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The Tabernacle of Legion
In the midst of a golden era of space travel, an alien artifact is discovered in the asteroid belt. The artifact seems to defy fundamental laws of physics, and it is at least three billion years old. In an attempt to learn more about the artifact, NASA launches the most advanced spacecraft ever built, crewed by the most qualified men and women in the astronaut corps. But they are not alone in their endeavor. A being from the dawn of human history with a mysterious connection to the enigmatic aliens has been awakened and he will stop at nothing to reach the artifact and claim its power for himself. And what they discover will be greater than anything they could have imagined.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
345 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 16, 2017
60 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Schillo
4 books12 followersI am an aspiring science fiction author always looking to improve my craft and write enjoyable stories for readers. For my day job, I work as a Space Nuclear Propulsion Systems Engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I have a PhD in aerospace systems engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. My dissertation focused on modeling plasma jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion with smooth particle hydrodynamics. I have worked for NASA, the Center for Space Nuclear Research, and numerous small companies on satellite development, nuclear reactors for space applications, and advanced propulsion concepts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
February 17, 2018
My rating 4.9
The Tabernacle of Legion Book by Kevin Schillo is well written and conceals a very well-conceived story. This is a real hard sci-fi novel and in it, the author reviews our complete science and how small we are in the universe. The story is happening in the near future on the Moon the first station was made, and the first expedition landed on Mars. Rich tourists fly to the moon, and the ore is digging in the meteor belt. When excavating mines in the meteor belt, a private company enriched with this excavation reveals a strange artefact. The artefacts are at least three billion years old and the question is asked who left it there. At the same time in Antarctica, researchers find a frozen man for which the age cannot be precisely determined how he is old. After the discovery of the artefact, begins preparation for departing with the most modern spacecraft and with the team of top scientists to explore the artefact. All eyes of the world are upon this research artefact so unnoticed passing strange events in Antarctica. But all this is related to the story that follows us. The question of all the questions in the book is what I would really do to find such an artefact because its existence is defying all the laws of physics and knowledge possessed by mankind. It's a very good story, the characters are very elaborate and I would recommend a book to all Sci-Fi lovers.
The Tabernacle of Legion Book by Kevin Schillo is well written and conceals a very well-conceived story. This is a real hard sci-fi novel and in it, the author reviews our complete science and how small we are in the universe. The story is happening in the near future on the Moon the first station was made, and the first expedition landed on Mars. Rich tourists fly to the moon, and the ore is digging in the meteor belt. When excavating mines in the meteor belt, a private company enriched with this excavation reveals a strange artefact. The artefacts are at least three billion years old and the question is asked who left it there. At the same time in Antarctica, researchers find a frozen man for which the age cannot be precisely determined how he is old. After the discovery of the artefact, begins preparation for departing with the most modern spacecraft and with the team of top scientists to explore the artefact. All eyes of the world are upon this research artefact so unnoticed passing strange events in Antarctica. But all this is related to the story that follows us. The question of all the questions in the book is what I would really do to find such an artefact because its existence is defying all the laws of physics and knowledge possessed by mankind. It's a very good story, the characters are very elaborate and I would recommend a book to all Sci-Fi lovers.
January 10, 2019
Like a rocket cruising through cislunar space, Kevin Schillo’s The Tabernacle of Legion is a satisfying slow burn with a wondrous end! Schillo brings plenty of great scientific background to the story adding to the realism without getting in the way of the pacing. Populated by a cast of great characters, Tabernacle of Legion takes us on an interesting look of what space exploration and first contact can be like in the near future. Great for any The Expanse or Contact fans out there!
January 15, 2018
There are many things you can count on while reading this well-written, hard science fiction novel. A strongly developed storyline and stable characters are two of those things. As far as I know, the science is spot on, something that added to the plot line for me because it could be a reality. An element I love about hard science fiction stories.
I love science. I’m a huge supporter of it. I only hope to live long enough to see some of the things in this novel come to fruition. That being said, all the technical language became tiresome to read after a while.
And maybe it’s because I’m not a scientist, only a science enthusiast that I found my attention easily drawn away from the story time-to-time. There were many moments where the heavy dialogue and the repetitiveness made it a struggle to keep going.
The ending left me with a lot of questions, but then I read the author’s bio on Amazon and this is book one in a series. So if you read this novel and find yourself yelling, “but what about. . . ” like I did, have no fear, a number two is in the works.
I love science. I’m a huge supporter of it. I only hope to live long enough to see some of the things in this novel come to fruition. That being said, all the technical language became tiresome to read after a while.
And maybe it’s because I’m not a scientist, only a science enthusiast that I found my attention easily drawn away from the story time-to-time. There were many moments where the heavy dialogue and the repetitiveness made it a struggle to keep going.
The ending left me with a lot of questions, but then I read the author’s bio on Amazon and this is book one in a series. So if you read this novel and find yourself yelling, “but what about. . . ” like I did, have no fear, a number two is in the works.
December 15, 2017
Wordy
I really don't have time to read fiction embedded with political opinion and religious denigration. Could have been a good yarn.
I really don't have time to read fiction embedded with political opinion and religious denigration. Could have been a good yarn.
March 9, 2018
This was a refreshing change from most of the Sci-Fi books I've read. There were no Space Battles between Humans and various alien species, no Plasma or Lasar Weapons, and, amazingly, no Faster than Light Spaceships. There was instead a great story that deals with a common theme in this genre, First Contact. What is done so differently here is we never really meet the "Little Green Men", or Blue, Red, Big, or Little. We do have an obvious alien artifact that is discovered by nearly autonomous and self-replicating Mining Robots harvesting rare and unique materials from various asteroids far, far, away. The artifact-object is so unique and has some properties that nearly defy the known Physics that it is concluded it must have been made, and left there, by a civilization so old and advanced it seems to predate our world.
This adventure takes place just about two generations past our current time and the technological advances seem to be natural progressions from today's science. We have begun to develop permanent habitations on the Moon and Mars and the travel times challenging us today remain. One big advance that has allowed great strides in space exploration is the use of recycled "space-Ships" and Launch Vehicles. We no longer rely on single-use, throw-away vehicles and these savings allow way more frequent missions. Also, the mining of there asteroids is so profitable it has had substantial impacts on world economies and social behaviors. The latest advance in propulsion systems uses a more gentle acceleration but on a greatly extended basis. This allows for much greater speeds versus the brief but powerful rocket propulsion systems of today.
I personally dislike what I call HS Book Report style Reviews. If you want a summary of the book, the author does a much better job than any reviewer can. I also hate reviews that give away plot twists or story endings. I will say that this book has a satisfactory ending while clearly showing there is more, much more, to come. It's not a "cliff-hanger" ending which I view as a dirty trick some authors use to compel you to get the next book in their series. You may be assured you will want the next in the series but you won't be left scratching your head wondering, "How are they going to get out of this problem," I've always been intrigued by the concept of God as an Ancient Alien. You can't help but wonder about that when you read this book.
