that I really disliked. There’s an abundance of characters in this book and I felt like not all of them needed to be there. Some characters just blended together and I would have to take a moment to figure out whom that person was. I’m really hoping that in the second book a lot of the characters will play a bigger part. That they will do something to stand out against each other.
The way A.O Khalil writes is easy and understandable. It makes reading this fast paced book helpful. He’s descriptive enough to understand the surroundings but not enough to bore you. You can understand the situation that Jay and his friends and family are in.
I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series once it’s released because damn, that cliffhanger.
I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.
However, there were parts in this book I thoroughly enjoyed and others that I really disliked. There’s an abundance of characters in this book and I felt like not all of them needed to be there. Some characters just blended together and I would have to take a moment to figure out whom that person was. I’m really hoping that in the second book a lot of the characters will play a bigger part. That they will do something to stand out against each other.
The way A.O Khalil writes is easy and understandable. It makes reading this fast paced book helpful. He’s descriptive enough to understand the surroundings but not enough to bore you. You can understand the situation that Jay and his friends and family are in.
I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series once it’s released because damn, that cliffhanger.
I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.
June 15, 2015
This review can also be found my blog.
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
When the author first messaged me and asked me to read and review his book I was super excited. The synopsis really intrigued me and I liked the prologue. But then I started reading it, and well, I’m disappointed. I was promised a fun and easy read, and maybe it’s just me, but it was neither fun nor easy.
Though the plot is fast-paced and interesting, it was just ruined by the writing and characters.
The Emergence is a poorly written fantasy novel that reads more like a first draft than an actual finished work. The descriptions are weak and there is too much dialogue that seemed forced. The characters are flat, dull, and not well developed, especially the women. The author didn’t go deep with the characters nor with the storyline.
I hate to say it, but I couldn’t enjoy this book at all. I had to force my way through it and I was relieved when I was finally done with it. It didn’t help that the ending isn’t satisfying at all.
It definitely has potential, and with a lot of work it could be turned into a thrilling action-packed fantasy novel.
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
When the author first messaged me and asked me to read and review his book I was super excited. The synopsis really intrigued me and I liked the prologue. But then I started reading it, and well, I’m disappointed. I was promised a fun and easy read, and maybe it’s just me, but it was neither fun nor easy.
Though the plot is fast-paced and interesting, it was just ruined by the writing and characters.
The Emergence is a poorly written fantasy novel that reads more like a first draft than an actual finished work. The descriptions are weak and there is too much dialogue that seemed forced. The characters are flat, dull, and not well developed, especially the women. The author didn’t go deep with the characters nor with the storyline.
I hate to say it, but I couldn’t enjoy this book at all. I had to force my way through it and I was relieved when I was finally done with it. It didn’t help that the ending isn’t satisfying at all.
It definitely has potential, and with a lot of work it could be turned into a thrilling action-packed fantasy novel.
July 30, 2015
3 to 3.5 stars. I was given a copy by the author for review and it's taken me entirely too long to get this read and the review done. I, however, am actually not mad I read this and it was actually fun!
This book in one sentence: An interesting ride of sinkholes, deadly miniature men, and other things I can't explain.
The Story/Writing
From the time I've recieved this novel to the time I actually read it, I completely forgot what this was even going to be about and I'm glad I did. This was an easy, interesting read and it kept me interested just about the entire time I was reading. With that said, as I was reading, I noticed myself waiting for the extreme or something wild to happen. This novel was almost too safe for me. It's kinda like, this novel is PG-13, when I want my books rated R. The story progressed nicely and there weren't any moments that were slow to the point I was bored or wanted to set the book down. The writing was also smooth for me. It wasn't melt me out of my chair beautiful, but it wasn't anywhere near stiff either. I think the story flowed nicely because the writing did.
"That is life, we will always face unexpected obstacles, and it is up to us on how we deal with it. Some give up and some keep going forward."
The Characters and Relationships
The story was told in one person's pov, and our narrator was Jay. To me, he was a 'too safe' character as well. He was, and I hate to say it, almost a cookie cutter type of character. Jay was our hero that managed to come back from every mission unscathed and rescued everyone in the process. There is not a thing about him, or any of the characters really, that made them stand out. They were all pretty generic but hey, that might just be me. The relationships between some of the characters, more specially between Jay and his wife, Jule, weren't incredibly well done. In the beginning, Jay and Jule seemed to quick to fight but the stressor between then wasn't identified, if there was one anyway. Both of them also seem immature. I can't tell if they said what they said and did the things they did because it was just them or if it was the situation they were in. Some of the other relationships seemed very real and after a while, I just took everything for what it was and enjoyed the book.
Overall
While the characters won't stick with me, the interesting storyline will and that's why I liked this one. This one didn't change my world, but it was definitely an interesting read and I'm glad I got the chance to.
Is this worth a read?
Sure! I enjoyed reading this one I just need more answers! (I'm talking to you Khalil! lolol)
This book in one sentence: An interesting ride of sinkholes, deadly miniature men, and other things I can't explain.
The Story/Writing
From the time I've recieved this novel to the time I actually read it, I completely forgot what this was even going to be about and I'm glad I did. This was an easy, interesting read and it kept me interested just about the entire time I was reading. With that said, as I was reading, I noticed myself waiting for the extreme or something wild to happen. This novel was almost too safe for me. It's kinda like, this novel is PG-13, when I want my books rated R. The story progressed nicely and there weren't any moments that were slow to the point I was bored or wanted to set the book down. The writing was also smooth for me. It wasn't melt me out of my chair beautiful, but it wasn't anywhere near stiff either. I think the story flowed nicely because the writing did.
"That is life, we will always face unexpected obstacles, and it is up to us on how we deal with it. Some give up and some keep going forward."
The Characters and Relationships
The story was told in one person's pov, and our narrator was Jay. To me, he was a 'too safe' character as well. He was, and I hate to say it, almost a cookie cutter type of character. Jay was our hero that managed to come back from every mission unscathed and rescued everyone in the process. There is not a thing about him, or any of the characters really, that made them stand out. They were all pretty generic but hey, that might just be me. The relationships between some of the characters, more specially between Jay and his wife, Jule, weren't incredibly well done. In the beginning, Jay and Jule seemed to quick to fight but the stressor between then wasn't identified, if there was one anyway. Both of them also seem immature. I can't tell if they said what they said and did the things they did because it was just them or if it was the situation they were in. Some of the other relationships seemed very real and after a while, I just took everything for what it was and enjoyed the book.
Overall
While the characters won't stick with me, the interesting storyline will and that's why I liked this one. This one didn't change my world, but it was definitely an interesting read and I'm glad I got the chance to.
Is this worth a read?
Sure! I enjoyed reading this one I just need more answers! (I'm talking to you Khalil! lolol)
May 24, 2015
This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The story is in the point of view of Jay, an architect married a latina woman named Julia and their persistence in having a normal life even though sinkholes have mysteriously appeared all over the world and no one has an explanation to give about why they’re there and what could possible have made them. The concern doesn’t really kick him until people start disappearing in an exponential rate and the sinkholes have stains of blood around them. Whose blood is it?
The story written by A. O. Khalil has a very steady pace where action just keeps finding you over and over again. It is very intriguing and clearly the first book in a series because it answers questions slowly and not completely. The savage creatures attacking humanity for no reason, determined in destroying every single one of us are very interesting and keep you looking over the shoulder.
However, the book isn’t perfect but does have a lot of room for improvement as the series goes by. The main thing I saw that needed better development are the characters. They fell a bit flat and one-dimensional. The women in particular had all one characteristic that defined them and that was exploited until its breaking point. I feel like the writer did try to write “powerful women” but didn’t succeed. Jules “takes charge”, Sarah “emotional”, Mrs. Castillo “maternal”, Jessica “likes to explode things” and so on so forth. I do applaud though that when making a list of essential things they needed, it was mentioned sanitary products like pads and tampons, which is a subject rarely approached in apocalypse books. Even if the subject only took two paragraphs and was written in a joke.
I did ignore a lot of the characters personality when focusing on the exciting plot, however the thing that bothered me the most was the dialogue between characters and I couldn’t avoid it. It felt like the characters were puppets. Like the lines they were saying were rehearsed previously because everybody seems to be reading each other’s minds. It’s a mix of everybody knows everything about they situation they find themselves in and about each other’s actions and thoughts; and at the same time they are ignorant about simple things that are only there so Jay can point them out. Someone will tell a lie and then later we will know that the person knew they were lying all along. Everybody has the same mindset. Or, in other words, it becomes clear that they come from a single person’s mind. The dialogue is not being employed to further the character’s development but to clear things to the reader.
Apart from that, the plot twist was really good and it made me curious to see what comes next, how things came to be the way they are and how the writer will develop the story further especially with the new “special” additions in the end.
I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars
The story is in the point of view of Jay, an architect married a latina woman named Julia and their persistence in having a normal life even though sinkholes have mysteriously appeared all over the world and no one has an explanation to give about why they’re there and what could possible have made them. The concern doesn’t really kick him until people start disappearing in an exponential rate and the sinkholes have stains of blood around them. Whose blood is it?
The story written by A. O. Khalil has a very steady pace where action just keeps finding you over and over again. It is very intriguing and clearly the first book in a series because it answers questions slowly and not completely. The savage creatures attacking humanity for no reason, determined in destroying every single one of us are very interesting and keep you looking over the shoulder.
However, the book isn’t perfect but does have a lot of room for improvement as the series goes by. The main thing I saw that needed better development are the characters. They fell a bit flat and one-dimensional. The women in particular had all one characteristic that defined them and that was exploited until its breaking point. I feel like the writer did try to write “powerful women” but didn’t succeed. Jules “takes charge”, Sarah “emotional”, Mrs. Castillo “maternal”, Jessica “likes to explode things” and so on so forth. I do applaud though that when making a list of essential things they needed, it was mentioned sanitary products like pads and tampons, which is a subject rarely approached in apocalypse books. Even if the subject only took two paragraphs and was written in a joke.
I did ignore a lot of the characters personality when focusing on the exciting plot, however the thing that bothered me the most was the dialogue between characters and I couldn’t avoid it. It felt like the characters were puppets. Like the lines they were saying were rehearsed previously because everybody seems to be reading each other’s minds. It’s a mix of everybody knows everything about they situation they find themselves in and about each other’s actions and thoughts; and at the same time they are ignorant about simple things that are only there so Jay can point them out. Someone will tell a lie and then later we will know that the person knew they were lying all along. Everybody has the same mindset. Or, in other words, it becomes clear that they come from a single person’s mind. The dialogue is not being employed to further the character’s development but to clear things to the reader.
Apart from that, the plot twist was really good and it made me curious to see what comes next, how things came to be the way they are and how the writer will develop the story further especially with the new “special” additions in the end.
I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars
May 12, 2015
Sinkholes have started appearing in cities around the world and soon people begin to disappear. At first there are only a few but then the entire army disappears in one night. But it isn't until murderous dwarves start crawling out of the sinkholes that panic really sets in. Dubbed the "Uglies" by Jay, the dwarves have only one intention: kill every human in sight. Jay and his wife Jule set off on a journey to save their families and stay safe whilst trying to figure out where the creatures come from.
The plot is really intriguing and I generally enjoyed it. There is a lot of mystery, a lot of action and the writing is gripping.
However, the main character, Jay, is irritating. I can appreciate that he's in a situation that isn't normal but he just comes across as really arrogant. I do think he had good intentions but probably didn't execute them in the right way. He made himself the leader, which is fine, but a good leader is able to use the strengths of his teammates and accept help without needing praise all the time.
It is also very much a male-dominated story. The women are constantly cut off every time they want to try and help. Again, the intentions are probably good here, the men want to protect their family, but women are good fighters too. They can do more than wrap bandages and tell the men how brave they are. I appreciated that the women started to go against the men's orders in the later parts of the book but they were still a bit too submissive for my liking. I wanted them to be stronger and stand up to the men.
I think there are too many characters. I couldn't tell a lot of them apart. There isn't much character development which is probably due to having to write about so many of them. It would have been nice to see more from the point of view of the children or the women.
