The blood drained from Daniel Rossler’s face as he was reading the words from a letter written more than 50,000 years ago. We gave away our freedom. We gave away our blood.
My time is here. The beast knows my blood, it knows my name, and the invisible messenger of my death from the sky is on its way now. I have but a few breaths left. Heed me ... You must seek the beast in this place of evil and you MUST destroy it. I pray you find it.
Barely able to hold the piece of paper in his visibly shaking hand. “Oh my God!”
ABOUT
THE SKYWALKERS is a full-length novel, a stimulating dystopian techno-thriller. This is the 5th book in JC Ryan’s Rossler Foundation Mysteries which began with The Tenth Cycle followed by Ninth Cycle Antarctica, Genetic Bullets and The Sword of Cyrus.
THE SKYWALKERS is Book 5 in the Rossler Foundation Series.
Whenever I read a JC Ryan book, I keep thinking about the visuals—how would this scene or so look in HD or even 3D. Sure, the budget would run to a hundred million dollars, but from the 10th Cycle to The Skywalkers, it would be all worth it.
Having said that, the release of JC Ryan’s latest book, The Skywalkers, was met with a great amount of anticipation. I was not disappointed, because right at the get go, the mere mention of the Prophet got my juices flowing—it’s not long before I lost track of time reading and stopping my heart from lurching for the sake of the Rossler Foundation’s team. There’s quite an intense amount of fun and the integrated verisimilitude made even the book’s most astounding technology feel as real as the smartphone you’re holding.
Moreover, the Skywalkers’ ending presents a cliffhanger that leaves your jaws dropped on the floor, and it could either be good or bad: it would be GOOD if the next JC Ryan book that follows this is released as soon as possible, like TODAY; bad if the sequel takes several months to arrive and the excitement created by The Skywalkers’ ending dissipates and deteriorates into frustration.
I’m not a huge fan of cliffhangers, but I don’t really dislike them, either: it’s one of those literary devices than can add more fun in the whole reading experience. But in the long run—in the future when readers could buy a boxed set of JC Ryan’s Rossler Foundation books, which might include The Skywalkers and its immediate sequel—then the said ending wouldn’t bother us and would even feel like just the right ingredient stirred into the pot at the exact crucial moment.
Continuing the story of the Rossler Foundation... and the technology gets more fascinating as the tale progresses. The story is pushing at the limits of credibility and, just as you think that can't possibly happen, you hear something in a technical or science paper somewhere that makes you rethink how much of the tech in the book could come to fruition some day. As in previous books in the series, the running theme is the battle between good and evil, like a see-saw, sometimes good is winning, other times it's the bad guys with the upper hand. In The Skywalkers the bad guys seem to be calling the shots, mapping out a dystopian future for humanity where only the perfect humans matter. Pity the weak, the old, the sick, the disabled, their futures are under threat. Scary stuff, with reflections of some of what we are seeing happening in the real world in our time. Recommended!
Ryan has written another great thriller, taken straight from the 2017 daily science news and cryptoscience headlines. Having read the previous books in this series, I was quite disappointed with this one for several reasons. All the women protagonists have been described as beautiful and extremely tough. At a crucial point in the story, one of the women acts in an out-of-character fashion. The end of the book comes long before the end of the story, which for the first time, continues into another volume. I can't argue that Ryan doesn't write a sufficiently long story: this book is fairly long. However I have an extreme distaste for stories that unexpectedly continue into another book.
Reading some of the early reviews of this book, I was in agreement. I intentionally delayed writing this and am now about 1/2 way through Book 6. I am not a writer, but I feel that the information in this book is needed as a foundation upon which Book 6 is built. Could it be improved upon? Ya got me! I guess my position is ... skipping a grade in school isn’t a good idea for the “average bear” and there is a good reason behind that, so as I’ve been told more than once “just grin and bear it”.
With dystopia overtaking the world as we know it, and the world all too ready to give up all personal freedoms in return for health and " caretaking", it begins to look as though the Rossler Foundation may have to fight the world in order to save them from the evil unleashed upon them in the name of " their own good ".... A cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers and again, all too plausible.....
