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The Seventh Age: Dawn
Mike Auburn dangles above the city of Chicago from the beams of a half-built skyscraper. He is seconds from plummeting towards the circuit board of buildings and streetlights below, but oblivion is not what he seeks it s the dead.
Obsessed with discovering evidence of the afterlife, Mike s death-defying stunts have brought him closer than ever to lifting the veil of reality, always just out of reach. However, his ventures to the edge have not gone unnoticed, and a tenebrous organization led by O'Neil seeks to recruit him to their own cause: preparing the city for impending Ragnarok, the end of the world as they know it.
Before long, a world ruled by scientific method and rational thinking is challenged by the supernatural luring the dead, the damned, and the demons that have long awaited the return of magic, and they will stop at nothing to bring it back for good. Suddenly, Mike is at the center of a battle between the forces of reason, of good, of evil and everything in between."
Obsessed with discovering evidence of the afterlife, Mike s death-defying stunts have brought him closer than ever to lifting the veil of reality, always just out of reach. However, his ventures to the edge have not gone unnoticed, and a tenebrous organization led by O'Neil seeks to recruit him to their own cause: preparing the city for impending Ragnarok, the end of the world as they know it.
Before long, a world ruled by scientific method and rational thinking is challenged by the supernatural luring the dead, the damned, and the demons that have long awaited the return of magic, and they will stop at nothing to bring it back for good. Suddenly, Mike is at the center of a battle between the forces of reason, of good, of evil and everything in between."
350 pages, Paperback
Published January 17, 2017
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774 people want to read
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February 26, 2017
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/02/26/...
The Seventh Age: Dawn certainly knows how to kick things off with style. In fact, the very first page opens with us standing twenty-one floors up above the city of Chicago on an I beam with our protagonist Mike Auburn, a man with a death wish. Rather, he is obsessed with death; everyone he has ever loved has crossed into the great unknown, and now Mike flirts regularly with it in the hopes of glimpsing the ghosts of his past on the other side. As it happens, Mike’s penchant for death defying stunts and near-death experiences also catches the attention of a group looking to recruit a candidate of his skills and interests.
Before long, Mike finds himself joining forces with a mysterious organization led by a man called O’Neil, enlisted into the war against the coming apocalypse. Soon our hero is battling demons, staving off the encroaching forces of the Unification whose aims involve resurrecting a powerful being named Lazarus so that they can usher in a new age where magic will once again reign supreme. After devouring the heart of the monster Golgoroth, Mike transcends his own humanity, becoming the key to an age-old conflict between the realms of supernatural beings.
I enjoyed The Seventh Age: Dawn for the most part, though I’ll also be honest and say that there were times where I really struggled. It’s an ambitious book for sure, though it also suffers occasionally from excessiveness and bloat, a common issue for first novels where you get the sense that the author is trying to cram as much as possible into their debut effort. Rick Heinz throws in everything but the kitchen sink: angels, demons, warlocks, vampires, ghosts, shapeshifters, and I’m sure there are quite a few more creatures that I’m forgetting. I believe therein lies part of the problem. There was simply too much to process such a short time, and in the end I felt like I was only able to absorb a small fraction of the information deluge.
Fortunately, after a few false starts I managed to fall into an easier rhythm, though I also can’t help but feel that “rhythm” might be a wildly inaccurate term to describe the nature of this book. The plot is complicated and rather dense, and the reader is dropped hard into the thick of things straight from the beginning. To the novel’s credit, at no point does the story slow down as we’re thrust into one frenetic situation after another. There’s really nothing soft or predictable about it.
That said though, for an urban fantasy, it’s a bit on the heavier side for my tastes. This is my go-to genre from straight-up fun, not to wrack my brain teasing out multiple impenetrable layers of hidden agendas or trying to work out who’s who. A book with so much action should not feel tedious, or else there’s something not right going on, and I just feel that the story tries to do too much at times and things can get very messy especially with the overabundance of POV characters. The constant shifts and back-and-forths made it nearly impossible to connect with any one person, and trying to keep all the names straight was one reason why I had difficulty getting into this book early on. Another issue is wordiness. In my opinion, there are quite a few scenes that could have been cut down or omitted altogether.
Still, the overall concept is a good one, even if the execution was a little shaky. For all the pomp and zeal that The Seven Age: Dawn tries to pack into its 400 or so pages, the overall plot is relatively light on substance, though that could change in the next installment. Rick Heinz may have tried to cover too much ground in this series opener, but there’s no denying that he’s created an interesting world that I wouldn’t mind exploring further. I also enjoyed the gritty dry tone he established for the rest of the series, a style which reminds me somewhat of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. Perhaps I just need to spend more time in this world to form stronger attachment to the characters and to get a better sense of where things stand.