The cliffhanger at the end is what you call an extreme cliffhanger! It ends just as we begin to discover what the creatures actually are and what they want. It does leave a lot of material left to be explored in a sequel though. I think the plot is a really cool idea and I did enjoy it but it could benefit from the characters being developed more to really make it stand out.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
The plot is really intriguing and I generally enjoyed it. There is a lot of mystery, a lot of action and the writing is gripping.
However, the main character, Jay, is irritating. I can appreciate that he's in a situation that isn't normal but he just comes across as really arrogant. I do think he had good intentions but probably didn't execute them in the right way. He made himself the leader, which is fine, but a good leader is able to use the strengths of his teammates and accept help without needing praise all the time.
It is also very much a male-dominated story. The women are constantly cut off every time they want to try and help. Again, the intentions are probably good here, the men want to protect their family, but women are good fighters too. They can do more than wrap bandages and tell the men how brave they are. I appreciated that the women started to go against the men's orders in the later parts of the book but they were still a bit too submissive for my liking. I wanted them to be stronger and stand up to the men.
I think there are too many characters. I couldn't tell a lot of them apart. There isn't much character development which is probably due to having to write about so many of them. It would have been nice to see more from the point of view of the children or the women.
The cliffhanger at the end is what you call an extreme cliffhanger! It ends just as we begin to discover what the creatures actually are and what they want. It does leave a lot of material left to be explored in a sequel though. I think the plot is a really cool idea and I did enjoy it but it could benefit from the characters being developed more to really make it stand out.
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
August 14, 2015
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Book received in exchange for an honest review
Quick paced and gritty, Emergence depicts an incredible end of the world scenario in which creatures emerge from spontaneously appearing sink holes around the world.
It’s a story of survival and the type I appreciate because it has none of that ‘it’s up to me’ prophetic mentality or chosen one trope (yet…). It’s nitty and gritty survival and basic instincts.
Emergence is very sci-fi and honestly reminiscent of a SYFY channel movie (and I don’t know about you, but I love those, most of the time).
Emergence, however, is meh. When it comes to reading a book so founded on surviving I want to root for the character(s), but I didn’t find myself doing that this time around. Our main character Jay was annoying with no clear convictions or characterization for that matter. He’s boring, bland, and aggravating.
Considering the large cast of characters, you’d think there would be someone memorable or someone to root for at least, but not really. Unfortunately, they all mostly seem unimportant and I’m sure if they were removed from the narrative it wouldn’t change the pace of the story at all.
Because the story is told from Jay’s point of view, we only get to see the story unfold via his opinions, which I felt were quite unfounded. I mean, it’s hard to believe (considering how many people were involved) he was the one who came up with all the plans, all the theories, etc.
All in all, it was okay read, but I don’t see myself continuing the series.
Read if you like: fiction - sci fi, speculative fiction, male lead/pov, apocalyptic/dystopia, survival/character driven narrative
Book received in exchange for an honest review
Quick paced and gritty, Emergence depicts an incredible end of the world scenario in which creatures emerge from spontaneously appearing sink holes around the world.
It’s a story of survival and the type I appreciate because it has none of that ‘it’s up to me’ prophetic mentality or chosen one trope (yet…). It’s nitty and gritty survival and basic instincts.
Emergence is very sci-fi and honestly reminiscent of a SYFY channel movie (and I don’t know about you, but I love those, most of the time).
Emergence, however, is meh. When it comes to reading a book so founded on surviving I want to root for the character(s), but I didn’t find myself doing that this time around. Our main character Jay was annoying with no clear convictions or characterization for that matter. He’s boring, bland, and aggravating.
Considering the large cast of characters, you’d think there would be someone memorable or someone to root for at least, but not really. Unfortunately, they all mostly seem unimportant and I’m sure if they were removed from the narrative it wouldn’t change the pace of the story at all.
Because the story is told from Jay’s point of view, we only get to see the story unfold via his opinions, which I felt were quite unfounded. I mean, it’s hard to believe (considering how many people were involved) he was the one who came up with all the plans, all the theories, etc.
All in all, it was okay read, but I don’t see myself continuing the series.
Read if you like: fiction - sci fi, speculative fiction, male lead/pov, apocalyptic/dystopia, survival/character driven narrative
April 30, 2015
The Emergence (Missing Era #1) by A.O. Khalil
My rating: 1.5/5
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I was super-excited to read this book when the author first messaged me. The synopsis made it seem interesting, but now I'm just... disappointed.
There was so much potential here, so many things could have been better, but it fell flat. Fact is that the plot is the strength of this book. I couldn't find it in me to care about any of the characters and the narrative was kind of inconstant. This book has a really awkward pace, for so many chapters nothing would happen, and then, out of nowhere things would just start going wild. I didn't mind it at the start, but suddenly there were so many characters. First there were two, then three, then five, then seven, then almost ten new characters came in and I couldn't keep up with who they were and where they came from.
For the first chapters Jayson goes on and on and on and on about these so called sinkholes, so much that at one point I whispered to myself "If you say sinkhole one more time...", of course the word was repeated about eight times in the next page. I was thinking to myself "I get it, there are sinkholes, I haven't forgotten about them, please stop." Then he stopped... just to replace it with "uglies". It drove me nuts.
I felt like nothing really happened in the first three chapters, the main character just explained what's happening... over and over again; repeating "sinkholes" like it's his mantra. Then he suddenly realized that all these missing people and sinkholes aren't natural disasters, which felt like something he already knew.
In chapter four when he and his brother started making plans about what to do and where to hide, he completely forgot about his wife's family and just a moment before that he had forgotten about his sisters. It felt really odd that he would just forget about them.
After that it all seemed to repeat itself, they went from one place to another picking people up before hiding again and every now and then they'd have to fight off a couple of "uglies".
It just seemed like the first or second draft of a book and it rubbed me the wrong way more than one time.
Women don't have identities in this story. I wanted to know more about Sandra, and Jule, the twins, Jule's mother and all the other women, but that never happened since they were constantly pushed aside in order to give men protagonism and rarely talked if it wasn't to ask them what to or tell them how brave and good they were.
Men were in charge since the very start. The men took the decisions for their wives, daughters, sisters and other companions and even if one of them happened to protest they'd still follow their orders. They're all treated as damsels in distress, as if women aren't able to protect themselves. At one point the main character is injured and has to be saved by other two men and one of his thoughts is "when did I become a damsel in distress?" or something like that. Women are constantly asking the men what to do, as if they aren't able to come up with something by themselves, even though Jule seemed pretty clever.
As if this wasn't enough there's a joke about periods right in the middle of the book when Jule gave them the list with the things they need and his brother said "no wonder some of you are in such a bad mood", because apparently being killed off by psycho dwarves wasn't enough reason to be in a bad mood. I felt like women in this book were only there to look pretty and to be pushed around, but as soon as one of them was aware of her attractiveness she was “full of herself”. Even this little girl was only noticed by the main character because she’s “cute”. These girls were always quiet and let the men take all the decisions for them, ALL OF THEM. They were not able to fight for themselves and needed guys to protect them. We barely got to know them, but as soon as a new male character was introduced, he was described with details. Phrases like "Let the girl crying begin!" just made me want to close this book and read something I actually enjoyed.
As a Latina girl things like “Sí, we definitely are their target”, “He continued mumbling in Spanish”, “Son, your theories are loco”, and the masterpiece “He has Latin accent” annoyed me. Excuse me, but Hispanic people are able to speak English without slipping back into Spanish and there so many “Latin accents”. Which one of them are you talking about? Guatemalan? Peruvian? Nicaraguan? Maybe Costa Rican? I won't ever know.
Towards the end there were endless pages of dialog and not nearly enough description, so much that I'm not even sue of what happened.
There were scenes that made me feel like I was in the book, and made me enjoy it for a couple of minutes, but they were over so fast that it almost didn't matter.
Overall I give this book 1.5 stars because of the potential.
My rating: 1.5/5
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I was super-excited to read this book when the author first messaged me. The synopsis made it seem interesting, but now I'm just... disappointed.
There was so much potential here, so many things could have been better, but it fell flat. Fact is that the plot is the strength of this book. I couldn't find it in me to care about any of the characters and the narrative was kind of inconstant. This book has a really awkward pace, for so many chapters nothing would happen, and then, out of nowhere things would just start going wild. I didn't mind it at the start, but suddenly there were so many characters. First there were two, then three, then five, then seven, then almost ten new characters came in and I couldn't keep up with who they were and where they came from.
For the first chapters Jayson goes on and on and on and on about these so called sinkholes, so much that at one point I whispered to myself "If you say sinkhole one more time...", of course the word was repeated about eight times in the next page. I was thinking to myself "I get it, there are sinkholes, I haven't forgotten about them, please stop." Then he stopped... just to replace it with "uglies". It drove me nuts.
I felt like nothing really happened in the first three chapters, the main character just explained what's happening... over and over again; repeating "sinkholes" like it's his mantra. Then he suddenly realized that all these missing people and sinkholes aren't natural disasters, which felt like something he already knew.
In chapter four when he and his brother started making plans about what to do and where to hide, he completely forgot about his wife's family and just a moment before that he had forgotten about his sisters. It felt really odd that he would just forget about them.
After that it all seemed to repeat itself, they went from one place to another picking people up before hiding again and every now and then they'd have to fight off a couple of "uglies".
It just seemed like the first or second draft of a book and it rubbed me the wrong way more than one time.
Women don't have identities in this story. I wanted to know more about Sandra, and Jule, the twins, Jule's mother and all the other women, but that never happened since they were constantly pushed aside in order to give men protagonism and rarely talked if it wasn't to ask them what to or tell them how brave and good they were.
Men were in charge since the very start. The men took the decisions for their wives, daughters, sisters and other companions and even if one of them happened to protest they'd still follow their orders. They're all treated as damsels in distress, as if women aren't able to protect themselves. At one point the main character is injured and has to be saved by other two men and one of his thoughts is "when did I become a damsel in distress?" or something like that. Women are constantly asking the men what to do, as if they aren't able to come up with something by themselves, even though Jule seemed pretty clever.
As if this wasn't enough there's a joke about periods right in the middle of the book when Jule gave them the list with the things they need and his brother said "no wonder some of you are in such a bad mood", because apparently being killed off by psycho dwarves wasn't enough reason to be in a bad mood. I felt like women in this book were only there to look pretty and to be pushed around, but as soon as one of them was aware of her attractiveness she was “full of herself”. Even this little girl was only noticed by the main character because she’s “cute”. These girls were always quiet and let the men take all the decisions for them, ALL OF THEM. They were not able to fight for themselves and needed guys to protect them. We barely got to know them, but as soon as a new male character was introduced, he was described with details. Phrases like "Let the girl crying begin!" just made me want to close this book and read something I actually enjoyed.
As a Latina girl things like “Sí, we definitely are their target”, “He continued mumbling in Spanish”, “Son, your theories are loco”, and the masterpiece “He has Latin accent” annoyed me. Excuse me, but Hispanic people are able to speak English without slipping back into Spanish and there so many “Latin accents”. Which one of them are you talking about? Guatemalan? Peruvian? Nicaraguan? Maybe Costa Rican? I won't ever know.
Towards the end there were endless pages of dialog and not nearly enough description, so much that I'm not even sue of what happened.
There were scenes that made me feel like I was in the book, and made me enjoy it for a couple of minutes, but they were over so fast that it almost didn't matter.
Overall I give this book 1.5 stars because of the potential.
July 17, 2015
What do you do when sinkholes begin opening all over the world and seven percent of the world's population is missing?
Resume life as normal in The Emergence…
The story centers around a married couple named Jayson and Jule. They are basically living in this apocalyptic world where these crazy sink holes have opened all around the earth and instead of anyone being concerned about them, they continue to go about their normal, everyday life. Soon, they discover that inside these holes contain these scary little alien-like dwarf men also known as “Uglies,” as Jayson likes to call them. These beings are crazed maniacs who are killing the humans and dragging their bodies into the sinkholes. The entire military branches have all disappeared as well as the President. All of the world’s security is missing and the civilians are left to fend for themselves. Jayson and Jule are on their own as they attempt to gather their families and flee.