Review by THE HOLEY ONE
This adventure takes place just about two generations past our current time and the technological advances seem to be natural progressions from today's science. We have begun to develop permanent habitations on the Moon and Mars and the travel times challenging us today remain. One big advance that has allowed great strides in space exploration is the use of recycled "space-Ships" and Launch Vehicles. We no longer rely on single-use, throw-away vehicles and these savings allow way more frequent missions. Also, the mining of there asteroids is so profitable it has had substantial impacts on world economies and social behaviors. The latest advance in propulsion systems uses a more gentle acceleration but on a greatly extended basis. This allows for much greater speeds versus the brief but powerful rocket propulsion systems of today.
I personally dislike what I call HS Book Report style Reviews. If you want a summary of the book, the author does a much better job than any reviewer can. I also hate reviews that give away plot twists or story endings. I will say that this book has a satisfactory ending while clearly showing there is more, much more, to come. It's not a "cliff-hanger" ending which I view as a dirty trick some authors use to compel you to get the next book in their series. You may be assured you will want the next in the series but you won't be left scratching your head wondering, "How are they going to get out of this problem," I've always been intrigued by the concept of God as an Ancient Alien. You can't help but wonder about that when you read this book.
Review by THE HOLEY ONE
July 18, 2018
DNF at 69%, which is ironic given the scene I quit at - more on this later.
I'm a big fan of first contact books and it's very difficult for me to DNF when I probably should. I was actually stressed for a while because I was considering DNF but I felt obligated to read the full thing since I got it free from the author for a review, and I really WANTED it to be better than it was. There were scenes where I just couldn't stand the writing, and then shortly after there would be a scene that I did actually like, but eventually there was just one last straw.
The characters were at times decent and at times unbelievably bad. The hotshot astronaut atheist having a bickering discussion with his Catholic priest brother just felt like it was coming from the author's mouth to ridicule the foolish Christian belief. Later on the astronaut also soapboxes about multiple left political points like universal basic income and others. Never does this feel like it is character driven conversation, it doesn't feel natural in dialog or the way it comes up. The income part especially, considering the scene was with his boss and it wasn't even conversation, it was just him thinking. That scene was terrible, they went to this bar and didn't do anything at all until his inner monologue was done and then they said 'ok, bye' and that was it. This happened frequently. And I want to point out that I don't care that it is specifically left political points, but the way it is portrayed. For that matter, I would dislike it just as much if it was right leaning political points too.
Then the book improved for a little bit when they were going into space. I really like hard sci-fi and this section was well done. It felt like Kevin Schillo did his homework and portrayed the take-off and other parts very well.
The other part I didn't care for, but more or less let pass was the nanomachine enhanced guy, Ask. His nanomachines were basically magic. Now, I know there is the quote, I think from Arthur C Clarke, that goes something like "Sufficiently advanced technology appears equivalent to magic." so I can kind of let it pass, but it gets kind of ridiculous. He can know 100% of everything in the mind and memories of someone he barely brushes skin contact. He can pass the nanomachines on to that person and instantly kill them. He can change his own appearance fully to match another person. He can control them from significant distance. And more things that I forget. It just seemed a bit much.
There was one scene, I forget the details, where Ask mentions (inner monologue of course) how he can't survive without air and food, or something, but the book starts with researchers finding him frozen in the Antarctic glaciers. Then when he comes out and kills everyone in the research station, he goes outside and smells the air (in Antarctica) and can tell the industrial state of the world, due to climate change. Also smells that people still believe in religion's fairy tales and a number of other things. It was a pretty incredible power.
Then the final straw, at 69%, was when the astronauts are in space on their way to the alien artifact and the one female tries to get laid. She approaches the mathematician who basically acts like a sociopath throughout, rebukes her, and then informs her that he is asexual and she's a bigot because she's shocked and disgusted for being turned down. So then she approaches the next guy down the line and somehow he already knows he's second pick and in the cringiest conversation says that he's in an open relationship with his wife and he can bang anyone and his wife would love her and ok this is stupid and I'm done. In both conversations it was so unnatural and cold it was a pain to read. Not to mention, how incredibly unprofessional it seemed to me. They were barely a day into their journey and she "is a human that has needs." Just nope.
I'm a big fan of first contact books and it's very difficult for me to DNF when I probably should. I was actually stressed for a while because I was considering DNF but I felt obligated to read the full thing since I got it free from the author for a review, and I really WANTED it to be better than it was. There were scenes where I just couldn't stand the writing, and then shortly after there would be a scene that I did actually like, but eventually there was just one last straw.
The characters were at times decent and at times unbelievably bad. The hotshot astronaut atheist having a bickering discussion with his Catholic priest brother just felt like it was coming from the author's mouth to ridicule the foolish Christian belief. Later on the astronaut also soapboxes about multiple left political points like universal basic income and others. Never does this feel like it is character driven conversation, it doesn't feel natural in dialog or the way it comes up. The income part especially, considering the scene was with his boss and it wasn't even conversation, it was just him thinking. That scene was terrible, they went to this bar and didn't do anything at all until his inner monologue was done and then they said 'ok, bye' and that was it. This happened frequently. And I want to point out that I don't care that it is specifically left political points, but the way it is portrayed. For that matter, I would dislike it just as much if it was right leaning political points too.
Then the book improved for a little bit when they were going into space. I really like hard sci-fi and this section was well done. It felt like Kevin Schillo did his homework and portrayed the take-off and other parts very well.
The other part I didn't care for, but more or less let pass was the nanomachine enhanced guy, Ask. His nanomachines were basically magic. Now, I know there is the quote, I think from Arthur C Clarke, that goes something like "Sufficiently advanced technology appears equivalent to magic." so I can kind of let it pass, but it gets kind of ridiculous. He can know 100% of everything in the mind and memories of someone he barely brushes skin contact. He can pass the nanomachines on to that person and instantly kill them. He can change his own appearance fully to match another person. He can control them from significant distance. And more things that I forget. It just seemed a bit much.
There was one scene, I forget the details, where Ask mentions (inner monologue of course) how he can't survive without air and food, or something, but the book starts with researchers finding him frozen in the Antarctic glaciers. Then when he comes out and kills everyone in the research station, he goes outside and smells the air (in Antarctica) and can tell the industrial state of the world, due to climate change. Also smells that people still believe in religion's fairy tales and a number of other things. It was a pretty incredible power.
Then the final straw, at 69%, was when the astronauts are in space on their way to the alien artifact and the one female tries to get laid. She approaches the mathematician who basically acts like a sociopath throughout, rebukes her, and then informs her that he is asexual and she's a bigot because she's shocked and disgusted for being turned down. So then she approaches the next guy down the line and somehow he already knows he's second pick and in the cringiest conversation says that he's in an open relationship with his wife and he can bang anyone and his wife would love her and ok this is stupid and I'm done. In both conversations it was so unnatural and cold it was a pain to read. Not to mention, how incredibly unprofessional it seemed to me. They were barely a day into their journey and she "is a human that has needs." Just nope.