The Seventh Age: Dawn certainly knows how to kick things off with style. In fact, the very first page opens with us standing twenty-one floors up above the city of Chicago on an I beam with our protagonist Mike Auburn, a man with a death wish. Rather, he is obsessed with death; everyone he has ever loved has crossed into the great unknown, and now Mike flirts regularly with it in the hopes of glimpsing the ghosts of his past on the other side. As it happens, Mike’s penchant for death defying stunts and near-death experiences also catches the attention of a group looking to recruit a candidate of his skills and interests.
Before long, Mike finds himself joining forces with a mysterious organization led by a man called O’Neil, enlisted into the war against the coming apocalypse. Soon our hero is battling demons, staving off the encroaching forces of the Unification whose aims involve resurrecting a powerful being named Lazarus so that they can usher in a new age where magic will once again reign supreme. After devouring the heart of the monster Golgoroth, Mike transcends his own humanity, becoming the key to an age-old conflict between the realms of supernatural beings.
I enjoyed The Seventh Age: Dawn for the most part, though I’ll also be honest and say that there were times where I really struggled. It’s an ambitious book for sure, though it also suffers occasionally from excessiveness and bloat, a common issue for first novels where you get the sense that the author is trying to cram as much as possible into their debut effort. Rick Heinz throws in everything but the kitchen sink: angels, demons, warlocks, vampires, ghosts, shapeshifters, and I’m sure there are quite a few more creatures that I’m forgetting. I believe therein lies part of the problem. There was simply too much to process such a short time, and in the end I felt like I was only able to absorb a small fraction of the information deluge.
Fortunately, after a few false starts I managed to fall into an easier rhythm, though I also can’t help but feel that “rhythm” might be a wildly inaccurate term to describe the nature of this book. The plot is complicated and rather dense, and the reader is dropped hard into the thick of things straight from the beginning. To the novel’s credit, at no point does the story slow down as we’re thrust into one frenetic situation after another. There’s really nothing soft or predictable about it.
That said though, for an urban fantasy, it’s a bit on the heavier side for my tastes. This is my go-to genre from straight-up fun, not to wrack my brain teasing out multiple impenetrable layers of hidden agendas or trying to work out who’s who. A book with so much action should not feel tedious, or else there’s something not right going on, and I just feel that the story tries to do too much at times and things can get very messy especially with the overabundance of POV characters. The constant shifts and back-and-forths made it nearly impossible to connect with any one person, and trying to keep all the names straight was one reason why I had difficulty getting into this book early on. Another issue is wordiness. In my opinion, there are quite a few scenes that could have been cut down or omitted altogether.
Still, the overall concept is a good one, even if the execution was a little shaky. For all the pomp and zeal that The Seven Age: Dawn tries to pack into its 400 or so pages, the overall plot is relatively light on substance, though that could change in the next installment. Rick Heinz may have tried to cover too much ground in this series opener, but there’s no denying that he’s created an interesting world that I wouldn’t mind exploring further. I also enjoyed the gritty dry tone he established for the rest of the series, a style which reminds me somewhat of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. Perhaps I just need to spend more time in this world to form stronger attachment to the characters and to get a better sense of where things stand.
February 6, 2017
Actual rating: 2.5 and some change
Like reading a chess game where the world is ending when checkmate sinks your battleship.
Bullshit. What a load of motherfucking bullshit.” Mike leaned his seat back and put his boots on the dashboard. “You assholes had a choice. A choice to not do any of this. But just like every other group of self-entitled pricks, you want to rule the world. Only it came back and bit you in the ass, and now it’s up to us to try to save a part of it. You know what I could
have been doing today? Eating some terrible Chinese food and crying in a bowl of ramen over the Iron Giant movie."
Mike is a man familiar with death. Everyone he knows, everyone he has loved has died. So now he flirts heavily with adrenaline and near death just to get glimpses of them again. Unfortunately a person like him is a valuable pawn for the monsters who would end the world.
"The Unification believes that
God is dead. They are power hungry, greedy, and very wrong. Oh, so, so wrong.”
How far would you go to search for God? What if you found that God spread himself in each living creature? What if you had to do something horrific to wake up those sparks of divine? What if you were just a selfish, sanctimonious prick utilizing an excuse to grasp power and live the life you want?
Vryce's is a shady character bent on manipulating a bunch of inner secret society snobs and a couple hundred power hungry minions to get back what he willingly sold eons ago. And he is willing to hide is machinations behind plots within plots and more than a few speeches that make you feel like a kid in church getting a bible thrown at them for chewing gum during a hell-fire sermon.
"Well, so Mr. Bad Guy has an army of vampires and wants to rule the world. How is that any different from Mr. Good Guy Lazarus? All I see is a bunch of vampires and a conspiracy to rule the world."