The way in which the characters act sometimes is strange and questionable. Like what did Jule do behind the bedroom doors to calm down Sarah? Take a bong rip? Then Jay and Jule want to argue about the number of bags Jule packed while these beastly pint-sized men are trying to kill them?
Peter, the hitch hiking neighbor seems a bit suspicious. Why is he angry when Jay begins to collect weapons? Duh, it’s like a zombie apocalypse out there, of course they need to fight if they intend to stay alive.
Back to Jay…sure it's nice to have a plan, but during the middle of a crisis are you really going to pause, hash out a plan, argue about it and then act? Well that’s exactly what Jay does. Every. Single. Time. It’s almost as if he’s just stalling to buy more time because he’d rather not confront the danger in the first place, even though he has no choice. My thoughts on Jay: Jule has more balls than her husband. Everything about him is feminine, even the way he spells his name. He’s cowardly, argumentative and controlling. Blahhhhh
So besides my differences with Jay, I still enjoyed reading the story. It kept my interest and it was full of suspense.
But the ending completely lost me.
Here I was, expecting to learn more about these Teribiens, but instead I was introduced to Drorar Acric, leader of some higher presence that consumes souls??? I’m totally lost now and found that by the end of the book, I had more questions than answers. Hopefully some of these will be answered in book 2.
Resume life as normal in The Emergence…
The story centers around a married couple named Jayson and Jule. They are basically living in this apocalyptic world where these crazy sink holes have opened all around the earth and instead of anyone being concerned about them, they continue to go about their normal, everyday life. Soon, they discover that inside these holes contain these scary little alien-like dwarf men also known as “Uglies,” as Jayson likes to call them. These beings are crazed maniacs who are killing the humans and dragging their bodies into the sinkholes. The entire military branches have all disappeared as well as the President. All of the world’s security is missing and the civilians are left to fend for themselves. Jayson and Jule are on their own as they attempt to gather their families and flee.
The way in which the characters act sometimes is strange and questionable. Like what did Jule do behind the bedroom doors to calm down Sarah? Take a bong rip? Then Jay and Jule want to argue about the number of bags Jule packed while these beastly pint-sized men are trying to kill them?
Peter, the hitch hiking neighbor seems a bit suspicious. Why is he angry when Jay begins to collect weapons? Duh, it’s like a zombie apocalypse out there, of course they need to fight if they intend to stay alive.
Back to Jay…sure it's nice to have a plan, but during the middle of a crisis are you really going to pause, hash out a plan, argue about it and then act? Well that’s exactly what Jay does. Every. Single. Time. It’s almost as if he’s just stalling to buy more time because he’d rather not confront the danger in the first place, even though he has no choice. My thoughts on Jay: Jule has more balls than her husband. Everything about him is feminine, even the way he spells his name. He’s cowardly, argumentative and controlling. Blahhhhh
So besides my differences with Jay, I still enjoyed reading the story. It kept my interest and it was full of suspense.
But the ending completely lost me.
Here I was, expecting to learn more about these Teribiens, but instead I was introduced to Drorar Acric, leader of some higher presence that consumes souls??? I’m totally lost now and found that by the end of the book, I had more questions than answers. Hopefully some of these will be answered in book 2.
May 24, 2015
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated here are purely my own and not prompted by the author in any way.
May 1- I really enjoyed this book, actually. It had issues, don't get me wrong, but the plot was driving enough that I didn't feel bogged down by the writing errors & inconsistency. Different colloquialisms were used throughout the book, as well as both US and UK spellings. There was also a lack of variety when it came to descriptive words, where the author would use the same adjectives and adverbs several times in succession. However, the action was quick and interesting for a good 80% of the book so I didn't have much incentive to stop and pick apart what I was reading. The author was able to paint a clear picture of setting and emotion but I was disappointed when the book ended and I didn't know the characters any better than when I first met them. The exposition was awkward in places, where the MC would come to a full stop and describe something that happened years ago, then continue the action. I figured all of that would come together at the end and the development would be beautiful and cohesive, but it ultimately fell flat. Another element that I missed was the typical "rising action -- climax -- falling action" story structure. Perhaps that's just because I was looking out for the central scene of the book, so if I had read this under different conditions then it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but I really do feel that the story was not as strong as it would've been if it had included a defined climax. Perhaps the worst of the issues was the chaos of characters. There were so many that I had an extremely difficult time keeping track of them all--even forgetting which one was the MC's wife. If the author had kept to a smaller cast, I think many of the problems would've been resolved.
>Overall, I look forward to the next book in the series and hope that the author will invest in a good editor + invite some beta readers. The author has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see what they come up with next!
May 1- I really enjoyed this book, actually. It had issues, don't get me wrong, but the plot was driving enough that I didn't feel bogged down by the writing errors & inconsistency. Different colloquialisms were used throughout the book, as well as both US and UK spellings. There was also a lack of variety when it came to descriptive words, where the author would use the same adjectives and adverbs several times in succession. However, the action was quick and interesting for a good 80% of the book so I didn't have much incentive to stop and pick apart what I was reading. The author was able to paint a clear picture of setting and emotion but I was disappointed when the book ended and I didn't know the characters any better than when I first met them. The exposition was awkward in places, where the MC would come to a full stop and describe something that happened years ago, then continue the action. I figured all of that would come together at the end and the development would be beautiful and cohesive, but it ultimately fell flat. Another element that I missed was the typical "rising action -- climax -- falling action" story structure. Perhaps that's just because I was looking out for the central scene of the book, so if I had read this under different conditions then it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but I really do feel that the story was not as strong as it would've been if it had included a defined climax. Perhaps the worst of the issues was the chaos of characters. There were so many that I had an extremely difficult time keeping track of them all--even forgetting which one was the MC's wife. If the author had kept to a smaller cast, I think many of the problems would've been resolved.
>Overall, I look forward to the next book in the series and hope that the author will invest in a good editor + invite some beta readers. The author has a lot of potential and I'm excited to see what they come up with next!
August 15, 2017
Reading the description of the book made me excited to read A. O. Khalil’s ebook. This is just my cup of tea. I love books with mystery and horror especially when it is inspired from real horrifying events. The moment I read it, I was immediately sucked in the story. It was that good, packed with action and adrenaline rush and a lot of thinking.
My only problem is some conversation between the characters were eyebrow raising. There were too many characters that were introduced but they don’t have too much exposure. I want to know more about those children, what they felt during that time and how they are holding on through this and the main character, Jay, came a bit of whiny and kind of full of himself but I think that’s just him being human faced with this apocalypse. I admire his thinking skills and his desire to protect everyone which can also be his flaw but just like what I said, that what makes him human. Also I find it funny in the first parts because he’s all ‘ugh’ and ‘wtf is this happening’ like he’s more annoyed than scared because to be honest I think I will just be like that.
Anyway, kudos to A. O. Khalil’s way of writing a cliffhanger like come on man, when are you going to publish book two? I’m so excited to read it and I want to know more about everything!
Missing Era: The Emergence is a good read and everyone must try it once it is published fully.
My only problem is some conversation between the characters were eyebrow raising. There were too many characters that were introduced but they don’t have too much exposure. I want to know more about those children, what they felt during that time and how they are holding on through this and the main character, Jay, came a bit of whiny and kind of full of himself but I think that’s just him being human faced with this apocalypse. I admire his thinking skills and his desire to protect everyone which can also be his flaw but just like what I said, that what makes him human. Also I find it funny in the first parts because he’s all ‘ugh’ and ‘wtf is this happening’ like he’s more annoyed than scared because to be honest I think I will just be like that.
Anyway, kudos to A. O. Khalil’s way of writing a cliffhanger like come on man, when are you going to publish book two? I’m so excited to read it and I want to know more about everything!
Missing Era: The Emergence is a good read and everyone must try it once it is published fully.
May 6, 2015
I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, I did really enjoy the story. It started out pretty "what even is going on" to "whoa! liking the action!" The action was great and the monsters of this story were really different and it was really nice to get a totally different type of threat. It made it stand out from other end of the world stories that I've read.
I do have some complaints about this book. First of all, some of the writing is really choppy. My main pet peeve was how many times there should have been a question mark...but there simply wasn't. It made the sentences really weird to read.
My next would have to be about the main character Jayson. He was an okay guy, but I felt like I couldn't identify with him at all. He was a strong male character, but at the same time he was a little weak and that definitely put me off a bit. There were a lot of parts where he annoyed me.
But yeah, I did really enjoy the story and if/when the author puts out a sequel and I will make sure to pick it up!
First of all, I did really enjoy the story. It started out pretty "what even is going on" to "whoa! liking the action!" The action was great and the monsters of this story were really different and it was really nice to get a totally different type of threat. It made it stand out from other end of the world stories that I've read.
I do have some complaints about this book. First of all, some of the writing is really choppy. My main pet peeve was how many times there should have been a question mark...but there simply wasn't. It made the sentences really weird to read.
My next would have to be about the main character Jayson. He was an okay guy, but I felt like I couldn't identify with him at all. He was a strong male character, but at the same time he was a little weak and that definitely put me off a bit. There were a lot of parts where he annoyed me.
But yeah, I did really enjoy the story and if/when the author puts out a sequel and I will make sure to pick it up!
May 9, 2015
4 stars! Review to follow!
November 15, 2015
I think I'm done with reading books from people who have approached me on tumblr...at least for a little while. I read the prologue on the authors tumblr, and honestly I loved it! The writing was good, the premise was really interesting, and it had this feel to it that I only ever get with really good horror novels. So of course I said I'd read it. Unfortunately, the prologue was the only bit of good writing in this entire book. It's like it was written by another person, the difference was so huge.
The idea behind this story is all around the world these sinkholes start appearing. Pretty weird, but it happens right? But when people try to fill them, they just reappear. Nothing they do can close the holes. Then people start to go missing. Then the entire US army and police forces around the country disappear. Naturally, people are freaked out. We follow Jay and his wife Jule as they travel around their area trying to survive. The premise is really cool. I want to know what's with these holes, who or what's making them, and why. I just really really wish the execution was better. And the writing. Oh man, the writing. I can't believe I'm going to say this, I feel awful for saying this, but it honestly felt like I was reading "My Immortal". You know. That awful Harry Potter fanfiction. That "My Immortal". That's the best (worst??) way I can think of to describe this writing style, and I hate to do it I truly do, but that's what kept going through my mind. Now, I'd rather read this sort of writing than subject myself to that fanfiction again, but that's not saying much.
Our main character and narrator is Jay and I absolutely cannot stand him. I was 7% into the book, and every time his wife started talking, he tuned her out. Told us something along the lines of, "I have no idea what she's saying, I stopped listening a while ago." Come on. That's your wife. The person you supposedly love so much, you want to spend the rest of your lives together, and you're ignoring her? When they're trying to figure out how to get to his parents house, Jule asks about her parents and he just goes blank. She calls him out, saying he only wanted to save his family, not hers. I mean, they eventually only get to her family anyway, but come on Jay. Jule shouldn't feel too bad, though. Jay literally forgot he had two younger sisters. I'm pretty sure this was just a way to inform the reader that these two girls existed, but wow that made him look like such a jerk. There had to have been a better way to write that scene.
The women in this book are so poorly written. They're pushed aside by the men so all the Manly Men can save the day and be heroes and saving all the Precious Fragile Women. They even make a period joke. Seriously. Wow, I'm so sorry that a person with a uterus can't stop the blood flow during the apocalypse how rude of them. If the women aren't shoved aside for Macho Salvation, they're crying over everything. Now, tears are good. They're expected in a high stress environment such as this. But the way it's used is just awful Jay all but makes fun of these girls crying (even when its his sisters??) and then some guy, usually Jay, swoops in to comfort them. None of the women have any depth, no one does really, and it's just so disappointing. Jule has medical background and she uses it off page. I want to know more about her, what she likes, what she does. Jay's sisters go to school (I am always baffled when siblings attend the same college, perhaps its different for twins but I made an effort to get as far away from any school my siblings went to as we could afford), they supposedly have boyfriends, or did, but that's really all we learn? One or both of them (I get identical twins can be hard to tell apart, but please make an effort in a book so that they don't seem like cookie cutouts of each other) magically knows how to make explosives out of random kitchen items. I'd like to know how that worked. Why does she have this knowledge. The average person doesn't have this knowledge. I'm slightly concerned, and very skeptical.