March 18, 2018
With The Tabernacle of Legion, Kevin Schillo wrote both a fast and fun read. He has taken a first contact concept, placed into a near future setting and let the chips fall where they may. The Tabernacle of Legion reads like an adventure story and yet is very subtle. Schillo has done something very amazing, he wrote a compelling and fun read and yet there is plenty to contemplate on a much deeper level. He studies government vs. private space exploration, first contact, the meaning of honor; even better, the nature of GOD. Yet, he deftly manages to avoid the pitfall of allowing any of it to bog down the story.
The Tabernacle of Legion is all about the big picture and uses the characters to move along the story. This is not a character driven book, but they are central to everything. Yet, they are plug and play and are in support for the story. It is an amazing accomplishment.
The Tabernacle of Legion is certainly Science Fiction, but it is not really a genre novel. It reads like a well written adventure story. There is enough science for that fan, but does not drown in it and the science is matter of fact, not highlighted. A philosophical science fiction novel. A first contact novel with Humanity not really mattering to the big picture. A sobering philosophy.
Kevin Schillo wrote a wonderful first novel and he left the reader wanting more. I hope more is coming soon.
The Tabernacle of Legion is all about the big picture and uses the characters to move along the story. This is not a character driven book, but they are central to everything. Yet, they are plug and play and are in support for the story. It is an amazing accomplishment.
The Tabernacle of Legion is certainly Science Fiction, but it is not really a genre novel. It reads like a well written adventure story. There is enough science for that fan, but does not drown in it and the science is matter of fact, not highlighted. A philosophical science fiction novel. A first contact novel with Humanity not really mattering to the big picture. A sobering philosophy.
Kevin Schillo wrote a wonderful first novel and he left the reader wanting more. I hope more is coming soon.
December 22, 2018
EDIT: If you've been asked to review this book. Be warned. I should have said this from the outset. I received a copy of this book from the author and was asked to provide a review. Well, I provided a review which I intended as honest, yet constructive, criticism. The vast majority of my criticisms are repeated by other reviewers who were asked by the author to review the book. I'm only adding this edit because I have since been accosted by a mysterious new user who claimed to have read this book twice (yet it's not marked on his Goodreads), has only a few books Goodreads asks you to indicate you've read to provide you with recommendations, but only "The Tabernacle of Legion" is his non pop-literature on his list, has pledged 20 books this year, but not a single one listed, and has intimate knowledge of Kevin Schillo's education. And yet, there's not a single other review or comment, with the last comment (see below) a vague threat against my own work. Make your own conclusion.
If this review had a title it would be, "Proof of Concept vs. the Power of a Good Red Pen."
In a sentence: Kevin Schillo's The Tabernacle of Legion is an interesting take on a classic concept that is drive by plot and mystery alone, dragged down by wooden characters and poor (possibly nonexistent) editing.
The Good: The Story. I'll keep this section as spoiler free as possible.
The Tabernacle's concept is nothing new: a mysterious unnatural object is discovered in the Solar System and a team of astronauts is gathered to investigate it. The book made me imagine Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey as written by Andy Weir (more on that later). The object, a perfect black-body referred to alternatively as "the Bastion" and "the Tabernacle" is really what drives the story forward. Schillo makes is abundantly clear that the object could not be naturally occuring, and the Bastion refuses to respond or communicate, making the arrival of the astronauts that much more important.
Couple with this discovery in the Asteroid Belt, a research station in Antarctica discovers an ancient human being perfectly preserved in the ice. Now, if this is sounding like a familiar story, I'll concede, it lacks originality, but what happens to the body (no spoilers yet) and the persistent silence from the Bastion are so successfully at driving the story forward that I couldn't have finished the book without that enduring mystery.
It's an unoriginal start, but it's not about the beginning, it's all about the end.
There's not much more I can say without getting into spoiler territory. But a word on the theme: Science vs. Religion. The Protagonist (but not the Main Character) Mark de Rijk, is an expert pilot who is Atheist. His brother is a Catholic priest. Their ideological conflict is expressed mostly over games of pool snide remarks, with the (Gospel of) Mark asking (confusingly Jewish) David why he doesn't pray to God to guide the balls into the pocket.
It's an age-old conflict, and the novel spends a lot of energy to express it. Hell, the title is Tabernacle, evoking the sacred space of an ancient temple (a seed that's never ripened, it should really be titled Bastion given the object's silence and immovability). And I spent a lot of time expecting a reference to the Demon Possessed Man approaching Jesus and saying, "We are Legion," (Mark 5:9). Maybe it's saved for the sequel, but I feel like I lost a bet with myself. None of the mythological references are quite so subtle. Usually Schillo just straight up comes out and explains the reference with a hammer. (i.e. Niflheim, Ask, Psalms, 2001, the monolith, all make appearances and are explained immediately.)
The Bad: The Characters. I will give a spoiler warning when I get to spoiler territory.
It's not all that important to have vibrant characters in Hard Sci-Fi. In 2001, I can't really tell you anything about Dave Bowman, and it's a classic novel of the genre that I really enjoyed. But it's not about Dave, it's about humanity, and Dave is just a vector through which the story and the science takes place. The same could be said for Andy Weir's The Martian. What we know about Mark Whatney is not really all that long, but frankly, no one cares. It's about the science. An after-action report.
That said, having more characterization isn't a bad thing either. I think a better comp for this book than either 2001 or The Martian would be Weir's Artemis. Artemis's protagonist, Jazz Bashara, is a cocky, intelligent, pragmatic, irreverant, ethical smartass who keeps making business decisions with her wallet and against her better judgment. I can describe to you in detail her relationships with other characters: her father, her business partner, the city's Police Officer, Dale the EVA Master, Sprodo her techy contact, etc. Weir could take the characters to Earth and write a new story, and I would still care.
None of that has a parallel in Tabernacle. This would be fine if, like David Bowman, the astronauts are just instruments of science, but they're not. Schillo wastes so mich valuable book space (and reader attention) poorly characterizing through pointless exposition or horrible monologues (but more on that in a second).
The results is that our characters aren't instruments like Dave Bowman, or humans like Jazz Bashara, but blocks of wood. The scene where we discover that Mark has a Priest brother starts with them greeting each other playing pool, and Mark mocking his brother for his faith, before getting a phone call and needing to leave. (Wait... no they meet at the landing pad... another useless scene which just establishes that these people exist, and Mark is an astronaut.) The(se) scene(s) serve basically just to establish that these characters exist, and that Mark has no problem mocking his brother. But I shouldn't take it as mocking. The scene's exposition, i.e. 75% of it, tells me that their relationship is still respectful.
Riiight.
Most of the characterization is like this. We know that Mark respects his boss because the exposition says he does. We know that Desmond did what he did with Top Secret information because the exposition told us so.