The Unification is a group of age old secret societies run by monsters. Monster who are tired of hiding in the dark. They seek to reawaken a dead profit that they themselves imprisoned many lifetimes previous. And they use people they cannot trust who have too much power to do it.
"You have the deathsight. It happens
every now and then. Someone brushes with death enough times, they start to see into purgatory and it looks back at you. You’re one of them. I want you to come work for me. Do some real good in the world rather than waste away and rot with the rest.”
The end of days is coming. That much is divined by both sides. And in the middle is Mike, a human with a death wish, an overly developed verbosity, and a need for a cause. All in all it just does not look like a bright future for the human race...or the reader.
This one was a struggle to read. The concept was a good twist in the ole heaven and hell comes to earth dystopia, but the back and forth with all the schemes really began to drag. It flashed back and forth between characters so much that I did not care about any of them. The author painted a world that quite frankly I did not have an opinion about being saved. There was just this blah emotion about the whole thing.
"Reason and silence had to become our tools."
He said a mouthful there. Empahsis on REASON, if it pleases. As in the reason a person should keep reading. I give the author credit here--I wanted to see how this mashup of chess and battlship ended. And while the world was shallow in its development, I did want for more explaination. Unfortunately we do not see much of this mysterious Unification who is calling shots. Motivations were slimey at best. Character interactions were entertaining or machivillian. It was all-in-all enough to make me keep going.
However, there was no resolution to any questions and there was a distinct lack of time and organization in the plot. I may pick up the next book to see what happens , but I will want to see a huge cleanup in the how the plot is presented to continue as this particular mashup seemed bent on distracting and losing the reader.
This ARC was given by Netgalley for an honest review.
Like reading a chess game where the world is ending when checkmate sinks your battleship.
Bullshit. What a load of motherfucking bullshit.” Mike leaned his seat back and put his boots on the dashboard. “You assholes had a choice. A choice to not do any of this. But just like every other group of self-entitled pricks, you want to rule the world. Only it came back and bit you in the ass, and now it’s up to us to try to save a part of it. You know what I could
have been doing today? Eating some terrible Chinese food and crying in a bowl of ramen over the Iron Giant movie."
Mike is a man familiar with death. Everyone he knows, everyone he has loved has died. So now he flirts heavily with adrenaline and near death just to get glimpses of them again. Unfortunately a person like him is a valuable pawn for the monsters who would end the world.
"The Unification believes that
God is dead. They are power hungry, greedy, and very wrong. Oh, so, so wrong.”
How far would you go to search for God? What if you found that God spread himself in each living creature? What if you had to do something horrific to wake up those sparks of divine? What if you were just a selfish, sanctimonious prick utilizing an excuse to grasp power and live the life you want?
Vryce's is a shady character bent on manipulating a bunch of inner secret society snobs and a couple hundred power hungry minions to get back what he willingly sold eons ago. And he is willing to hide is machinations behind plots within plots and more than a few speeches that make you feel like a kid in church getting a bible thrown at them for chewing gum during a hell-fire sermon.
"Well, so Mr. Bad Guy has an army of vampires and wants to rule the world. How is that any different from Mr. Good Guy Lazarus? All I see is a bunch of vampires and a conspiracy to rule the world."
The Unification is a group of age old secret societies run by monsters. Monster who are tired of hiding in the dark. They seek to reawaken a dead profit that they themselves imprisoned many lifetimes previous. And they use people they cannot trust who have too much power to do it.
"You have the deathsight. It happens
every now and then. Someone brushes with death enough times, they start to see into purgatory and it looks back at you. You’re one of them. I want you to come work for me. Do some real good in the world rather than waste away and rot with the rest.”
The end of days is coming. That much is divined by both sides. And in the middle is Mike, a human with a death wish, an overly developed verbosity, and a need for a cause. All in all it just does not look like a bright future for the human race...or the reader.
This one was a struggle to read. The concept was a good twist in the ole heaven and hell comes to earth dystopia, but the back and forth with all the schemes really began to drag. It flashed back and forth between characters so much that I did not care about any of them. The author painted a world that quite frankly I did not have an opinion about being saved. There was just this blah emotion about the whole thing.
"Reason and silence had to become our tools."
He said a mouthful there. Empahsis on REASON, if it pleases. As in the reason a person should keep reading. I give the author credit here--I wanted to see how this mashup of chess and battlship ended. And while the world was shallow in its development, I did want for more explaination. Unfortunately we do not see much of this mysterious Unification who is calling shots. Motivations were slimey at best. Character interactions were entertaining or machivillian. It was all-in-all enough to make me keep going.
However, there was no resolution to any questions and there was a distinct lack of time and organization in the plot. I may pick up the next book to see what happens , but I will want to see a huge cleanup in the how the plot is presented to continue as this particular mashup seemed bent on distracting and losing the reader.
This ARC was given by Netgalley for an honest review.