The creatures that came out of the holes were...special. Again, I liked the idea, but the execution was just so far off I couldn't enjoy it. The author spent all this time describing these symbols on these creatures, so clearly they're important, but then they don't give us any answers. Jay somehow came to the conclusion that the symbols on their backs represent the failures of ancestors, which is cool and all but how the heck did you figure that out. We were given no prior knowledge that could lead to this conclusion. It's like the author just remembered hey I need to let the readers know this important fact and then gave it to us. And then the ending just took a turn and it's like the author completely threw the creatures out the window? The idea of these things living underground and then coming up and utterly destroying us is such a great idea. It's absolutely terrifying. So why just throw that idea away? This was all somewhat believable, until that last chapter. Why was that even added. Why was that even thought. That's the plot to a whole other story. I want to know more about these strange creatures, and not just what you happened to find in a book that was conveniently available at the library. That book sounded so obscure, I'm absolutely shocked it was at that library.
This book was such a train wreck. I have absolutely no desire to continue this series. The writing is awful, the characters are dull and annoying, the plot is everywhere, and I just do not care at all. If this wasn't for review, I would have stopped reading around 20% it was so awful, and I'm really disappointed in that because this sounded so good.
One final note: there was a moment where Jay gets really pumped up in a fight and he comments that his "testosterone kicks into overdrive". I just wanted to point out that the term you're looking for is "adrenaline". Testosterone is the hormone that gives a person more stereotypical masculine traits (strong jaw, more defined muscles, body hair), like estrogen would give someone more feminine traits. Testosterone is secreted naturally by the body throughout a persons life, kicks in during puberty and then tapers off as a person reaches old age. There are moments when testosterone levels are higher than others, but it's not what you're looking for. Adrenaline is a hormone that kicks in during a high stress environment, such as your sports team winning a big game, or you're fighting a particularly difficult boss battle and winning. Or, you know, the end of the world has come and you're being attacked by killer dwarves. This is what kicks in and allows people incredible strength and the ability to ignore intense pain. People have been known to lift up cars and run on broken legs when adrenaline levels are high. This was a tiny thing, but it bothered me a lot because it's a simple thing. We covered this in eighth grade health class. I'm rusty on my knowledge, but still. Please do your research.
The idea behind this story is all around the world these sinkholes start appearing. Pretty weird, but it happens right? But when people try to fill them, they just reappear. Nothing they do can close the holes. Then people start to go missing. Then the entire US army and police forces around the country disappear. Naturally, people are freaked out. We follow Jay and his wife Jule as they travel around their area trying to survive. The premise is really cool. I want to know what's with these holes, who or what's making them, and why. I just really really wish the execution was better. And the writing. Oh man, the writing. I can't believe I'm going to say this, I feel awful for saying this, but it honestly felt like I was reading "My Immortal". You know. That awful Harry Potter fanfiction. That "My Immortal". That's the best (worst??) way I can think of to describe this writing style, and I hate to do it I truly do, but that's what kept going through my mind. Now, I'd rather read this sort of writing than subject myself to that fanfiction again, but that's not saying much.
Our main character and narrator is Jay and I absolutely cannot stand him. I was 7% into the book, and every time his wife started talking, he tuned her out. Told us something along the lines of, "I have no idea what she's saying, I stopped listening a while ago." Come on. That's your wife. The person you supposedly love so much, you want to spend the rest of your lives together, and you're ignoring her? When they're trying to figure out how to get to his parents house, Jule asks about her parents and he just goes blank. She calls him out, saying he only wanted to save his family, not hers. I mean, they eventually only get to her family anyway, but come on Jay. Jule shouldn't feel too bad, though. Jay literally forgot he had two younger sisters. I'm pretty sure this was just a way to inform the reader that these two girls existed, but wow that made him look like such a jerk. There had to have been a better way to write that scene.
The women in this book are so poorly written. They're pushed aside by the men so all the Manly Men can save the day and be heroes and saving all the Precious Fragile Women. They even make a period joke. Seriously. Wow, I'm so sorry that a person with a uterus can't stop the blood flow during the apocalypse how rude of them. If the women aren't shoved aside for Macho Salvation, they're crying over everything. Now, tears are good. They're expected in a high stress environment such as this. But the way it's used is just awful Jay all but makes fun of these girls crying (even when its his sisters??) and then some guy, usually Jay, swoops in to comfort them. None of the women have any depth, no one does really, and it's just so disappointing. Jule has medical background and she uses it off page. I want to know more about her, what she likes, what she does. Jay's sisters go to school (I am always baffled when siblings attend the same college, perhaps its different for twins but I made an effort to get as far away from any school my siblings went to as we could afford), they supposedly have boyfriends, or did, but that's really all we learn? One or both of them (I get identical twins can be hard to tell apart, but please make an effort in a book so that they don't seem like cookie cutouts of each other) magically knows how to make explosives out of random kitchen items. I'd like to know how that worked. Why does she have this knowledge. The average person doesn't have this knowledge. I'm slightly concerned, and very skeptical.
The creatures that came out of the holes were...special. Again, I liked the idea, but the execution was just so far off I couldn't enjoy it. The author spent all this time describing these symbols on these creatures, so clearly they're important, but then they don't give us any answers. Jay somehow came to the conclusion that the symbols on their backs represent the failures of ancestors, which is cool and all but how the heck did you figure that out. We were given no prior knowledge that could lead to this conclusion. It's like the author just remembered hey I need to let the readers know this important fact and then gave it to us. And then the ending just took a turn and it's like the author completely threw the creatures out the window? The idea of these things living underground and then coming up and utterly destroying us is such a great idea. It's absolutely terrifying. So why just throw that idea away? This was all somewhat believable, until that last chapter. Why was that even added. Why was that even thought. That's the plot to a whole other story. I want to know more about these strange creatures, and not just what you happened to find in a book that was conveniently available at the library. That book sounded so obscure, I'm absolutely shocked it was at that library.
This book was such a train wreck. I have absolutely no desire to continue this series. The writing is awful, the characters are dull and annoying, the plot is everywhere, and I just do not care at all. If this wasn't for review, I would have stopped reading around 20% it was so awful, and I'm really disappointed in that because this sounded so good.
One final note: there was a moment where Jay gets really pumped up in a fight and he comments that his "testosterone kicks into overdrive". I just wanted to point out that the term you're looking for is "adrenaline". Testosterone is the hormone that gives a person more stereotypical masculine traits (strong jaw, more defined muscles, body hair), like estrogen would give someone more feminine traits. Testosterone is secreted naturally by the body throughout a persons life, kicks in during puberty and then tapers off as a person reaches old age. There are moments when testosterone levels are higher than others, but it's not what you're looking for. Adrenaline is a hormone that kicks in during a high stress environment, such as your sports team winning a big game, or you're fighting a particularly difficult boss battle and winning. Or, you know, the end of the world has come and you're being attacked by killer dwarves. This is what kicks in and allows people incredible strength and the ability to ignore intense pain. People have been known to lift up cars and run on broken legs when adrenaline levels are high. This was a tiny thing, but it bothered me a lot because it's a simple thing. We covered this in eighth grade health class. I'm rusty on my knowledge, but still. Please do your research.
July 12, 2015
I’ve received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Let’s make something very clear before I start the review per se: I loved the idea behind this book. It was a very interesting end-of-the-world story with some very intriguing twists and turns. I would gladly give 5 stars to the idea, for the novelty of it. However, there were some things that I could oversee so I could give more than 2 stars to the book and I think the main reason was the execution.
I’ll divide this review in two parts: the things I liked and the things I didn’t like.
Things I liked:
1. Like I mentioned, I really loved the idea. Sinkholes start appearing all over the world and suddenly people start to go missing. The government and all authorities are baffled and no one has a good explanation for what is going on. And then, all in once, things start to get real bad.
It was an awesome idea that could, and can, lead to an awesome story. I am very intrigued by where the story is going and where it is going to end.
2. The Uglies. The Uglies are the people who start coming out of the sinkholes. They are completely different from us and they do things in a very interesting way. They are, most definitely, a really nice antagonist.
3. The prologue. It was excellent to set the tone for the story as well as where we are time-wise. It was one of the most well written parts of the book, if I can say so, and it left me wanting for more. If I have to be completely honest it was the prologue, more than the description of the book, that left me hooked and curious to know what was going to happen.
4. I really liked the main characters being adults. Nowadays, when we have a dystopic story or an end-of-the-world tale many of the main characters tend to be adolescents or young adults. The main character of this book and its narrator, Jayson, is an adult married man. This was a very nice change.
5. The POV. I like first person narrators because we get to see the story as someone sees it. Also because first person narrators are completely unreliable and they can’t be trusted in any way. It is nice to try to weave out what is actually going on and what is the character’s opinions on stuff.
Things I didn’t like:
1. The narrative itself. I feel so much could have been done with the idea and I didn’t see much happening. I mean, the story doesn’t stop for one second, with the characters jumping from one place to the other, but many things I perceive as completely useless. .
Also, the narrative repeats itself quite a bit, with many things being said two times or more in the same page.
2. I couldn’t make much difference between the characters voices. Besides their opinions sometimes, they were no different. There was no distinguishable tone or mannerisms.
3. But the main thing, the thing that really made me lower the rating (from 3 stars to 2) was the inherent sexism of this book. The main character was the one who always had the ideas, who led, who was always better than the other ones. The girls were never taken to the action, there was always an excuse to “keep them safe”, the girls had all the emotional reactions, etc. If that was only the main character, that would not be much of a problem, because the character can be misogynistic to no difference to the narrative. But I couldn’t separate the character’s opinions and actions from the narrative itself. Everyone and their dog seemed to think the same.
All in all, this story has lots of potential and I am really intrigued to see where this is going. There is a good possibility that I will buy the next book to see how the story will unfold. The twist in the end was pretty nice and hinted at bigger things to come.
Let’s make something very clear before I start the review per se: I loved the idea behind this book. It was a very interesting end-of-the-world story with some very intriguing twists and turns. I would gladly give 5 stars to the idea, for the novelty of it. However, there were some things that I could oversee so I could give more than 2 stars to the book and I think the main reason was the execution.
I’ll divide this review in two parts: the things I liked and the things I didn’t like.
Things I liked:
1. Like I mentioned, I really loved the idea. Sinkholes start appearing all over the world and suddenly people start to go missing. The government and all authorities are baffled and no one has a good explanation for what is going on. And then, all in once, things start to get real bad.
It was an awesome idea that could, and can, lead to an awesome story. I am very intrigued by where the story is going and where it is going to end.
2. The Uglies. The Uglies are the people who start coming out of the sinkholes. They are completely different from us and they do things in a very interesting way. They are, most definitely, a really nice antagonist.
3. The prologue. It was excellent to set the tone for the story as well as where we are time-wise. It was one of the most well written parts of the book, if I can say so, and it left me wanting for more. If I have to be completely honest it was the prologue, more than the description of the book, that left me hooked and curious to know what was going to happen.
4. I really liked the main characters being adults. Nowadays, when we have a dystopic story or an end-of-the-world tale many of the main characters tend to be adolescents or young adults. The main character of this book and its narrator, Jayson, is an adult married man. This was a very nice change.
5. The POV. I like first person narrators because we get to see the story as someone sees it. Also because first person narrators are completely unreliable and they can’t be trusted in any way. It is nice to try to weave out what is actually going on and what is the character’s opinions on stuff.
Things I didn’t like:
1. The narrative itself. I feel so much could have been done with the idea and I didn’t see much happening. I mean, the story doesn’t stop for one second, with the characters jumping from one place to the other, but many things I perceive as completely useless. .
Also, the narrative repeats itself quite a bit, with many things being said two times or more in the same page.
2. I couldn’t make much difference between the characters voices. Besides their opinions sometimes, they were no different. There was no distinguishable tone or mannerisms.