The brief moments of actual characterization - Miles' confession to Mark, Aytche's instant downfall from hero to alien-conspiracy theorist - pass quickly because they are not the focus. This and the twists that drive the plot tell me that this book could be great, but there's no sense in trying to make me care about characters if they're not going to be the focus. (Side note: why does each astronaut have only one family member each? It feels cheap, made to force me to care. It reeks of artificiality and adds to the woodenness of the astronauts. Why doesn't Mark or David ever reference their parents? Why doesn't Oksana's mother appear on the communications? If Adam and Maria are open, what are their rules and why? I'm asking because these are important questions, not because I actually care about any of these people...)
Spoilers Start Here
By far the two best characters in the book are Jed and Ask. Somewhat ironically, because they're so wooden and logical, the book's overall characterization works in their favor.
I almost instantly fell in love with Jed. His awkwardness, mathematics expertise/fetish, and alternative sexuality reminded me of actual people I know (a great thing!) and making the reveal of Jed's daughter (gasp!) that much more impactful.
The novel's real main character and Antagonist, however, is Ask. Ask, the ice-bound prehistoric man is the novel's first great twist, and enough boundaries are placed around his knowledge regarding Legion and the nanobots that form the basis of his power that he is a fascinating character. His age and his one-pointed mindset allowing him to lookw down on humanity as a particularly nuisanceful overgrown mold, feed into the wooden nature of the cast at large.
Honorable mention will be made (no, it's not Mark) of Adam. Adam has a few well-written key moments where I'm pretty sure I see some leaves sprout from his block of cedar.
1. Adam's love for his work really shines through his poor dialogue. It suffers by being communicated first through exposition, but sticks the landing when it's his turn to debate, and is the dissenting voice in the Intrepid to go to Mars and rescue the crew of the Collins, his friends. While I disagreed with him (as did the rest of the crew) I couldn't help but root for his emotion in a cast of mannequins.
2. Oksana - who could be replaced by a Russian cut out and a physics text book - prowls the trip looking for a man to have sex with. She picks Jed first, being single, but after being rejected, wanders over to Adam and is more direct. Adam is a bit miffed at being second choice, (or as Schillo writes "silver medal") and his emotion shows through the dialogue. It made me almost like the dumb scene.
3. Adam's last ditch effort to kill Ask and save humanity is characteristic of his illogical , very personal side. I was rooting for a zero-G, nanobot fueled fist-fight, but what we got was... fine. But like the above scene, this too is undercut, not from another character, but from Adam himself. Ask reveals to him "the truth." (What it is, I can't even spoil, we the reader only know that Ning was selective with her own reveal, and Ask - the mass-murderer with a god-complex - revealed something life-changing). Whatever it is makes Adam fall silent. And even after he recovers from the shock, he doesn't swear, or cry out, or get emotional. He falls silent. Sigh.
It ends up being just unrealistic. I was genuinely excited to see the astronauts of the Intrepid relax and interact. Instead they set up dinner and the scene cuts to black. Spacecraft being close quarters with small populations are great literary devices for exploring complex characters in interesting locations. Instead, we are forced to suffer 90% of characterization throguh scenes that are just background noise to information that we don't actually care to know yet.
The Ugly: It reads like a sloppy first draft.
I won't bother nitpicking every typo. I'll merely mention that they're hard to ignore or forgive when the book's poor editing is already on display.
In short, the writing is inefficient. I live and write by the Orwell code: never use two words where one will suffice. The first casualties here are adverbs. Much of this book reads as if the author has no faith in his words. If two characters are obviously joking or flirting (and it's always obvious) they don't need to say so jokingly or flirtaciously. Less is almost always more. One of the most stunning twists of the story is when Ning grabs Mark and reveals herself. There's no warning, it's quick, and there's a real sense of urgency. So much of the text is cluttered with adverbial specifications and genitive redundancy that it reeks as if the author mistrusts either himself or his readers.
Or the other end of the spectrum: whole chapters could be cut by as much as 75% or 90% without losing critical information. Mark is introduced into the novel this way: with a scene that has him safely descend in a space craft and shake hands with his boss and brother. Nothing else happens in this scene. It's all exposition before I've been given a reason to care.
Jed, my favorite character, is ruined like this. Not through exposition, but through it's twin brother: monologuing. There's a lot of monologuing in this book. At first it's forgiveable because it's often done by Presidents and CEOs making speeches (acceptable, but still annoying) but by the end it's everyone. First it's Jed, and his ego made of Brazilian hardwood, makes it both amusing and in-character. But then after Oksana fails at seducing him, he monologues and instead of cutting him off (what he's saying ultimately doesn't matter to the book) she let's him! Why?
Yes, I'll get that he'll keep going once he's on a roll, but Oksana has every reason to be embarassed, slightly ashamed, and angry. She wouldn't be looking for an intellectual debate, and Oksana as a character comes out stiff and emotionless, where the whole point of the scene is to highlight humanity and intimacy, a display of logic vs. emotion, and what we get is logic anti-seuxality and a character we are told is human, emotions, passions, and all, but are shown that she is just as calculating and emotionless as Jed.
By the climax of the story, when Mark is going to make an effort to ram the Aldrin with the Intrepid, the Astronauts are ready to die, but are going to offer one final goodbye to their families (i.e. their one family member each) while the Intrepid's communications are still open.
And they fucking monologue! I nearly gave up at that point. Oksana talks to her sister, but I couldn't give a shit. (Hell, I only remember Oksana's name because she shared a name with my neighbor, not anything notable about her). Adam leaves a message to his wife, which I also couldn't care less about. Adam's relationship with his wife is notable for only two reasons: they are in an open relationship, but this is never explained or explored, and they refer to each other as "baby" so much I imagined it as a relationship between two pimps. All made even more infuriating by their dialogue's lack of commas (compounded by sporadic comma use...).
Finally, Jed and Mark, both characters whose live and themes we should care about, but I was flipping over Adam and Oksana's bullshit that I did a double take, rereading Jed's dialogue and spending ten seconds going, "Wow..." right before going right back to Monologuing...
Skip!
The same could be said for Mark's monologue to his brother.
Why does any of this matter? Well, simply put, a more pleasurable reading experience shouldn't need further reason. But more importantly, it undercuts the themes and cashes a check that the story hasn't built up interest in. Jed is revealed to have a daughter, and instead of drawing that out that dichotomy between faithful humanity and calculating science, Jed monologues at her, and the mystery and interest is gone. A solitary tear and muttering, "Never stop seeking the truth," as the radio crackles out into silence would have said a lot more than any of the bullshit he babbled on about.
Ask is revealed to be god-like, having regenerative and murderous abilities - along with an age - that put him above the pettiness of humans. He spends the majority of the story silent, calculating, putting him in stark contrast with Ning, his counterpart who lives among and appreciates humanity, whereas Ask treats them as a disposable resource, like lumber. But then he starts monologuing... and I'm not sure why he suddenly decides to waste his breath.
There's so much interesting stuff about this novel and story, but the inefficiency of the text serves as a pressure release valve that just fails the whole thing. Indeed, what drives the story is the enduring mystery of the Bastion. The Basion is tight-fisted with its secrets, and it carries me to the end. Now at the end, I know the secret, and I'm satisfied. I don't care about the characters, or the mystery of Legion, and the Christian and Norse allegories have just fallen flat, all of it by constant prattering and explanations. Where I once saw allusions (Adam and Maria, "We are legion for we are many," Ning Wu, Christian vs. Norse, etc.) I now imagine I was seeing ghosts, otherwise they would have been painstakingly explained... After all, everything else was.