Read
February 24, 2017This book kept me enthralled and up most of the night finishing it.
Let me start by saying, I have not read a lot of urban fantasy, but this author, Rick Heinz, made it come alive for me, and in one of my favorite cities, Chicago.
The Seventh Age: Dawn was a delight to read.
I believe most of us have those hidden fears( or is it anticipation?) about vampires, demons and other monsters just beyond the range our mortal vision.
We have to hail Mike, (the protagonist, if not exactly the hero), as he decides to wage the war between good and evil. Even as he is sucked into a vast conspiracy between political and big business organizations, he retains a sense of who he really is.
It is obvious from the touch of humor threaded through the book, that the author enjoyed the writing as much as i enjoyed the reading, and I do hope this is just the first of many.
Thank you for allowing me to be an advance reader by giving me the book from a giveaway.
Let me start by saying, I have not read a lot of urban fantasy, but this author, Rick Heinz, made it come alive for me, and in one of my favorite cities, Chicago.
The Seventh Age: Dawn was a delight to read.
I believe most of us have those hidden fears( or is it anticipation?) about vampires, demons and other monsters just beyond the range our mortal vision.
We have to hail Mike, (the protagonist, if not exactly the hero), as he decides to wage the war between good and evil. Even as he is sucked into a vast conspiracy between political and big business organizations, he retains a sense of who he really is.
It is obvious from the touch of humor threaded through the book, that the author enjoyed the writing as much as i enjoyed the reading, and I do hope this is just the first of many.
Thank you for allowing me to be an advance reader by giving me the book from a giveaway.
March 12, 2017
Some urban fantasy dances the edge of our reality and the next, easing the reader into a world reminiscent of our own, but not (The Dresden Files, Cassandra Palmer). Others Launch from the unknown, presenting a work that echoes ours, but fundamentally different (the Kate Daniel's series, or The Hollows).
Then there's The Seventh Age.
It presents innocently enough — our familiar world, with a protagonist toeing the line between realities.
Then you get run over by a supernatural tank (metaphorically).
This novel is packed with vampires, demons, warlocks, gods, and every secret society you can think to name. It ought to be crowded, and at times it is, yet Heinz has created a narrative that justifies their coexistence and places his own stamp on the lore of familiar monsters.
There are twists and turns in this book, and enough characters that at times I became a little lost. But above all it is an adventure rollercoaster of action that carries you through. As the first book in a new series, it is a fun read which sets up a fascinating new world to explore.
If you enjoy urban fantasy, this novel is worth checking out.
Then there's The Seventh Age.
It presents innocently enough — our familiar world, with a protagonist toeing the line between realities.
Then you get run over by a supernatural tank (metaphorically).
This novel is packed with vampires, demons, warlocks, gods, and every secret society you can think to name. It ought to be crowded, and at times it is, yet Heinz has created a narrative that justifies their coexistence and places his own stamp on the lore of familiar monsters.
There are twists and turns in this book, and enough characters that at times I became a little lost. But above all it is an adventure rollercoaster of action that carries you through. As the first book in a new series, it is a fun read which sets up a fascinating new world to explore.
If you enjoy urban fantasy, this novel is worth checking out.
March 25, 2017
A visceral sucker punch to the imagination! Heinz indulges in thrilling fight scenes and epic battles, but also weaves a complex, yet accessible universe for our imaginations to play in. The story is epic and full of intrigue, and I can't wait to read more in the series!
February 1, 2017
Mike Auburn is one of the freshest, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek, most-interesting-nearly-fourth-wall-breaking protagonists I've had the pleasure to encounter in a book in a long time. Normally I don't go all-in for snarky, quippy characters, but something about Mike's salt-of-the-earth charm really immersed me in this book. READ THIS for Mike's character arc alone.
SIX STARS / Five
But I have to take one away because the immense amount of world-building in this story could be extremely hard to follow at times. Ironic, too, because it takes place in OUR world, during OUR contemporary time. I would often get the two sides of this great, unseen, occult conflict mixed up. "Which one wanted to resurrect Lazarus and show humanity that magic actually exists, and which wanted to keep it secret?" Also, if I have to read the word "ritual" one more time...!!!
The other characters are all right. There were some I didn't care much about who were overdeveloped, and some that I cared a lot for who I didn't hardly know anything. But author Rick Heinz is building a world here - a series that will span multiple books, so he's essentially laying down the zoning permits in this debut "Dawn," and honestly, Mike Auburn was so godamn cool that I'm willing to give Heinz a pass if some of the other characters left me with an unbalanced feeling.