3. But the main thing, the thing that really made me lower the rating (from 3 stars to 2) was the inherent sexism of this book. The main character was the one who always had the ideas, who led, who was always better than the other ones. The girls were never taken to the action, there was always an excuse to “keep them safe”, the girls had all the emotional reactions, etc. If that was only the main character, that would not be much of a problem, because the character can be misogynistic to no difference to the narrative. But I couldn’t separate the character’s opinions and actions from the narrative itself. Everyone and their dog seemed to think the same.
All in all, this story has lots of potential and I am really intrigued to see where this is going. There is a good possibility that I will buy the next book to see how the story will unfold. The twist in the end was pretty nice and hinted at bigger things to come.
April 18, 2015
I was asked by the Author to read this book to review before the publish date, This review is spoiler free!
I really enjoyed reading this book so much, I really liked the main plot and story line, I felt straight away that it was very unique, as normally with an apocalyptic story line the author would pick to write a story about zombies, it was really nice to see that the Author had created up his own creatures and a background behind to why these creatures was coming up out of the sinkholes.
I really enjoyed a lot of the description in the book in certain places, at one scene Khalil puts a lot into detail into describing the creatures anatomy and appearance, making the book very creepy to read at times, I also really liked reading the action scenes in the book, where the characters was being attacked by the creatures or having to run away, with all of the action being really fast paced and written really well.
This book has been the first book in a long time to make me feel really panicked, especially in the scene where the characters first encounter the creature, Which I really liked as I have been picking up horror books for years without feeling scared, and it really added to the atmosphere of the story for it to feel creepy and tense.
I really liked the main character Jay, I thought his attitude to everything going on around him was very realistic, being a bit selfish in areas, or wanting to be a bit of a control freak to make sure that his family was kept safe, I really liked how Jay was written to be realistic and selfish, and not made out to be like a perfect character in the middle of an apocalypse who saved the day and considered everyone but himself all the while. I also really liked how at the beginning of the book Jay is almost at the point of not caring about all the sinkholes while everyone else around him was worrying, and it's not till later when he realised that everything is more serious that what he first thought, adding to the build up of the plot.
I would have liked to have had some more scenes in with his girlfriend Jules though, I really liked her as a character and was disappointed that she wasn't in a few more scenes as I felt like she could have been there to help out more with going out for supplies or just backing Jay and the rest of the group up.
The cliff hanger at the end was amazing and completely unexpected, it begins to show you which direction the next book can go off into without giving away to much information, making me want to read the next book even more.
the only issues I did have with reading this book is that I found that too many minor characters was introduced and joined in as part of the gang, this didn't bother me too much, but I did sometimes wonder why some character was introduced for them to not be involved in the story at all except for just being there as an extra person in their hideaway, and that this could have been avoided by making them a part of the story or by have just not having them involved at all
I also think that some of the dialogue between some of the characters could have been a bit more structured, as some parts of the conversations seemed to drag on for a bit longer than I liked. And again I thought some parts was unneeded and could have been removed, such as Jay repeated having the conversation with others about how he called the creatures 'Uglies'
However though you shouldn't let these Issues put you off reading the book as it is a really good read with a lot of atmosphere within the story, and I do think it is really well written for A. O. Khalil’s first book, you can really tell how much time and effort he put into creating and writing the story just from reading it. I had loads of fun reading and Reviewing this book and I really can't wait to read the sequel so I can find out what happens next :)
I really enjoyed reading this book so much, I really liked the main plot and story line, I felt straight away that it was very unique, as normally with an apocalyptic story line the author would pick to write a story about zombies, it was really nice to see that the Author had created up his own creatures and a background behind to why these creatures was coming up out of the sinkholes.
I really enjoyed a lot of the description in the book in certain places, at one scene Khalil puts a lot into detail into describing the creatures anatomy and appearance, making the book very creepy to read at times, I also really liked reading the action scenes in the book, where the characters was being attacked by the creatures or having to run away, with all of the action being really fast paced and written really well.
This book has been the first book in a long time to make me feel really panicked, especially in the scene where the characters first encounter the creature, Which I really liked as I have been picking up horror books for years without feeling scared, and it really added to the atmosphere of the story for it to feel creepy and tense.
I really liked the main character Jay, I thought his attitude to everything going on around him was very realistic, being a bit selfish in areas, or wanting to be a bit of a control freak to make sure that his family was kept safe, I really liked how Jay was written to be realistic and selfish, and not made out to be like a perfect character in the middle of an apocalypse who saved the day and considered everyone but himself all the while. I also really liked how at the beginning of the book Jay is almost at the point of not caring about all the sinkholes while everyone else around him was worrying, and it's not till later when he realised that everything is more serious that what he first thought, adding to the build up of the plot.
I would have liked to have had some more scenes in with his girlfriend Jules though, I really liked her as a character and was disappointed that she wasn't in a few more scenes as I felt like she could have been there to help out more with going out for supplies or just backing Jay and the rest of the group up.
The cliff hanger at the end was amazing and completely unexpected, it begins to show you which direction the next book can go off into without giving away to much information, making me want to read the next book even more.
the only issues I did have with reading this book is that I found that too many minor characters was introduced and joined in as part of the gang, this didn't bother me too much, but I did sometimes wonder why some character was introduced for them to not be involved in the story at all except for just being there as an extra person in their hideaway, and that this could have been avoided by making them a part of the story or by have just not having them involved at all
I also think that some of the dialogue between some of the characters could have been a bit more structured, as some parts of the conversations seemed to drag on for a bit longer than I liked. And again I thought some parts was unneeded and could have been removed, such as Jay repeated having the conversation with others about how he called the creatures 'Uglies'
However though you shouldn't let these Issues put you off reading the book as it is a really good read with a lot of atmosphere within the story, and I do think it is really well written for A. O. Khalil’s first book, you can really tell how much time and effort he put into creating and writing the story just from reading it. I had loads of fun reading and Reviewing this book and I really can't wait to read the sequel so I can find out what happens next :)
June 1, 2015
I received a copy from the author in exchange for a review.
Jayson’s and Jule’s peaceful lives are interrupted one day by an appearance of sinkholes in the ground and terrifying creatures that climb out of the holes and kill everyone on sight. Zombies? Aliens? Savage dwarves?
None of the terms above seems to apply to the Uglies, as Jayson starts to call them. A bunch of them attack their apartment and together with his wife and neighbours, they barely make it out of there and drive off to rescue their families. As their journey continues, they pick up quite a few diverse characters on the way. Once they make it to Jule’s parents’ house, things take an even stranger turn. Will the humanity be able to survive the attack of the Uglies? And who even are they? And what’s up with Jayson’s very… strange neighbour?
“The Emergence” is the first installment in A.O. Khalil’s Missing Era series, which the author self-published this year. I can definitely say that this is one of the few self-published novels that hooked me from the very beginning – the prologue. It indicates that the book takes place a couple of years from now and from the first page, it’s clear that humanity continues to screw with nature and the world is still a terrible place. Jayson and Jule are your normal American married couple in their early 30s, and they clearly have a great partnership. Throughout the novel, both of them, together with various other characters, display themselves from many sides, reasons for which were occasionally unclear, but the plot and the pacing made up for the abundance of characters and admittedly very few editorial mistakes. The author makes a great attempt at diversifying the female characters of the book – Jule, Jayson’s twin sisters, Jule’s mother and others – but Jayson’s first-person narrative does seem to put them under certain labels. The characters are not the book’s strongest suit – that would be the pacing and the plot. Although it could have had a little less dialogue and slightly fewer exclamations of how Jayson wants to impress his wife.
Up to the last chapter, the reader believes that the Uglies are the biggest threat to the planet, but it is then revealed that there are worse things to come, serving as a setup for the next book in the Missing Era series. The book sort of ends on a cliffhanger, which is a great way to end a self-published novel in my opinion and maintain an interest in the series. This plot twist makes for a very interesting concept (at least in theory). Also the author put a little riddle at the final page – which is also fun! (although I don’t know the answer). Overall, it’s a decent sci-fi thriller that sometimes tries to be something else, but fails.
Jayson’s and Jule’s peaceful lives are interrupted one day by an appearance of sinkholes in the ground and terrifying creatures that climb out of the holes and kill everyone on sight. Zombies? Aliens? Savage dwarves?
None of the terms above seems to apply to the Uglies, as Jayson starts to call them. A bunch of them attack their apartment and together with his wife and neighbours, they barely make it out of there and drive off to rescue their families. As their journey continues, they pick up quite a few diverse characters on the way. Once they make it to Jule’s parents’ house, things take an even stranger turn. Will the humanity be able to survive the attack of the Uglies? And who even are they? And what’s up with Jayson’s very… strange neighbour?
“The Emergence” is the first installment in A.O. Khalil’s Missing Era series, which the author self-published this year. I can definitely say that this is one of the few self-published novels that hooked me from the very beginning – the prologue. It indicates that the book takes place a couple of years from now and from the first page, it’s clear that humanity continues to screw with nature and the world is still a terrible place. Jayson and Jule are your normal American married couple in their early 30s, and they clearly have a great partnership. Throughout the novel, both of them, together with various other characters, display themselves from many sides, reasons for which were occasionally unclear, but the plot and the pacing made up for the abundance of characters and admittedly very few editorial mistakes. The author makes a great attempt at diversifying the female characters of the book – Jule, Jayson’s twin sisters, Jule’s mother and others – but Jayson’s first-person narrative does seem to put them under certain labels. The characters are not the book’s strongest suit – that would be the pacing and the plot. Although it could have had a little less dialogue and slightly fewer exclamations of how Jayson wants to impress his wife.
Up to the last chapter, the reader believes that the Uglies are the biggest threat to the planet, but it is then revealed that there are worse things to come, serving as a setup for the next book in the Missing Era series. The book sort of ends on a cliffhanger, which is a great way to end a self-published novel in my opinion and maintain an interest in the series. This plot twist makes for a very interesting concept (at least in theory). Also the author put a little riddle at the final page – which is also fun! (although I don’t know the answer). Overall, it’s a decent sci-fi thriller that sometimes tries to be something else, but fails.
May 31, 2015
I haven't given this a very high rating but I did really enjoy the story. It's unusual and exciting and has left me wanting to know more (I'll be buying the next book).
I read a lot of dystopian and similar but mostly with younger usually female protagonists so this was a change (it took a while to get used to the protagonist being married!) But I liked that once you get to the main bulk of the story there's a range of characters of all different ages.
The pace and development of the story are great, I didn't feel like it was dragging/just filler at any point. There were short breaks between the action for the characters and the reader to catch up on what had happened and what they knew about the creatures attacking them, but mostly it was exciting and action packed while revealing small pieces of the puzzle along the way.
So, as a story, I enjoyed it and recommend it. Below I've explained the issues I had with it so you can decide if those would put you off too much but really I'd say give it a go and see if you like it.
The reasons I gave it a lower rating aren't related to the plot. Firstly, the writing felt a little off to me throughout. It's hard to put my finger on but I think it's that everything was phrased differently to how I'd say it and contractions were/weren't used where I wouldn't/ would use them. Also, as it's written in first person sometimes the protagonist's thoughts sounded too much like speech and while it's important to get the protagonist's 'voice' through, it was a bit much for me. More like reading a really long transcription of a friend telling an anecdote rather than a book.
Which leads me to the other reason: the protagonist annoyed me. He constantly acted like he was the only one who knew what he was doing and he had to be there to save the day even when he was injured and it really didn't make sense for him to be involved in dangerous 'missions'. There was also a lot of 'oh you girls stay safe over here and let the men sort it out' which always annoys me (most of the tasks/missions they were going to do didn't require physical strength so there was no reason for it to be all men) I'd say this is mostly just because of the characters not the author as there are other scenes where female character's blow stuff up, dissect a corpse, are generally key to the plot etc. but it's still annoying to read.
*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
I read a lot of dystopian and similar but mostly with younger usually female protagonists so this was a change (it took a while to get used to the protagonist being married!) But I liked that once you get to the main bulk of the story there's a range of characters of all different ages.