And yet I give [edit: gave] it a third star for potential. This is a story I like in spite of itself. And with a couple red pens and some serious introspection and searching for the heart of the book (cutting out the chaff, baby) it could be great, and lead to an awesome Sci-Fi Ragnarok, instead of a deflating balloon.
I wouldn't read the sequel. But I'd definitely love to see a Second Edition of this one.
If this review had a title it would be, "Proof of Concept vs. the Power of a Good Red Pen."
In a sentence: Kevin Schillo's The Tabernacle of Legion is an interesting take on a classic concept that is drive by plot and mystery alone, dragged down by wooden characters and poor (possibly nonexistent) editing.
The Good: The Story. I'll keep this section as spoiler free as possible.
The Tabernacle's concept is nothing new: a mysterious unnatural object is discovered in the Solar System and a team of astronauts is gathered to investigate it. The book made me imagine Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey as written by Andy Weir (more on that later). The object, a perfect black-body referred to alternatively as "the Bastion" and "the Tabernacle" is really what drives the story forward. Schillo makes is abundantly clear that the object could not be naturally occuring, and the Bastion refuses to respond or communicate, making the arrival of the astronauts that much more important.
Couple with this discovery in the Asteroid Belt, a research station in Antarctica discovers an ancient human being perfectly preserved in the ice. Now, if this is sounding like a familiar story, I'll concede, it lacks originality, but what happens to the body (no spoilers yet) and the persistent silence from the Bastion are so successfully at driving the story forward that I couldn't have finished the book without that enduring mystery.
It's an unoriginal start, but it's not about the beginning, it's all about the end.
There's not much more I can say without getting into spoiler territory. But a word on the theme: Science vs. Religion. The Protagonist (but not the Main Character) Mark de Rijk, is an expert pilot who is Atheist. His brother is a Catholic priest. Their ideological conflict is expressed mostly over games of pool snide remarks, with the (Gospel of) Mark asking (confusingly Jewish) David why he doesn't pray to God to guide the balls into the pocket.
It's an age-old conflict, and the novel spends a lot of energy to express it. Hell, the title is Tabernacle, evoking the sacred space of an ancient temple (a seed that's never ripened, it should really be titled Bastion given the object's silence and immovability). And I spent a lot of time expecting a reference to the Demon Possessed Man approaching Jesus and saying, "We are Legion," (Mark 5:9). Maybe it's saved for the sequel, but I feel like I lost a bet with myself. None of the mythological references are quite so subtle. Usually Schillo just straight up comes out and explains the reference with a hammer. (i.e. Niflheim, Ask, Psalms, 2001, the monolith, all make appearances and are explained immediately.)
The Bad: The Characters. I will give a spoiler warning when I get to spoiler territory.
It's not all that important to have vibrant characters in Hard Sci-Fi. In 2001, I can't really tell you anything about Dave Bowman, and it's a classic novel of the genre that I really enjoyed. But it's not about Dave, it's about humanity, and Dave is just a vector through which the story and the science takes place. The same could be said for Andy Weir's The Martian. What we know about Mark Whatney is not really all that long, but frankly, no one cares. It's about the science. An after-action report.
That said, having more characterization isn't a bad thing either. I think a better comp for this book than either 2001 or The Martian would be Weir's Artemis. Artemis's protagonist, Jazz Bashara, is a cocky, intelligent, pragmatic, irreverant, ethical smartass who keeps making business decisions with her wallet and against her better judgment. I can describe to you in detail her relationships with other characters: her father, her business partner, the city's Police Officer, Dale the EVA Master, Sprodo her techy contact, etc. Weir could take the characters to Earth and write a new story, and I would still care.
None of that has a parallel in Tabernacle. This would be fine if, like David Bowman, the astronauts are just instruments of science, but they're not. Schillo wastes so mich valuable book space (and reader attention) poorly characterizing through pointless exposition or horrible monologues (but more on that in a second).
The results is that our characters aren't instruments like Dave Bowman, or humans like Jazz Bashara, but blocks of wood. The scene where we discover that Mark has a Priest brother starts with them greeting each other playing pool, and Mark mocking his brother for his faith, before getting a phone call and needing to leave. (Wait... no they meet at the landing pad... another useless scene which just establishes that these people exist, and Mark is an astronaut.) The(se) scene(s) serve basically just to establish that these characters exist, and that Mark has no problem mocking his brother. But I shouldn't take it as mocking. The scene's exposition, i.e. 75% of it, tells me that their relationship is still respectful.
Riiight.
Most of the characterization is like this. We know that Mark respects his boss because the exposition says he does. We know that Desmond did what he did with Top Secret information because the exposition told us so.
The brief moments of actual characterization - Miles' confession to Mark, Aytche's instant downfall from hero to alien-conspiracy theorist - pass quickly because they are not the focus. This and the twists that drive the plot tell me that this book could be great, but there's no sense in trying to make me care about characters if they're not going to be the focus. (Side note: why does each astronaut have only one family member each? It feels cheap, made to force me to care. It reeks of artificiality and adds to the woodenness of the astronauts. Why doesn't Mark or David ever reference their parents? Why doesn't Oksana's mother appear on the communications? If Adam and Maria are open, what are their rules and why? I'm asking because these are important questions, not because I actually care about any of these people...)
Spoilers Start Here
By far the two best characters in the book are Jed and Ask. Somewhat ironically, because they're so wooden and logical, the book's overall characterization works in their favor.
I almost instantly fell in love with Jed. His awkwardness, mathematics expertise/fetish, and alternative sexuality reminded me of actual people I know (a great thing!) and making the reveal of Jed's daughter (gasp!) that much more impactful.
The novel's real main character and Antagonist, however, is Ask. Ask, the ice-bound prehistoric man is the novel's first great twist, and enough boundaries are placed around his knowledge regarding Legion and the nanobots that form the basis of his power that he is a fascinating character. His age and his one-pointed mindset allowing him to lookw down on humanity as a particularly nuisanceful overgrown mold, feed into the wooden nature of the cast at large.
Honorable mention will be made (no, it's not Mark) of Adam. Adam has a few well-written key moments where I'm pretty sure I see some leaves sprout from his block of cedar.
1. Adam's love for his work really shines through his poor dialogue. It suffers by being communicated first through exposition, but sticks the landing when it's his turn to debate, and is the dissenting voice in the Intrepid to go to Mars and rescue the crew of the Collins, his friends. While I disagreed with him (as did the rest of the crew) I couldn't help but root for his emotion in a cast of mannequins.
2. Oksana - who could be replaced by a Russian cut out and a physics text book - prowls the trip looking for a man to have sex with. She picks Jed first, being single, but after being rejected, wanders over to Adam and is more direct. Adam is a bit miffed at being second choice, (or as Schillo writes "silver medal") and his emotion shows through the dialogue. It made me almost like the dumb scene.