The plot is somewhat derivative of a thousand things that came before it (but, c'mon, what's fiction if not derivative?) - but Heinz throws in EVERYTHING in a very unique way, something I've never experienced before in another occult fiction / urban fantasy story. It's got angels, demons, warlocks, vampires, something called a RAKSHASA which had me looking up whatever the hell a 'rakshasa' is. I also had to look up the 'Room of Duf.' I was referencing scenes from the book of revelations. I was googling Illuminati and Freemasons (I don't suggest that, by the way. Hello, FBI!) and the McCarthy Witchhunts of the mid-20th century. So, it's no wonder I said it can be a bit tough to keep track of earlier in this review. So for a reader who's smarter than me and decides to take a couple notes along the journey - I think you'll have an awesome time delving (or should I say "helldiving!") into The Seventh Age: Dawn.
SIX STARS / Five
But I have to take one away because the immense amount of world-building in this story could be extremely hard to follow at times. Ironic, too, because it takes place in OUR world, during OUR contemporary time. I would often get the two sides of this great, unseen, occult conflict mixed up. "Which one wanted to resurrect Lazarus and show humanity that magic actually exists, and which wanted to keep it secret?" Also, if I have to read the word "ritual" one more time...!!!
The other characters are all right. There were some I didn't care much about who were overdeveloped, and some that I cared a lot for who I didn't hardly know anything. But author Rick Heinz is building a world here - a series that will span multiple books, so he's essentially laying down the zoning permits in this debut "Dawn," and honestly, Mike Auburn was so godamn cool that I'm willing to give Heinz a pass if some of the other characters left me with an unbalanced feeling.
The plot is somewhat derivative of a thousand things that came before it (but, c'mon, what's fiction if not derivative?) - but Heinz throws in EVERYTHING in a very unique way, something I've never experienced before in another occult fiction / urban fantasy story. It's got angels, demons, warlocks, vampires, something called a RAKSHASA which had me looking up whatever the hell a 'rakshasa' is. I also had to look up the 'Room of Duf.' I was referencing scenes from the book of revelations. I was googling Illuminati and Freemasons (I don't suggest that, by the way. Hello, FBI!) and the McCarthy Witchhunts of the mid-20th century. So, it's no wonder I said it can be a bit tough to keep track of earlier in this review. So for a reader who's smarter than me and decides to take a couple notes along the journey - I think you'll have an awesome time delving (or should I say "helldiving!") into The Seventh Age: Dawn.
May 1, 2017
A sprawling supernatural conspiracy cinematic action fantasy, The Seventh Age: Dawn is described as following Mike Auburn, but he is only one of about 4 or 5 viewpoint characters whom the audience is given to follow in order to see all facets of this complicated story. The visuals and worldbuilding are fantastic, but the accessibility of the story does suffer from all these changes in perspective. There are a few obvious parties to root for: Mike Auburn himself - posterboy and bannerman for Chicagoans of my generation; Gabriel de Angelo - the Chosen One; Delilah - the schemer supreme (love her); Vryce - the visionary... maybe one other. But the supernatural supporting cast, while interesting in concept, remain largely unexplored - a bit underused in all the dense worldbuilding. Due to that, if I could give it 3½ stars I would, but I'm okay with rounding up to 4. Overall, I enjoyed the novel. I'm hooked - there's a ton of potential here and I'm interested in seeing what Rick intends to do with the rest of the series.
April 28, 2017
An enjoyable apocalyptic urban fantasy, where the good guys embrace being bad and the bad guys spin plots almost too complicated to explain. If the conspiracies were a little less byzantine this would be five stars from me. I do appreciate that the hero, Mike Auburn, takes a cue from Miley Cyrus in his approach to the delicate weavings of centuries old manipulators; that is, he comes into the plot like a wrecking ball. I do enjoy reading about wild cards taking matters into their own hands! A great first novel from Heinz, and I'll be looking for the sequel.
December 21, 2016
I really liked the summary of this book. It led me to believe that it would be something right up my alley, as I tend to like sci-fi or paranormal books with some dark intrigue. However, while this book started out stellar and hooked me in the first few chapters, I felt like a rug had been pulled out from under my feet once the character point of view switched to a different character that I simply didn't care too much about, especially when I had just started getting interested in Mike's story. I really enjoyed Mike as a character, his personality and all. He isn't perfect, but he is charming in a dare devil sort of way. I found myself skipping through pages to get back to a more Mike-centric chapter. It probably could have made more sense to sit with Mike throughout the book instead of looking at other 'ongoings' outside of his scope of view. I was invested in Mike....no one else really. That makes for a tough case.
Overall, the writing is good, but I personally was not fully interested in the story once it started unfolding. Perhaps I was not part of the designated audience? It is possible. I tend to like dark fantasy and dark vampire books, but this didn't seem to mesh with what I expected. I am probably just not part of the intended fan base.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, the writing is good, but I personally was not fully interested in the story once it started unfolding. Perhaps I was not part of the designated audience? It is possible. I tend to like dark fantasy and dark vampire books, but this didn't seem to mesh with what I expected. I am probably just not part of the intended fan base.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 9, 2017
The Seventh Age: Dawn confirms all of our worst fears; demons and monsters are lurking in the shadows and us mere mortals are only pawns in their dangerous game. That is, until we follow protagonist Mike's lead and decide to fight for ourselves and take matters into our own hands.