The pace and development of the story are great, I didn't feel like it was dragging/just filler at any point. There were short breaks between the action for the characters and the reader to catch up on what had happened and what they knew about the creatures attacking them, but mostly it was exciting and action packed while revealing small pieces of the puzzle along the way.
So, as a story, I enjoyed it and recommend it. Below I've explained the issues I had with it so you can decide if those would put you off too much but really I'd say give it a go and see if you like it.
The reasons I gave it a lower rating aren't related to the plot. Firstly, the writing felt a little off to me throughout. It's hard to put my finger on but I think it's that everything was phrased differently to how I'd say it and contractions were/weren't used where I wouldn't/ would use them. Also, as it's written in first person sometimes the protagonist's thoughts sounded too much like speech and while it's important to get the protagonist's 'voice' through, it was a bit much for me. More like reading a really long transcription of a friend telling an anecdote rather than a book.
Which leads me to the other reason: the protagonist annoyed me. He constantly acted like he was the only one who knew what he was doing and he had to be there to save the day even when he was injured and it really didn't make sense for him to be involved in dangerous 'missions'. There was also a lot of 'oh you girls stay safe over here and let the men sort it out' which always annoys me (most of the tasks/missions they were going to do didn't require physical strength so there was no reason for it to be all men) I'd say this is mostly just because of the characters not the author as there are other scenes where female character's blow stuff up, dissect a corpse, are generally key to the plot etc. but it's still annoying to read.
*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
April 17, 2015
Actual rating: 3.5 stars (come on Goodreads, get moving on the half stars already!)
Disclaimer: I received this ebook free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
A.O. Khalil's The Emergence is unlike anything I've ever read. I found myself taken by the storyline within the first two chapters. It is a fast-paced fight to save the human race, but from what? There are scenes that made me feel like I was right there in the book, feeling scared, intrigued, and grossed out all at the same time. At no point was I able to guess what this "emergence" was or why it was happening. Seeing as how there is a sequel coming, I understand that you can't give away everything, however the cliffhanger at the end left me a bit displeased. It felt more like the last couple of chapters had been ripped out of the book. It could have been wrapped up a little neater without giving away the farm.
As far as our characters, and there are a lot of them, I felt mostly detached from them. There were a few I liked, a few I disliked, and some who I was just plain confused as to what they were doing there. I never really cared if anyone in particular was going to get hurt. Jay and Jule are the center of the group and most of the others are their extended family members. Also included are a few stragglers who join the group along the way. I do like the idea of a larger group in a setting like this, but if there are going to be this many people, I want to take the time to get to know the ones at the forefront. In particular, Jule. She seems like a very smart, strong woman, but she kept getting pushed to the side to make room for Jay, the self-appointed leader and savior. Don't get me wrong, if I were in this scenario, I'd want someone there to lead and protect me too, but I'd still want to be involved and not be told to sit down and stay put the whole time.
The writing in this book felt a bit clunky and sometimes hard to follow. There were several times I'd have to back up and re-read passages because I couldn't tell who was speaking to who. I also was thrown a little by the shifts between Jay speaking out loud and his internal narration. I can't say if that's Khalil's writing style or if the book needs another round of editing.
All in all, I enjoyed this book for the storyline and the mystery. I will pick up the second one when it comes out.
Disclaimer: I received this ebook free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
A.O. Khalil's The Emergence is unlike anything I've ever read. I found myself taken by the storyline within the first two chapters. It is a fast-paced fight to save the human race, but from what? There are scenes that made me feel like I was right there in the book, feeling scared, intrigued, and grossed out all at the same time. At no point was I able to guess what this "emergence" was or why it was happening. Seeing as how there is a sequel coming, I understand that you can't give away everything, however the cliffhanger at the end left me a bit displeased. It felt more like the last couple of chapters had been ripped out of the book. It could have been wrapped up a little neater without giving away the farm.
As far as our characters, and there are a lot of them, I felt mostly detached from them. There were a few I liked, a few I disliked, and some who I was just plain confused as to what they were doing there. I never really cared if anyone in particular was going to get hurt. Jay and Jule are the center of the group and most of the others are their extended family members. Also included are a few stragglers who join the group along the way. I do like the idea of a larger group in a setting like this, but if there are going to be this many people, I want to take the time to get to know the ones at the forefront. In particular, Jule. She seems like a very smart, strong woman, but she kept getting pushed to the side to make room for Jay, the self-appointed leader and savior. Don't get me wrong, if I were in this scenario, I'd want someone there to lead and protect me too, but I'd still want to be involved and not be told to sit down and stay put the whole time.
The writing in this book felt a bit clunky and sometimes hard to follow. There were several times I'd have to back up and re-read passages because I couldn't tell who was speaking to who. I also was thrown a little by the shifts between Jay speaking out loud and his internal narration. I can't say if that's Khalil's writing style or if the book needs another round of editing.
All in all, I enjoyed this book for the storyline and the mystery. I will pick up the second one when it comes out.
August 3, 2015
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story starts off with sinkholes appearing all over the world without any explanation. From there people go missing one by one until news breaks out that entire armies have disappeared. Of course, it is all speculation/ hype so the main characters Jay and Jule do not take it too seriously until a sinkhole appears near their apartment. Everything falls apart soon after and they fight for their lives against strange creatures while desperately trying to reach their other family members safely.
There is a lot of action and tense moments matched by fast paced writing which worked really well as a combination. The plot itself is solid and I love the premise that this book is based on, it has a lot potential for greatness. The imagination is not lacking in any way.
However, I found the first few chapters to be somewhat confusing as you try to understand the characters and what is happening around them. This confusion does give way after the first few chapters and things do get more interesting and dangerous as the story evolves. There were a few surprises in the midst of all this, weighing out against the fact that most of the book landed up not truly gripping me as much as I had hoped it would.
The writing itself could use work, but overall I found no serious issues. The fact that it was written in first tense affected my ability to connect with the story (third person is just my own preference) but I did find it hard to connect with Jay.
There were a few character reactions throughout the book that seemed a bit odd; the characters themselves at times seemed somewhat underdeveloped and contradictory. I also would have enjoyed having Jule with a stronger role; she seemed to have the most underlying emotion out of all the characters.
The ending was a complete surprise and does bode well for the next book, although it would have been nice to receive a bit more closure with the cliffhanger.
Upon reading the prologue and beginning I had higher hopes but this is intended as a light read and serves well as one. I do hope the sequel will be stronger in terms of characterisation and if you are interested in Sci-Fi and crazy creatures taking over the world then you may just enjoy this book.
The story starts off with sinkholes appearing all over the world without any explanation. From there people go missing one by one until news breaks out that entire armies have disappeared. Of course, it is all speculation/ hype so the main characters Jay and Jule do not take it too seriously until a sinkhole appears near their apartment. Everything falls apart soon after and they fight for their lives against strange creatures while desperately trying to reach their other family members safely.
There is a lot of action and tense moments matched by fast paced writing which worked really well as a combination. The plot itself is solid and I love the premise that this book is based on, it has a lot potential for greatness. The imagination is not lacking in any way.
However, I found the first few chapters to be somewhat confusing as you try to understand the characters and what is happening around them. This confusion does give way after the first few chapters and things do get more interesting and dangerous as the story evolves. There were a few surprises in the midst of all this, weighing out against the fact that most of the book landed up not truly gripping me as much as I had hoped it would.
The writing itself could use work, but overall I found no serious issues. The fact that it was written in first tense affected my ability to connect with the story (third person is just my own preference) but I did find it hard to connect with Jay.
There were a few character reactions throughout the book that seemed a bit odd; the characters themselves at times seemed somewhat underdeveloped and contradictory. I also would have enjoyed having Jule with a stronger role; she seemed to have the most underlying emotion out of all the characters.
The ending was a complete surprise and does bode well for the next book, although it would have been nice to receive a bit more closure with the cliffhanger.
Upon reading the prologue and beginning I had higher hopes but this is intended as a light read and serves well as one. I do hope the sequel will be stronger in terms of characterisation and if you are interested in Sci-Fi and crazy creatures taking over the world then you may just enjoy this book.
July 8, 2015
My thoughts(may contain spoilers); I had planned to read this book a few weeks/months ago, but I had no time and was very busy with school until now. The book started off really weird and slowly. The articles about the sinkholes pulled me in the book and then I couldn’t find myself in the main character. This may be because I’m younger and we have not really much in common. However, after the slow beginning the main characters, Jay and Jule, were going to escape and wow! It was a fast and fleeing story at once, it was all action. The uglies really scared the hell out of me, and I am not afraid of things in a book very often. I sat on the couch, reading with my mouth wide open and my mother asked me if I was all right(which I wasn’t because I was pretty freaked out, though happy because the book didn’t disappoint me). After a while a little rest came back when they were ‘save’.
Then the main character, Jay, started to annoy me. There are really long period without talking where he is just sitting and thinking by himself like he is writing in a diary or talking to someone. It reminded me of myself when I wrote in a diary when I was little.
After chapter 30 or so it went faster again. The story escalated quickly and things started to happen again. It kept being scary, not as scary as in the first few chapter, maybe because I was used to the uglies.
Then I found out that Jay actually makes all the plans and is the only one who finds solutions to their problems. I know he is the main characters, but he is only and architect and it seems unllikely that he is the only one with plans that seem too smart for a normal human.
I quite liked the ending, the cliffhanger was amazing and it was something I didn’t expect. I will have to read the next book, I keep thinking about it and how it will ever be okay again in their world.
The writing in this book is not hard to read at all. Short sentences and it is clear what happens and who speaks when.
Overall: If you like action, a little science fiction and a clear written book with a lot of events I would recommend this book. I gave it 3.5/5 stars because I did like it, but a few things were not as good as the rest. The plot was great, but the details and characters could have been better.
Then the main character, Jay, started to annoy me. There are really long period without talking where he is just sitting and thinking by himself like he is writing in a diary or talking to someone. It reminded me of myself when I wrote in a diary when I was little.
After chapter 30 or so it went faster again. The story escalated quickly and things started to happen again. It kept being scary, not as scary as in the first few chapter, maybe because I was used to the uglies.
Then I found out that Jay actually makes all the plans and is the only one who finds solutions to their problems. I know he is the main characters, but he is only and architect and it seems unllikely that he is the only one with plans that seem too smart for a normal human.
I quite liked the ending, the cliffhanger was amazing and it was something I didn’t expect. I will have to read the next book, I keep thinking about it and how it will ever be okay again in their world.
The writing in this book is not hard to read at all. Short sentences and it is clear what happens and who speaks when.
Overall: If you like action, a little science fiction and a clear written book with a lot of events I would recommend this book. I gave it 3.5/5 stars because I did like it, but a few things were not as good as the rest. The plot was great, but the details and characters could have been better.
May 19, 2015
Horror, action, thrills, and mystery, all rolled into one book! This story never stopped throwing curveballs.
Jayson narrates the story. He’s an ordinary guy, happily married to Jule. But then sinkholes start appearing all over the country, and people start disappearing. Many people are escaping the cities as news comes that strange creatures have been coming out of the holes. Jayson and Jule don’t leave right away, but then comes the morning that a sinkhole opens up in the park across the street. Jayson makes plans to meet up with his family at his parent’s cabin. But this will be no simple road trip. The creatures are killing everybody in sight and one of them comes after Jule.
As the story unfolds Jayson and Jule, and a growing number of others, have numerous encounters with these creatures. Jayson finds himself as the leader of this motley group, which includes his sister, a couple of neighbors and strangers they come across at a gas station. They make it to the home of Jule’s parents where they are able to hide out temporarily in the basement and regroup. Jayson is able to rescue his brother, his girlfriend, and another sister. Throughout their struggles, with these creatures they now call the Uglies, they are picking up clues about them. But each clue brings more questions. After stocking up on supplies, they make it to the cabin only to find more strange occurrences.