3. Adam's last ditch effort to kill Ask and save humanity is characteristic of his illogical , very personal side. I was rooting for a zero-G, nanobot fueled fist-fight, but what we got was... fine. But like the above scene, this too is undercut, not from another character, but from Adam himself. Ask reveals to him "the truth." (What it is, I can't even spoil, we the reader only know that Ning was selective with her own reveal, and Ask - the mass-murderer with a god-complex - revealed something life-changing). Whatever it is makes Adam fall silent. And even after he recovers from the shock, he doesn't swear, or cry out, or get emotional. He falls silent. Sigh.
It ends up being just unrealistic. I was genuinely excited to see the astronauts of the Intrepid relax and interact. Instead they set up dinner and the scene cuts to black. Spacecraft being close quarters with small populations are great literary devices for exploring complex characters in interesting locations. Instead, we are forced to suffer 90% of characterization throguh scenes that are just background noise to information that we don't actually care to know yet.
The Ugly: It reads like a sloppy first draft.
I won't bother nitpicking every typo. I'll merely mention that they're hard to ignore or forgive when the book's poor editing is already on display.
In short, the writing is inefficient. I live and write by the Orwell code: never use two words where one will suffice. The first casualties here are adverbs. Much of this book reads as if the author has no faith in his words. If two characters are obviously joking or flirting (and it's always obvious) they don't need to say so jokingly or flirtaciously. Less is almost always more. One of the most stunning twists of the story is when Ning grabs Mark and reveals herself. There's no warning, it's quick, and there's a real sense of urgency. So much of the text is cluttered with adverbial specifications and genitive redundancy that it reeks as if the author mistrusts either himself or his readers.
The second stage's engines operated nominally successfully delivered the capsule to orbit after a few minutes of burn time.
Or the other end of the spectrum: whole chapters could be cut by as much as 75% or 90% without losing critical information. Mark is introduced into the novel this way: with a scene that has him safely descend in a space craft and shake hands with his boss and brother. Nothing else happens in this scene. It's all exposition before I've been given a reason to care.
Jed, my favorite character, is ruined like this. Not through exposition, but through it's twin brother: monologuing. There's a lot of monologuing in this book. At first it's forgiveable because it's often done by Presidents and CEOs making speeches (acceptable, but still annoying) but by the end it's everyone. First it's Jed, and his ego made of Brazilian hardwood, makes it both amusing and in-character. But then after Oksana fails at seducing him, he monologues and instead of cutting him off (what he's saying ultimately doesn't matter to the book) she let's him! Why?
"Accusing someone else of madness is often the first thing they resort to when confronted with a profoundly different way of perceiving things. This is almost always the reaction one feels when they meet someone with a sexual orientation they find to be disturbing or unusual for whatever reasons they may have. And it speaks volumes to your character that you accuse me of being mentally ill because of my asexuality."
"I wasn't accusing you of that."
"Oh, but you did, only a scant few seconds ago..."
Yes, I'll get that he'll keep going once he's on a roll, but Oksana has every reason to be embarassed, slightly ashamed, and angry. She wouldn't be looking for an intellectual debate, and Oksana as a character comes out stiff and emotionless, where the whole point of the scene is to highlight humanity and intimacy, a display of logic vs. emotion, and what we get is logic anti-seuxality and a character we are told is human, emotions, passions, and all, but are shown that she is just as calculating and emotionless as Jed.
By the climax of the story, when Mark is going to make an effort to ram the Aldrin with the Intrepid, the Astronauts are ready to die, but are going to offer one final goodbye to their families (i.e. their one family member each) while the Intrepid's communications are still open.
And they fucking monologue! I nearly gave up at that point. Oksana talks to her sister, but I couldn't give a shit. (Hell, I only remember Oksana's name because she shared a name with my neighbor, not anything notable about her). Adam leaves a message to his wife, which I also couldn't care less about. Adam's relationship with his wife is notable for only two reasons: they are in an open relationship, but this is never explained or explored, and they refer to each other as "baby" so much I imagined it as a relationship between two pimps. All made even more infuriating by their dialogue's lack of commas (compounded by sporadic comma use...).
I went back to quote a piece of Adam's monologue, but I didn't actually read it the first time, so little did I care at that point. Now that I'm reading it, he says "baby" once. I'm all the more furious. In the first passage where Maria is introduced, it's used 4 times across a span of a lot of exposition, basically any time they talk.
Finally, Jed and Mark, both characters whose live and themes we should care about, but I was flipping over Adam and Oksana's bullshit that I did a double take, rereading Jed's dialogue and spending ten seconds going, "Wow..." right before going right back to Monologuing...
"Karen," Jed said somberly, fighting hard to hold back tears. "Listen very carefully to what I have to say, because this is the last time I will be able to speak to you. I have never lied to you about anything. Before I even considered having you conceived, I knew that I would never deceive you or any other offspring I might have."
Skip!
The same could be said for Mark's monologue to his brother.
Why does any of this matter? Well, simply put, a more pleasurable reading experience shouldn't need further reason. But more importantly, it undercuts the themes and cashes a check that the story hasn't built up interest in. Jed is revealed to have a daughter, and instead of drawing that out that dichotomy between faithful humanity and calculating science, Jed monologues at her, and the mystery and interest is gone. A solitary tear and muttering, "Never stop seeking the truth," as the radio crackles out into silence would have said a lot more than any of the bullshit he babbled on about.
Ask is revealed to be god-like, having regenerative and murderous abilities - along with an age - that put him above the pettiness of humans. He spends the majority of the story silent, calculating, putting him in stark contrast with Ning, his counterpart who lives among and appreciates humanity, whereas Ask treats them as a disposable resource, like lumber. But then he starts monologuing... and I'm not sure why he suddenly decides to waste his breath.
"Behold my mercy. Stand not against me lest you have been robbed of all cognitive faculties."
There's so much interesting stuff about this novel and story, but the inefficiency of the text serves as a pressure release valve that just fails the whole thing. Indeed, what drives the story is the enduring mystery of the Bastion. The Basion is tight-fisted with its secrets, and it carries me to the end. Now at the end, I know the secret, and I'm satisfied. I don't care about the characters, or the mystery of Legion, and the Christian and Norse allegories have just fallen flat, all of it by constant prattering and explanations. Where I once saw allusions (Adam and Maria, "We are legion for we are many," Ning Wu, Christian vs. Norse, etc.) I now imagine I was seeing ghosts, otherwise they would have been painstakingly explained... After all, everything else was.
And yet I give [edit: gave] it a third star for potential. This is a story I like in spite of itself. And with a couple red pens and some serious introspection and searching for the heart of the book (cutting out the chaff, baby) it could be great, and lead to an awesome Sci-Fi Ragnarok, instead of a deflating balloon.
I wouldn't read the sequel. But I'd definitely love to see a Second Edition of this one.
April 9, 2018
A copy of this book was provided by the author for the purpose of obtaining a review.