Reading about Mike's journey as he joins a band of vampires in this conspiracy thriller had me enthralled until the very end. There's mystery and intrigue, with a heaping side of torture. Mike begins the story by testing his ability to see the dead, hoping to get a glance at those he has loved and lost, making him immediately relatable to readers who want the same thing. He has some issues, but don't we all? As he's pulled further into the conspiracy plot between several hidden organizations we see the world thrown into turmoil, which is extremely relevant to today's state of affairs.
Readers will be kept guessing as motives are revealed, but it's easy to say nobody is safe as the book catapults us forward at a breakneck pace.
Reading about Mike's journey as he joins a band of vampires in this conspiracy thriller had me enthralled until the very end. There's mystery and intrigue, with a heaping side of torture. Mike begins the story by testing his ability to see the dead, hoping to get a glance at those he has loved and lost, making him immediately relatable to readers who want the same thing. He has some issues, but don't we all? As he's pulled further into the conspiracy plot between several hidden organizations we see the world thrown into turmoil, which is extremely relevant to today's state of affairs.
Readers will be kept guessing as motives are revealed, but it's easy to say nobody is safe as the book catapults us forward at a breakneck pace.
February 2, 2017
The Seventh Age: Dawn was a fantastic read. While I am a huge fan of the action scenes (who doesn’t like reading about demons and vampires tearing each other apart in new and creative ways?!), what really kept me glued to the book were the layers of complexity Heinz created within the factions and underworld politics – I can’t wait to see where the sequels will take the story.
June 23, 2018
A very down-to-earth, gritty, modern urban fantasy. Strikes me as a Dresden meets the Illuminati with a dash of Cabin in the Woods thrown in for spice. A few of my favorite moments from the book:
Mike trying to make a pet out of the first demon he finds.
Ambassadors of Dumbfuckistan.
Deliah Dumont's to-do lists.
Mike trying to make a pet out of the first demon he finds.
Ambassadors of Dumbfuckistan.
Deliah Dumont's to-do lists.
did-not-finish
July 21, 2019I'm going to decline to rate this cause I only got about a quarter of the way into the book and just couldn't bring myself to care. Maybe someone would enjoy this very strange book, but honestly, it was just weird. And it felt like it should have been in first person perspective not third person.
July 31, 2021
I'm a little torn with my own review because this book truly had some great concepts as well as characters who were so, so creative in design with so much promise. The pace of this book just moved so fast it felt like those characters never really had time to grow as people and I love some good character growth. But that's probably a preference thing; if you want fast paced adventure along side some good quality snark this book is definitely for you.
I know the author is releasing a sequel and I do look forward to reading that one and seeing what happens next. The first book in a series often is not the strongest, with so much to set up and establish it can be hard to take it slow. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next one
As an aside, Akira the punk bug girl has to be my favorite <3
I know the author is releasing a sequel and I do look forward to reading that one and seeing what happens next. The first book in a series often is not the strongest, with so much to set up and establish it can be hard to take it slow. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next one
As an aside, Akira the punk bug girl has to be my favorite <3
March 10, 2024
3.5 stars
Mike has a deathwish & every time he almost dies, he is granted a view into purgatory and to see the ones who have left him behind. But he has been noticed, which leads to him gaining new friends with "an aversion to sunlight"!
There are mystical rites and rituals going on, soul-swords emerge and demons appear from "below". The dead are rising & demi-gods are on the prowl. The world is about to head into freefall and no side can be trusted. Then, Mike eats a demon's heart - surely that can't be good for him...?
A tale about the fall of the world as we know it, fantastical and overly complicated, but quite fun nonetheless. The start of a series that promises to be interesting and not your typical apocalypse!.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Mike has a deathwish & every time he almost dies, he is granted a view into purgatory and to see the ones who have left him behind. But he has been noticed, which leads to him gaining new friends with "an aversion to sunlight"!
There are mystical rites and rituals going on, soul-swords emerge and demons appear from "below". The dead are rising & demi-gods are on the prowl. The world is about to head into freefall and no side can be trusted. Then, Mike eats a demon's heart - surely that can't be good for him...?
A tale about the fall of the world as we know it, fantastical and overly complicated, but quite fun nonetheless. The start of a series that promises to be interesting and not your typical apocalypse!.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 29, 2023
This was just too much for me. Too many points of view for too many characters I didn't care about, too many events happening simultaneously. It's a valiant effort, but it really just did not click with me. The combat scenes felt great, although I did raise my eyebrows at some very powerful demons getting murked in less than a page.