The story ends with many unanswered questions, but the author has planned for a series and I find myself curious to know how this is all going to turn out. I found the book to be very readable, though just a little bit too gory for my taste in a couple of places. The author did an excellent job of developing his main characters, it’s obvious a great deal of thought when into the story. The narrative felt a bit jerky in some places but did not detract from the overall story being told. Even though this genre is not one that I’m the most comfortable with, I found that I just couldn’t stop reading it. This book is scheduled for release on Kindle on May 19, 2015 and is definitely worthy of consideration. Teens and younger adults are probably the best audience for this book.
Jayson narrates the story. He’s an ordinary guy, happily married to Jule. But then sinkholes start appearing all over the country, and people start disappearing. Many people are escaping the cities as news comes that strange creatures have been coming out of the holes. Jayson and Jule don’t leave right away, but then comes the morning that a sinkhole opens up in the park across the street. Jayson makes plans to meet up with his family at his parent’s cabin. But this will be no simple road trip. The creatures are killing everybody in sight and one of them comes after Jule.
As the story unfolds Jayson and Jule, and a growing number of others, have numerous encounters with these creatures. Jayson finds himself as the leader of this motley group, which includes his sister, a couple of neighbors and strangers they come across at a gas station. They make it to the home of Jule’s parents where they are able to hide out temporarily in the basement and regroup. Jayson is able to rescue his brother, his girlfriend, and another sister. Throughout their struggles, with these creatures they now call the Uglies, they are picking up clues about them. But each clue brings more questions. After stocking up on supplies, they make it to the cabin only to find more strange occurrences.
The story ends with many unanswered questions, but the author has planned for a series and I find myself curious to know how this is all going to turn out. I found the book to be very readable, though just a little bit too gory for my taste in a couple of places. The author did an excellent job of developing his main characters, it’s obvious a great deal of thought when into the story. The narrative felt a bit jerky in some places but did not detract from the overall story being told. Even though this genre is not one that I’m the most comfortable with, I found that I just couldn’t stop reading it. This book is scheduled for release on Kindle on May 19, 2015 and is definitely worthy of consideration. Teens and younger adults are probably the best audience for this book.
May 5, 2015
I received an ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Very early on in reading this I couldn’t help but feel that this book would be well suited for those that like The Walking Dead. It certainly has the horror elements, and the idea is great.
The action scenes were well written and had a good pace. I could picture portions of it in my head. However the scenes in between had a disruptive flow. The conversations between characters felt off. Some responses didn’t feel logical. The characters also felt very stereotypical. They weren’t deepened out enough. Some of the foreshadowing was also too obvious. It made a portion of the novel feel incredibly forced.
I also questioned the logic in some decisions. The different species, tribes and all that was great, but I need more than this. In that I think it would have been great to have gotten another perspective than Jay’s that could have given us more on that.
As mentioned, the characters could have used some deepening out. Jay got on my nerves a bit at the start. He whines, and seems to like to play the hero as he called it himself. It’s not playing the hero, it is doing whatever you need to to survive. But he grew a little on me throughout the novel. I liked Pete and Jule’s father. The rest didn’t stand out a whole lot though, and there were too many characters to keep straight as they were introduced at a rapid pace. These guys also need to learn that the females don’t need them to protect them. It was a bit annoying. I’m glad that at least the females tried to fight against that.
I wanted to like this novel, because I think the idea has a lot of potential, but as a whole it felt a little flat to me.
Very early on in reading this I couldn’t help but feel that this book would be well suited for those that like The Walking Dead. It certainly has the horror elements, and the idea is great.
The action scenes were well written and had a good pace. I could picture portions of it in my head. However the scenes in between had a disruptive flow. The conversations between characters felt off. Some responses didn’t feel logical. The characters also felt very stereotypical. They weren’t deepened out enough. Some of the foreshadowing was also too obvious. It made a portion of the novel feel incredibly forced.
I also questioned the logic in some decisions. The different species, tribes and all that was great, but I need more than this. In that I think it would have been great to have gotten another perspective than Jay’s that could have given us more on that.
As mentioned, the characters could have used some deepening out. Jay got on my nerves a bit at the start. He whines, and seems to like to play the hero as he called it himself. It’s not playing the hero, it is doing whatever you need to to survive. But he grew a little on me throughout the novel. I liked Pete and Jule’s father. The rest didn’t stand out a whole lot though, and there were too many characters to keep straight as they were introduced at a rapid pace. These guys also need to learn that the females don’t need them to protect them. It was a bit annoying. I’m glad that at least the females tried to fight against that.
I wanted to like this novel, because I think the idea has a lot of potential, but as a whole it felt a little flat to me.
April 25, 2015
I received a copy of "The Emergence" by A. O. Khalil in exchange for an honest review.
In the beginning, I was not sure if I'd like this book.
I found it kind of absurd, how all the people didn't think anything there was odd when the sinkholes started appearing first.
And when people were reported missing, it sounded as if most were just continuing their life like always. Only when important people from the government and army were missed did they realise that they would need to do something.
Maybe this is because nobody knows how we would react in such a situation. Furthermore, people tend to ignore things they do not understand and not care when they think they are not involved.
But everyone is involved in the world in Khalil's book.
It's like a zombie apocalypse, but without the zombies.
While reading I always thought the story was similar to the tv show "The Walking Dead". People try to get out of the endangered (overrun with zombies) zones and to find their families to get to a save place.
I needed some time to get warm with the book, but when Jay and Jule left their home to drive to Jule's parents, the action really started and I was thrilled.
There are a lot of characters and of course, some were more pleasant to me than others.
I was always wary of Pete. His absence in the beginning and his unwillingness to help seemed weird and made him suspicious. Who is he?
During the whole book I wanted to know what these sinkholes where and why the creatures coming out of them kidnapped/killed people.
The solution to this question presented at the end of the book was a bit disappointing. I would have though of something else, even if I can't name what.
I gove 4 of 5 stars for this book.
I'm happy that I had the chance to read it and to enjoy this story. If you love fast-pacing, mysterious stories that are similar to zombie apocalypse settings, than you will like this one.
In the beginning, I was not sure if I'd like this book.
I found it kind of absurd, how all the people didn't think anything there was odd when the sinkholes started appearing first.
And when people were reported missing, it sounded as if most were just continuing their life like always. Only when important people from the government and army were missed did they realise that they would need to do something.
Maybe this is because nobody knows how we would react in such a situation. Furthermore, people tend to ignore things they do not understand and not care when they think they are not involved.
But everyone is involved in the world in Khalil's book.
It's like a zombie apocalypse, but without the zombies.
While reading I always thought the story was similar to the tv show "The Walking Dead". People try to get out of the endangered (overrun with zombies) zones and to find their families to get to a save place.
I needed some time to get warm with the book, but when Jay and Jule left their home to drive to Jule's parents, the action really started and I was thrilled.
There are a lot of characters and of course, some were more pleasant to me than others.
I was always wary of Pete. His absence in the beginning and his unwillingness to help seemed weird and made him suspicious. Who is he?
During the whole book I wanted to know what these sinkholes where and why the creatures coming out of them kidnapped/killed people.
The solution to this question presented at the end of the book was a bit disappointing. I would have though of something else, even if I can't name what.
I gove 4 of 5 stars for this book.
I'm happy that I had the chance to read it and to enjoy this story. If you love fast-pacing, mysterious stories that are similar to zombie apocalypse settings, than you will like this one.
May 3, 2015
Book: Missing Era, The Emergence
Author: A. O. Khalil
Book Blurp: They were just sinkholes, harmless sinkholes that were spreading like wildfire across the country. Then the disappearances started. A few people here and there then the entire army, gone in one night. Jay and Jule quickly find themselves thrown in the middle of a dangerous situation that only gets worse when something else comes that takes everyone by bloody surprise.
As they make ready to leave to gather with the rest of the family, something comes out of the sinkholes and begins attacking and killing everyone in sight. Before they know it they are in the middle of a war with an unknown enemy and an unknown agenda.
Will Jay and Jule survive their encounter or will they find themselves twenty-six feet under at the bottom of a sinkhole?
Goodreads Rating: ★★★
My Rating: ★★★★
Review: I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
First I want to start off with saying anything with even a pinch of horror is not my cup of tea, so I was hesitant to accept this book and review it. However when I started this book, It was great!
The plot, though a little fast paced, was interesting and kept me hooked as soon as I picked up the book. And as with most dystopian books, there is a lot of descriptions, but fear not Kahil’s writing style is simple enough to understand when descriptions come into play, but not to bore you.
The characters! They were well thought out and most were their own person. However, I felt as if there was a lot of unnecessary characters that just got left in in the background.
Overall: I usually never enjoy books where there is horror. But I can promise you that this book will pleasantly surprise you. This book will keeped you hooked until the very end, because there is never a dull moment! So Go read it it if it seems like something you would like.
Book will be published: May 19th. Available for pre-order.
Author: A. O. Khalil
Book Blurp: They were just sinkholes, harmless sinkholes that were spreading like wildfire across the country. Then the disappearances started. A few people here and there then the entire army, gone in one night. Jay and Jule quickly find themselves thrown in the middle of a dangerous situation that only gets worse when something else comes that takes everyone by bloody surprise.
As they make ready to leave to gather with the rest of the family, something comes out of the sinkholes and begins attacking and killing everyone in sight. Before they know it they are in the middle of a war with an unknown enemy and an unknown agenda.
Will Jay and Jule survive their encounter or will they find themselves twenty-six feet under at the bottom of a sinkhole?
Goodreads Rating: ★★★
My Rating: ★★★★
Review: I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
First I want to start off with saying anything with even a pinch of horror is not my cup of tea, so I was hesitant to accept this book and review it. However when I started this book, It was great!
The plot, though a little fast paced, was interesting and kept me hooked as soon as I picked up the book. And as with most dystopian books, there is a lot of descriptions, but fear not Kahil’s writing style is simple enough to understand when descriptions come into play, but not to bore you.
The characters! They were well thought out and most were their own person. However, I felt as if there was a lot of unnecessary characters that just got left in in the background.
Overall: I usually never enjoy books where there is horror. But I can promise you that this book will pleasantly surprise you. This book will keeped you hooked until the very end, because there is never a dull moment! So Go read it it if it seems like something you would like.
Book will be published: May 19th. Available for pre-order.
August 24, 2017
Make sure to check out http://betterbooks.tumblr.com/!
“...we are truly and devastatingly alone .”
Disclaimer: A free copy of the book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Jay and Jule lead a fairly normal life, well as normal as they can considering seven percent of the world population is missing. Bad turns to worse and the couple is forced to leave their home, desperate to find their families and a way to survive. Will they be able to fight whatever is making everyone go missing?
This is a man’s adventure, make no mistake. There are women characters but they’re written as slightly irrational and not capable of defending themselves. Jay is constantly telling his wife “Babe you need to stay here,” while he heads out with men and boys to fight. Jule is described as tough, and does get a little action proving it which only makes her treatment for the remainder of the book all the more disappointing. In fact every character but Jay seems to exist either to praise how brave he is or to show how great he is by comparison.
The book does have a unique premise, but things are only slightly explained near the end of the book. An end which is far too open. There’s no closure, in fact it seems to end right during the climax. There is an intended sequel but the first book should have at least tied up some ends instead of cutting off abruptly. There were definitely some very original ideas with loads of potential but the writing failed to realize them fully. The cast of characters was too large to be handled and almost none of them get any proper development (ex. the lead realizing he’s a control freak and a jerk and deciding to change but completely forgetting next chapter). The writing also bloats with just dialogue the last few chapters. These ideas have potential but they needed to be better executed and nourished a bit more.
“...we are truly and devastatingly alone .”
Disclaimer: A free copy of the book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Jay and Jule lead a fairly normal life, well as normal as they can considering seven percent of the world population is missing. Bad turns to worse and the couple is forced to leave their home, desperate to find their families and a way to survive. Will they be able to fight whatever is making everyone go missing?
This is a man’s adventure, make no mistake. There are women characters but they’re written as slightly irrational and not capable of defending themselves. Jay is constantly telling his wife “Babe you need to stay here,” while he heads out with men and boys to fight. Jule is described as tough, and does get a little action proving it which only makes her treatment for the remainder of the book all the more disappointing. In fact every character but Jay seems to exist either to praise how brave he is or to show how great he is by comparison.