This review and others like it can be found at ReadingOverTheShoulder.com
What really drew me in at the beginning was that it's set in the near-future where asteroid mining, a base on the moon, a base on mars, and the first fusion propelled spacecraft is about to be completed. I was hooked on the idea of exploring this frontier and the characters looked promising.
The majority of my issues with the book are mostly related to Mr. Schillo's relative lack of writing experience. I found the characters lacking in individual voice. A few words and phrases were used by several different characters, often used in relation to the same thing. Explanations were repeated at nearly every POV change. Hash, hash. Hash and rehash. Through it all I couldn't connect with the characters and I wasn't invested in their future.
There was also a tedious issue with the formatting, I don't know if this is unique to my eBook copy, both the line and word spacing were extremely large. I generally have my settings to have the narrowest spacing so that more words are on each page. It's a minor gripe but it took a greater effort just to read and I never fully adjusted.
I'm torn when it comes to writing style. The whole book is basically written in an expositional prose. It's not my preference at all but it was so consistent and thorough I can only guess that it's intentional. And I could appreciate it for what it does. That said, it contrasts severely the tone in the opening chapters. There was almost a textbook quality to it with sporadic dialog thrown in, which would obviously contribute to the lack of character voice. However, like most textbooks there is also a distinct set of opinions that are blatantly being espoused and promoted. I generally don't care so long as it fits with the story and the characters. Instead, it felt as if there were parts when the author was trying to say something instead of just telling the story.
When it came to plot, it was OK up until the big reveal right before the climax. As soon as the bomb dropped I was instantly pulled out of the story. There was only a hint of foreshadow so it felt fake and only there to make the end more dramatic. The timing was way off, the whole book felt like it was dragging (but some of the other issues already mentioned might explain that) and it didn't build up to everything or even leave things in a satisfying way.
There's also some question if this is a one-shot or the first book in a series. Nothing explicitly states there's anything more after this, but the ending felt like things are intended to continue on in some way. As a one shot it's completely unsatisfying and as a series opener it doesn't hook me into wanting to read more.....Maybe as a prequel if everything was tightened up more.
In summary, it's a passable novel for an aspiring indie author. There are clear missteps that are only likely to improve with more experience. I'll be checking on this author in a few years, but for now there are other books that have my interest.
Robert
P.S. - The author recently put out a newer version of the book so I was able to compare the two versions in calibre. Unfortunately because I'm an idiot, I forgot there was a newer version and I read the older one. However, from the comparison I can see that much of the wordiness was cleaned up and several large blocks of exposition were streamlined. These changes are very promising, but I feel my previous comments are still applicable and further changes would need to be made. More reason for me to check back on this later.
This review and others like it can be found at ReadingOverTheShoulder.com
What really drew me in at the beginning was that it's set in the near-future where asteroid mining, a base on the moon, a base on mars, and the first fusion propelled spacecraft is about to be completed. I was hooked on the idea of exploring this frontier and the characters looked promising.
The majority of my issues with the book are mostly related to Mr. Schillo's relative lack of writing experience. I found the characters lacking in individual voice. A few words and phrases were used by several different characters, often used in relation to the same thing. Explanations were repeated at nearly every POV change. Hash, hash. Hash and rehash. Through it all I couldn't connect with the characters and I wasn't invested in their future.
There was also a tedious issue with the formatting, I don't know if this is unique to my eBook copy, both the line and word spacing were extremely large. I generally have my settings to have the narrowest spacing so that more words are on each page. It's a minor gripe but it took a greater effort just to read and I never fully adjusted.
I'm torn when it comes to writing style. The whole book is basically written in an expositional prose. It's not my preference at all but it was so consistent and thorough I can only guess that it's intentional. And I could appreciate it for what it does. That said, it contrasts severely the tone in the opening chapters. There was almost a textbook quality to it with sporadic dialog thrown in, which would obviously contribute to the lack of character voice. However, like most textbooks there is also a distinct set of opinions that are blatantly being espoused and promoted. I generally don't care so long as it fits with the story and the characters. Instead, it felt as if there were parts when the author was trying to say something instead of just telling the story.
When it came to plot, it was OK up until the big reveal right before the climax. As soon as the bomb dropped I was instantly pulled out of the story. There was only a hint of foreshadow so it felt fake and only there to make the end more dramatic. The timing was way off, the whole book felt like it was dragging (but some of the other issues already mentioned might explain that) and it didn't build up to everything or even leave things in a satisfying way.
There's also some question if this is a one-shot or the first book in a series. Nothing explicitly states there's anything more after this, but the ending felt like things are intended to continue on in some way. As a one shot it's completely unsatisfying and as a series opener it doesn't hook me into wanting to read more.....Maybe as a prequel if everything was tightened up more.
In summary, it's a passable novel for an aspiring indie author. There are clear missteps that are only likely to improve with more experience. I'll be checking on this author in a few years, but for now there are other books that have my interest.
Robert
P.S. - The author recently put out a newer version of the book so I was able to compare the two versions in calibre. Unfortunately because I'm an idiot, I forgot there was a newer version and I read the older one. However, from the comparison I can see that much of the wordiness was cleaned up and several large blocks of exposition were streamlined. These changes are very promising, but I feel my previous comments are still applicable and further changes would need to be made. More reason for me to check back on this later.
July 19, 2018
When an Aerospace Engineer decides to write Science Fiction, you are probably going to end up getting SciFi of the "Hard" variety and Kevin Schillo doesn't disappoint in that area with his novel The Tabernacle of Legion. A detailed story of the near future of space travel and what happens when an ancient artifact is discovered lurking in the asteroid belt at the same time a body is discovered encased in ice underneath Antarctica. Of course, since this is a SciFi novel - the two are connected.
Schillo does several things well here, the best of which is probably the character of Ask. Without spoiling anything, this character is mysterious, superpowered and internally conflicted on a deep level. Is he a wronged and betrayed minion of God-like ancient extraterrestrials or merely a malevolent human/machine chimera bent on destroying everything he comes into contact with? Finding out is part of the fun of reading this book.
Similar to The Expanse series and some of Alastair Reynolds' work, this novel addresses some of the difficult questions surrounding how humanity will utilize technology and resources in the near-medium term future to either benefit all of humankind or just the wealthiest among us. Specifically here, the mining of materials from asteroids is used as the vehicle to set this story in motion - along with the development of space tourism and the first steps towards colonizing the solar system.
The story is a slow build and leads up to some surprising twists and turns. The book ends on a cliffhanger that left me wanting to find out what happens to the characters after the last paragraph. I'm assuming/hoping that there will be a sequel. This book reads like part one of a trilogy as so much is covered and so many characters and/or relationships are set up for much more in the future. We shall see...
Schillo does several things well here, the best of which is probably the character of Ask. Without spoiling anything, this character is mysterious, superpowered and internally conflicted on a deep level. Is he a wronged and betrayed minion of God-like ancient extraterrestrials or merely a malevolent human/machine chimera bent on destroying everything he comes into contact with? Finding out is part of the fun of reading this book.