As much as I found Mike annoying in some ways, I found his POV the most interesting as he's a newcomer to the esoteric world--same as the reader. It felt like all the other demon and power player POVs were mostly lore dumps about this and that, some serving the purpose of advancing interesting conspiracies and power struggles, but others could have been trimmed completely and it would have probably helped the story.
As much as I found Mike annoying in some ways, I found his POV the most interesting as he's a newcomer to the esoteric world--same as the reader. It felt like all the other demon and power player POVs were mostly lore dumps about this and that, some serving the purpose of advancing interesting conspiracies and power struggles, but others could have been trimmed completely and it would have probably helped the story.
March 1, 2017
The Seventh Age: Dawn is a Great Read!
The Seventh Age Dawn is a page turner. From the minute Mike appears on the 21st floor of a skyscraper in Chicago, the action never ends. The story moves through the streets and underbelly of Chicago and then on to Minneapolis. Mike is surrounded by freakish friends and acquaintances. A rogue group with their own supernatural gifts set out to save the world from vampires, demons, and ghosts.
Heinz is a great storyteller. He has the ability develop intricate characters, fascinating places, while the action speeds along. This is urban fantasy at its best. I can’t wait for the sequel.
The Seventh Age Dawn is a page turner. From the minute Mike appears on the 21st floor of a skyscraper in Chicago, the action never ends. The story moves through the streets and underbelly of Chicago and then on to Minneapolis. Mike is surrounded by freakish friends and acquaintances. A rogue group with their own supernatural gifts set out to save the world from vampires, demons, and ghosts.
Heinz is a great storyteller. He has the ability develop intricate characters, fascinating places, while the action speeds along. This is urban fantasy at its best. I can’t wait for the sequel.
July 22, 2017
Holy crap man. It's hard to describe a book this ambitious in scale. I'm kind of floored by it from someone who I think is a first time author. It follows several characters points of view and each of them are great in their own ways. The world building is a delightful mashup of dark urban almost cyberpunk dystopia and magic heavy on the ghosts, spirits and corporate evil. I mean, that's a hell of a run on sentence and that's just getting started. Honestly the best I can say is just give it a try. You will get your money's worth and then some!
August 4, 2017
Here's the elevator pitch: Undead Don Corleone compels John Constantine to assemble the supernatural Avengers to prevent the Illuminati from opening a gate to Hell.
Great book. Can't wait for the next in the series.
Great book. Can't wait for the next in the series.
May 11, 2024
I enjoyed the overall world, but will admit that portions of the book were kind of all over the place. Some points just needed to be slowed down. Will check out the sequel and see how it goes. I have hope.
March 9, 2017
A rip roaring, brutal urban fantasy. Not for the faint-hearted!
September 5, 2023
As the world evolves it goes through stages. As it continues forward we immediately return to patterns that have passed. A solidly built world and excited for more.
March 12, 2017
An exciting story that looks beneath the day-to-day and exposes the plots and schemes of the underworld cabals that secretly guide our society. Demons, vampires, mages, and one particularly unlucky (well, it's his friends and family who were the unlucky ones) steel worker named Mike collide.
I'm looking forward to the sequel!
I'm looking forward to the sequel!
March 4, 2017
DNF after 100 pages. It was a little too all over the place for me.
December 2, 2023
I'd probably give this a 3.75, but 4 star is close enough.
I enjoyed the concept, and the action kept me interested. I wanted to finish reading even when my ADHD brain got distracted, which is a feat in itself. The multiple POV was hard to get a handle on at first, and sometimes I'd be like, "Wait a second, who are we now?" But after a bit, I fell into the rhythm.
I'm still not 100% on who the bad guy was. I really enjoyed Auburn's character, so here's to hoping it's not him lol.
I enjoyed this enough that I'll read more!
I enjoyed the concept, and the action kept me interested. I wanted to finish reading even when my ADHD brain got distracted, which is a feat in itself. The multiple POV was hard to get a handle on at first, and sometimes I'd be like, "Wait a second, who are we now?" But after a bit, I fell into the rhythm.
I'm still not 100% on who the bad guy was. I really enjoyed Auburn's character, so here's to hoping it's not him lol.
I enjoyed this enough that I'll read more!
February 8, 2017
In a way, I almost feel this review might be a tad redundant. That’s because I’m about to repeat and echo observations made by a number of other reviewers before me.
For example, I’m far from the first to tell you Rick Heinz immediately drops the reader into hot and heavy action in the very first paragraph of The Seventh Age and doesn’t slow down for the over 400 pages that follow. The book is dense, complex, and populated by a very strange cast of characters that include warlocks, vampires, demons, ghosts, shape shifters, sorcerers, mutant animals, as well as humans. In all this paranormal activity, earth as we know it is about to change as all these beings have different agendas about what they want to happen. There are apparently international rituals in the works to bring about a “Unification” and the resurrection of a super-entity named Lazarus to usher in a new age when magic will again rule.