The book does have a unique premise, but things are only slightly explained near the end of the book. An end which is far too open. There’s no closure, in fact it seems to end right during the climax. There is an intended sequel but the first book should have at least tied up some ends instead of cutting off abruptly. There were definitely some very original ideas with loads of potential but the writing failed to realize them fully. The cast of characters was too large to be handled and almost none of them get any proper development (ex. the lead realizing he’s a control freak and a jerk and deciding to change but completely forgetting next chapter). The writing also bloats with just dialogue the last few chapters. These ideas have potential but they needed to be better executed and nourished a bit more.
June 19, 2015
YOU CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT *review to follow*
My relationship with this book was a roller coaster that took me from rating it two stars to three and then in the last four pages to four. I was asked to review this book by the author and I was nervous about doing this for the first time and for the fact that I didn't enjoy it when I first started. It was slow to begin with and I found the writing awkward. There were some issues with characterization and some of the dialogue I was nit picky about but then it picked up speed and IT DID NOT STOP. I knew from the start there was something off about Peter and was glad it carried through on that instead of revealing at the end that he was in fact ordinary. As soon as they introduced the books discussing the missing eras it began to get interesting as something was introduced that you never seen in other books: originality. The "Uglies" I didn't find very intimidating but it makes sense in the end when they were letting the main characters live in order to see the end. And when they walked in on their parents I almost had a heart attack. And then when the book ended on the cliff hanger I screamed at my kobo and then emailed the author for the next one. It's a quick read and an enjoyable one and brings a twist to the overused zombie trope (that ironically I am part of having been writing a zombie book for a while) and adding history to it and the idea of another species that is only touched on and will no doubt be explored in the future. It was well worth the read and I recommend it for anyone who wants to try something different. There are details that I would have changed or that I found bothersome (some of the over macho attitude towards the women as well as some of the characters actions) but all in all I am very glad to have read it. Cheers!
My relationship with this book was a roller coaster that took me from rating it two stars to three and then in the last four pages to four. I was asked to review this book by the author and I was nervous about doing this for the first time and for the fact that I didn't enjoy it when I first started. It was slow to begin with and I found the writing awkward. There were some issues with characterization and some of the dialogue I was nit picky about but then it picked up speed and IT DID NOT STOP. I knew from the start there was something off about Peter and was glad it carried through on that instead of revealing at the end that he was in fact ordinary. As soon as they introduced the books discussing the missing eras it began to get interesting as something was introduced that you never seen in other books: originality. The "Uglies" I didn't find very intimidating but it makes sense in the end when they were letting the main characters live in order to see the end. And when they walked in on their parents I almost had a heart attack. And then when the book ended on the cliff hanger I screamed at my kobo and then emailed the author for the next one. It's a quick read and an enjoyable one and brings a twist to the overused zombie trope (that ironically I am part of having been writing a zombie book for a while) and adding history to it and the idea of another species that is only touched on and will no doubt be explored in the future. It was well worth the read and I recommend it for anyone who wants to try something different. There are details that I would have changed or that I found bothersome (some of the over macho attitude towards the women as well as some of the characters actions) but all in all I am very glad to have read it. Cheers!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2015
I tried really hard to read this book. I did, honest. I just could not get through it. Every time I picked it up I had hope that it would get better and it just didn’t. Which is a shame. This is such an interesting idea that I’m really disappointed it wasn’t better. I made it about 50 pages before I just had to give up completely.
The plot itself I can’t really speak on seeing as I didn’t get very far into the book so I don’t know if it improves. What I did read of it was okay.
However, the writing was what really did it for me. I read the prologue and was super ready to read the rest of the book. The prologue is probably the best written part of the whole book. It just went downhill after that. At first I figured I’d get used to it, as I generally do with different writing styles. I never did. It just kept getting worse. I might’ve been able to ignore that had the characters actually been decent.
I really did not like the main character. I’m not sure if it’s the writing itself or just the character. He’s a bit of a jerk and he definitely has a negative thing with women and I’m not sure if it gets any better the further the story goes. I don’t know.
I just could not finish this book. It was mostly the writing that really made me put the book down. The way it was written was just really weird and uncomfortable to read. It was all over the place and there was a lot of telling not showing or anything. I’m not entirely sure how to explain the writing. It definitely needed to be cleaned up a bit more so the whole story made sense. As it is now, it just doesn’t flow or make sense. Even the action scenes were all over the place and poorly done.
*I was contacted by the author to read and review this book. I received a free ebook arc in exchange for my honest opinion.
The plot itself I can’t really speak on seeing as I didn’t get very far into the book so I don’t know if it improves. What I did read of it was okay.
However, the writing was what really did it for me. I read the prologue and was super ready to read the rest of the book. The prologue is probably the best written part of the whole book. It just went downhill after that. At first I figured I’d get used to it, as I generally do with different writing styles. I never did. It just kept getting worse. I might’ve been able to ignore that had the characters actually been decent.
I really did not like the main character. I’m not sure if it’s the writing itself or just the character. He’s a bit of a jerk and he definitely has a negative thing with women and I’m not sure if it gets any better the further the story goes. I don’t know.
I just could not finish this book. It was mostly the writing that really made me put the book down. The way it was written was just really weird and uncomfortable to read. It was all over the place and there was a lot of telling not showing or anything. I’m not entirely sure how to explain the writing. It definitely needed to be cleaned up a bit more so the whole story made sense. As it is now, it just doesn’t flow or make sense. Even the action scenes were all over the place and poorly done.
*I was contacted by the author to read and review this book. I received a free ebook arc in exchange for my honest opinion.
August 10, 2017
Missing Era is an interesting and original apocalyptic novel about many different concepts including historical killer dwarves and mythical earth beings, coming to light in an end-of-days-type setting.
The theme of this book was super original, which made for such an interesting read. The initial concept was very intriguing to me, and in the end I did enjoy it but towards the end it got a little crazy and didn’t quite make sense to me. At times it felt a little too easy for the characters, but towards the end things wrapped up very nicely.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing, and it was definitely not my style. It was very stream-of-conciousness but not quite there, and to me it felt a little disjointed. However, it did fit the pace of the story very well. I did like that it was extremely fast paced and easy to read, but at times it felt a little plain.
The plot in this book is what made it such a fun story for me. It was so fast-paced, action packed, and it moved super fast. It was so easy to follow and read, and I flew through it. Sometimes it moved so quickly for me to get a feel for the character growth or any depth in the relationships between the characters however it kept my attention from all the twists and turns.
While the characters didn’t feel super strong in this novel, they were all very distinguishable and had aspects which I really enjoyed. Jayson, the main character, at times got a little annoying and a little too heroic. However, all of the characters were very fun and had distinguishable traits.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves action-packed apocalyptic stories, or people who enjoy very original concepts.
The theme of this book was super original, which made for such an interesting read. The initial concept was very intriguing to me, and in the end I did enjoy it but towards the end it got a little crazy and didn’t quite make sense to me. At times it felt a little too easy for the characters, but towards the end things wrapped up very nicely.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing, and it was definitely not my style. It was very stream-of-conciousness but not quite there, and to me it felt a little disjointed. However, it did fit the pace of the story very well. I did like that it was extremely fast paced and easy to read, but at times it felt a little plain.
The plot in this book is what made it such a fun story for me. It was so fast-paced, action packed, and it moved super fast. It was so easy to follow and read, and I flew through it. Sometimes it moved so quickly for me to get a feel for the character growth or any depth in the relationships between the characters however it kept my attention from all the twists and turns.
While the characters didn’t feel super strong in this novel, they were all very distinguishable and had aspects which I really enjoyed. Jayson, the main character, at times got a little annoying and a little too heroic. However, all of the characters were very fun and had distinguishable traits.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves action-packed apocalyptic stories, or people who enjoy very original concepts.
May 15, 2015
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
When I first read the description I wasn’t sure if this is my kind of book. Yes, I like good mysteries, but this... I’m not sure. However, I did started reading and Oh My God! It was so captivating. I didn’t wanted to stop reading. Everything went so fast and I had no time to even breath.
The story beggins with Jay in which POV the book is writen. He reminded me of some other book I recently finished and the main character in it. It wasn’t so interesting and I thought “Oh, this will be the same”. But no, it wasn’t the same! The plot is really great and the writing style of the author... as long as my favorite author is Agatha Christie I always compare the mystery books I read with her books and this one goes really close to it. The plot is even faster than in her books. And the awesome thing is that while reading I forgot where I am. I finished the book at night shift, almost the half of the book in one sit. And I have to tell you that it’s not good idea to read it at night or if there is possibility someone to scare you. I really liked that in every chapter you find something new about the whole thing that happens.
There are so many questions that appear in my mind reading this book. Like is it possible to happen in the real life? Oh My, it’s not easy to write review without spoiling... Even my questions can spoil it... Just read it! If you like a good mystery, a little fantasy, a little supernatural this is the book for you.
Can’t wait to read the second book!
When I first read the description I wasn’t sure if this is my kind of book. Yes, I like good mysteries, but this... I’m not sure. However, I did started reading and Oh My God! It was so captivating. I didn’t wanted to stop reading. Everything went so fast and I had no time to even breath.
The story beggins with Jay in which POV the book is writen. He reminded me of some other book I recently finished and the main character in it. It wasn’t so interesting and I thought “Oh, this will be the same”. But no, it wasn’t the same! The plot is really great and the writing style of the author... as long as my favorite author is Agatha Christie I always compare the mystery books I read with her books and this one goes really close to it. The plot is even faster than in her books. And the awesome thing is that while reading I forgot where I am. I finished the book at night shift, almost the half of the book in one sit. And I have to tell you that it’s not good idea to read it at night or if there is possibility someone to scare you. I really liked that in every chapter you find something new about the whole thing that happens.
There are so many questions that appear in my mind reading this book. Like is it possible to happen in the real life? Oh My, it’s not easy to write review without spoiling... Even my questions can spoil it... Just read it! If you like a good mystery, a little fantasy, a little supernatural this is the book for you.
Can’t wait to read the second book!
April 21, 2015
I received this ebook from the author on my Tumblr (xgingerbookworm) in exchange for an honest review:
When I was asked to review this book, I was sent a synopsis, the prologue and the first couple of chapters – and I was hooked.
The Emergence features a fast moving plot and an original story line centred around Jayson, Jule and there families and how they responded to the challenges the coming apocalypse created. Caused by (seemingly) natural disasters and strange creatures…. I enjoyed the historical aspects you discovered as you read on and how the group responded to the danger, I read this book in one sitting I just couldn’t put it down, and the suspenseful plot was the reason for this.
The previously mentioned characters were joined by others, and the group slowly grew to a point where I couldn’t keep up with everybody… the large amount of characters was this novels major downfall for me, they felt flat and I could have done with there being half as many… Just padded out a lot more!
The cliffhanger annoyed me… But that’s only because I wanted to read more! So you could call it a success…. Although frustrating!
The idea and ‘base plot’ was amazing, and that is what drew me in, with some work on the characters dynamic and speech (and padding around them!) It could have been fantastic, although all things considered I did enjoy it and I congratulate A. O Khalil on his debut!
When I was asked to review this book, I was sent a synopsis, the prologue and the first couple of chapters – and I was hooked.
The Emergence features a fast moving plot and an original story line centred around Jayson, Jule and there families and how they responded to the challenges the coming apocalypse created. Caused by (seemingly) natural disasters and strange creatures…. I enjoyed the historical aspects you discovered as you read on and how the group responded to the danger, I read this book in one sitting I just couldn’t put it down, and the suspenseful plot was the reason for this.
The previously mentioned characters were joined by others, and the group slowly grew to a point where I couldn’t keep up with everybody… the large amount of characters was this novels major downfall for me, they felt flat and I could have done with there being half as many… Just padded out a lot more!
The cliffhanger annoyed me… But that’s only because I wanted to read more! So you could call it a success…. Although frustrating!
The idea and ‘base plot’ was amazing, and that is what drew me in, with some work on the characters dynamic and speech (and padding around them!) It could have been fantastic, although all things considered I did enjoy it and I congratulate A. O Khalil on his debut!
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