ANOTHER AWESOME BOOK!! Off to another location, to discover more information, that baffles the Rossler group. Also items that lead to other discoveries. Meanwhile, there's an Associate, that they trusted, that has decided to take over the world for himself to run. An epic ending to this book, leaving the reader wanting more!!
The series was interesting in the first two novels but gotten repetitive with each novel being secret group try to rule the world and an even more secret group behind them. I also got really annoyed with nano appearing 10x in almost each ch that was just a poor atimbit at increasing word count.
JC Ryan is a fantastic author. The George Orwell of this time. His style is flowing, exciting and full of heart stopping moments. The only bad thing about this book, or indeed any of his books, is when they end.
Modern society and its chaos could take a lesson from this book. That uneasy feeling that we are creating our own 8th cycle world scared the bejesus out of me. This book dials you in and won’t let go.
This book delivers suspense with the take over of the world. Again the Rossler Foundation is the cutting edge only to lose this round and go to ground. Great read. Big D
I love the Rossler Foundation series, and THE SKYWALKERS is every bit as great as the other books in the series! How does JC Ryan keep weaving these wonderful thrillers? Lol
This series is amazing! I love the correlation between fact and fiction. The characters are brilliant and very down to Earth. I can't wait to start the next book!
I had planned to do a more detailed critique of this volume and the one that follows it and ends the Rossler Foundation Series. I have decided I don't want to bother. This series started off like gangbusters. The first three volumes were top notch page-turners. They were thrillers that moved along so quickly that the reader did not really want to take time to think things through. This is speculative fiction, speculative science fiction, speculative archaeology and cloak and dagger thrillers. Book four was a sort of place holder while J.C. Ryan seemed to be deciding where he wanted to take things in his next entry in the series, i.e., "The Skywalkers," the volume being considered here. While Ryan does continue to have a wonderful sense of adventure and the skill to create some characters whom the reader will care about, my personal opinion is that in this book, he shows signs of running out of gas. The villains begin to blur and the use of a trusted friend as an actual enemy inside the fold gets worn out. Of course, this volume does involve ANOTHER secret, ancient organization bent on world domination and who sees the Rosslers as standing in their way. So, there is betrayal and the need to go into hiding, all to set up the final volume. I have to say, in hind sight, my recommendation is that unless you are a fan of repetition, very predictable villainy, and pseudo-adventure, the last two volumes of this series can be skipped without really missing out on anything. Just my opinion.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've read all the books in this series and none of them disappoint, this latest installment is no exception to the rule. This installment contained less technical information than the previous book, which, for me, made it a bit easier to read, and I found the story line to be fantastic. I truly enjoyed the further development of the familiar and beloved characters, and will anxiously await the next installment of the series (after that ending there HAS to be a next installment!)
The only reason I rate this book as 4 stars instead of 5 was because some of the tenses or maybe the points of view used in the story didn't seem to line up correctly with what was happening, at times it seemed more like I was reading a line from a play that directed the character to do a certain action rather than reading a novel, and this became more noticeable closer to the end of the book.
The Skywalkers: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 5) (Kindle Edition)
Another great book in the series. When I was first asked to read the first book, which wasn't the kind of book I would read but I thought what do I have to lose. I read the book and was hooked now I can't wait till the next book in the series comes out. When each book does come out you get hooked all over again. I like the fact that each book flashes back so you can recall what happened. Well this book was not a disappointed either. The Rossler Foundation is up to it again while going over the last cycles libraries they come across once again another cycle. The research the location and go check it out. While at the location trouble develops and the group are once again in harms way. I am torn with the way this book ends but it has you wondering will there be another book or not?
The author completely neglected to tell us readers that this is NOT a stand-alone novel, but rather a damned cliffhanger. I won't be buying your books anymore, Ryan.
I loved this entire series of books and am looking forward to more, I must have more. Seriously, these are some of the best I have had the pleasure of reading in a while.
So possible & so close to what we see happening in today's world it's frightening. A real edge of your seat read. Can't wait for the next installment. J. C. Ryan tells an amazing tale.
I can't believe how fas the last half of the book went. I was so caught up in the book I didn't realize I was finished. This is the first book in the series that seemed to be almost a cliffhanger which is not something I have found in Mr. Ryan's books.
Excellent book....maybe even better than the others in the series....but I wanted MORE! It just up and ended....naturally leading the way for the next novel in the series.