In many ways, because of the layers of varying agendas and battles between the supernatural beings, trying to offer a useful and understandable synopsis isn’t really workable in a short review like this. Suffice it to say a human named Mike Auburn is our first point-of-view character in Chicago, a man who can see the dead. He meets beings who slowly reveal his important role in what is coming. Some of the supernaturals care nothing for humans and would be happy to wipe us out. Others see us as expendable inconveniences in the way as they invade earth from both Purgatory and Hell. Still others want to Shepard and protect as much humanity as they can in underground and street level battles. There’s a lot of blood, vampirism, and eating of souls. For those who enjoy conspiracy thrillers, there’s no shortage of secret societies who want to open or block the portals between the realms and keep their activities hidden from humanity as they plan a takeover of our planet.
One of my favorite aspects of this book is just how much Heinz is able to keep the reader guessing and surprised by what is going on, particularly as many of the characters you’d think are pure evil turn out to have far more mixed motives than you’d expect. While I can’t say my reading of urban fantasies is all that deep, I can’t recall a title in this genre with this much of an epic scope. This is especially true considering Dawn is obviously just volume one of this saga.
So, if you don’t mind your fantasy being on the grim and grisly side, the plot constantly challenging any preconceptions you might have as you go along, The Seventh Age is a chilling, engrossing read. Some books still prove literature can be very frightening indeed, even if everything is so fantastic that what happens can’t reflect real-world concerns.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Jan. 16, 2016:
goo.gl/T2mGBv
February 14, 2017
I started reading the book because I wanted to give Rick a chance with his first book. By page 100, (which I highly recommend you at least make it there) I was hooked and couldn't put the book down any time I could.
A great first tome (hopefully not the last, too) in what is essentially a very detailed world. You can feel as the book progresses that this world has a deep story that Rick is eager to unveil and unravel for all to read.
Seventh Age: Dawn takes you into a world of conspiracies and hidden societies where everything may not be as it seems. Multiple twists and allusions will give you a deeper look in an ever growing web of interconnected plots and schemes as you come to know the cast of the book and their goals and motivations.
If I had to choose only one thing to congratulate Rick on, however, the choice would instantly go to the lack of Black and White. There is no " Good " or " Evil ", only fully fleshed out characters, each with their own goals and motivations. You are all along left guessing who is doing stuff for himself or for the greater good. (Or their definition of it.)
My takeaway here is that the book takes time to unravel enough to hook someone in but is well worth the wait. If you make it to page 100 and aren't hooked yet, this may not be the book for you. But you will never known if you don't make it there.
A great first tome (hopefully not the last, too) in what is essentially a very detailed world. You can feel as the book progresses that this world has a deep story that Rick is eager to unveil and unravel for all to read.
Seventh Age: Dawn takes you into a world of conspiracies and hidden societies where everything may not be as it seems. Multiple twists and allusions will give you a deeper look in an ever growing web of interconnected plots and schemes as you come to know the cast of the book and their goals and motivations.
If I had to choose only one thing to congratulate Rick on, however, the choice would instantly go to the lack of Black and White. There is no " Good " or " Evil ", only fully fleshed out characters, each with their own goals and motivations. You are all along left guessing who is doing stuff for himself or for the greater good. (Or their definition of it.)
My takeaway here is that the book takes time to unravel enough to hook someone in but is well worth the wait. If you make it to page 100 and aren't hooked yet, this may not be the book for you. But you will never known if you don't make it there.
December 24, 2023
Rarely do I pick up a book and find myself unable to place it back down. It didn't want to leave the world created by Rick Heinz. This is a rich world with amazing characters who make you want to follow them through any adventure. Truly an amazing read and I can't wait for the next one.
December 31, 2016
Heinz is a natural story teller, who crafts a thrilling story and a rich setting filled with intrigue, sinister conspiracies and supernatural secret societies. The plot is gripping, well-paced and complexly interwoven, grabbing the reader in the first chapter and keeping them turning the pages to see what will happen next. The line between hero and villain blurs, as each character is the hero of their own personal thread of the story, making each character well-developed, each with distinct personalities and personal motivations. He creates an entire and rich mythology within the pages that leave you anticipating the next in the series!
August 2, 2016
“If you are anything like me and love Urban Fantasy, then go buy 7th Age Dawn and rush to your local cemetery to read it. But be warned! Unless there is a full moon, you should bring a flashlight—because you will not want to leave once you have started reading this epic adventure! Heinz’s storytelling will transport you to a Chicago which is both beautiful and terrifying and, like me, you will love Heinz for taking you there.” --Jamison Stone author of Rune of the Apprentice
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