Similar to The Expanse series and some of Alastair Reynolds' work, this novel addresses some of the difficult questions surrounding how humanity will utilize technology and resources in the near-medium term future to either benefit all of humankind or just the wealthiest among us. Specifically here, the mining of materials from asteroids is used as the vehicle to set this story in motion - along with the development of space tourism and the first steps towards colonizing the solar system.
The story is a slow build and leads up to some surprising twists and turns. The book ends on a cliffhanger that left me wanting to find out what happens to the characters after the last paragraph. I'm assuming/hoping that there will be a sequel. This book reads like part one of a trilogy as so much is covered and so many characters and/or relationships are set up for much more in the future. We shall see...
March 23, 2018
**I recieved this book from the author in exchange for an honest and fair review**
Rating of 3.5 stars!
First off, I loved the plot of this story. From the very beginning, the story grabbed me and pulled me in. I think this is one of the author's strong points. What I also liked about this novel is that it was easy to read. The author didn't use any complicated language when it wasn't necessary (like many authors do) which really helps readers fly through the book.
The science in the book was fantastic. You can really tell that the author put in the time to make sure it all felt feasible and realistic for the distant future. Similar to The Martian, the science was fairly in depth but never made me feel stupid for not being a science major, something that I really appreciated.
So why 3.5 stars and not 5?
As a few other reviewers mentioned, the novel suffers from a lack of editing. There are some parts that feel like you're having deja vu, because something is repeated from just a page back or so. Dialogue was one of the weaker points, in that the voices of each character did not sound unique. At points they all seem to have the same manner of speaking and react the same way to situations. Some things are said much too many times: for instance, the word "nominally," how much Mark is loyal to Miles, and characters saying 'thank you" all in a row. I also thought the president had speeches that were much too long.
All in all I think that with a little character speech development and a bit more editing, this would be a no-brainer 5 star book. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel in hopes that it is more refined, but also because I'm really excited where the story could go.
Rating of 3.5 stars!
First off, I loved the plot of this story. From the very beginning, the story grabbed me and pulled me in. I think this is one of the author's strong points. What I also liked about this novel is that it was easy to read. The author didn't use any complicated language when it wasn't necessary (like many authors do) which really helps readers fly through the book.
The science in the book was fantastic. You can really tell that the author put in the time to make sure it all felt feasible and realistic for the distant future. Similar to The Martian, the science was fairly in depth but never made me feel stupid for not being a science major, something that I really appreciated.
So why 3.5 stars and not 5?
As a few other reviewers mentioned, the novel suffers from a lack of editing. There are some parts that feel like you're having deja vu, because something is repeated from just a page back or so. Dialogue was one of the weaker points, in that the voices of each character did not sound unique. At points they all seem to have the same manner of speaking and react the same way to situations. Some things are said much too many times: for instance, the word "nominally," how much Mark is loyal to Miles, and characters saying 'thank you" all in a row. I also thought the president had speeches that were much too long.
All in all I think that with a little character speech development and a bit more editing, this would be a no-brainer 5 star book. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel in hopes that it is more refined, but also because I'm really excited where the story could go.
May 13, 2018
The author of this book gave me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It was good. Really good. 4.3 on 5. As some other reviewers noted, there were numerous grammatical and formatting mistakes throughout the book that could have been eliminated with proofreading/editing, but I didn't find them to detract from the storyline too much. There were times where certain characters and plot devices didn't seem to quite fit (the whole religion debate between the two brothers, for example), but overall this was a book that had me thinking about it while I was away from it.
I enjoyed this because the plot was what I considered to be an original idea. The little sub-plots blended together quite nicely overall, the science seemed to check out, and it was overall realistic (at least in how humanity reacted to the Bastion).
The ending left me wanting to know more, and I hope that Kevin Schillo, if he hasn't already, decides to write a sequel.
It was good. Really good. 4.3 on 5. As some other reviewers noted, there were numerous grammatical and formatting mistakes throughout the book that could have been eliminated with proofreading/editing, but I didn't find them to detract from the storyline too much. There were times where certain characters and plot devices didn't seem to quite fit (the whole religion debate between the two brothers, for example), but overall this was a book that had me thinking about it while I was away from it.
I enjoyed this because the plot was what I considered to be an original idea. The little sub-plots blended together quite nicely overall, the science seemed to check out, and it was overall realistic (at least in how humanity reacted to the Bastion).
The ending left me wanting to know more, and I hope that Kevin Schillo, if he hasn't already, decides to write a sequel.
May 29, 2018
Loved the book... I wasn't sure what to expect as the author reached out to me and asked me to review his book, and as a first time author, you never know, but I can say without a doubt that this is most definitely a good read. I picked it up on Amazon Kindle for $0.99, so definitely well worth the price.
The Tabernacle of Legion combines elements of hard sci fi, mystery, solid character development and well-researched technology to create a compelling story that will keep you guessing until the end. I felt the pace was quick enough to keep me engaged the entire time, but there are also very deep thought provoking sections of the book for those of you who are looking for some depth. At the end of the day I felt it had a good balance of action and science, and the author definitely knows his stuff. I will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out and look forward to more from Kevin Schillo. I can definitely recommend this book to you. Enjoy!
The Tabernacle of Legion combines elements of hard sci fi, mystery, solid character development and well-researched technology to create a compelling story that will keep you guessing until the end. I felt the pace was quick enough to keep me engaged the entire time, but there are also very deep thought provoking sections of the book for those of you who are looking for some depth. At the end of the day I felt it had a good balance of action and science, and the author definitely knows his stuff. I will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out and look forward to more from Kevin Schillo. I can definitely recommend this book to you. Enjoy!
April 5, 2018
NTY---as in Not There Yet, Kev. Thanks for all your political views, but I have no interest in your being socialist and believing in man made climate change, etc., etc., etc.
There is a story woven in there wanting to get out, but it has no hope.
The book is twice as long as needs to be due to the rambling and repetitive jargon. Did I mention repetitive jargon? Thanks for serving with me. You are the best. No, you are the best. Thanks for serving with me. Did I mention repetitive jargon??
Take out the F bombs and peddle it in the youth market where they are still learning about science/space basics. Most adults don't need a refresher course dragging out a novel. I didn't think they were paying by the word again. Guess I am wrong. AIMHO
There is a story woven in there wanting to get out, but it has no hope.
The book is twice as long as needs to be due to the rambling and repetitive jargon. Did I mention repetitive jargon? Thanks for serving with me. You are the best. No, you are the best. Thanks for serving with me. Did I mention repetitive jargon??
Take out the F bombs and peddle it in the youth market where they are still learning about science/space basics. Most adults don't need a refresher course dragging out a novel. I didn't think they were paying by the word again. Guess I am wrong. AIMHO
March 10, 2018
RECEIVED FROM THE AUTHOR
I was asked to read this book at the authors request of an honest review. The novel The Tabernacle of Legion suffers from some major issues as a story. I truly appreciate the intelligence of the author and his expertise regarding space travel, but that is not the point of reading science fiction. I understand that this is a hard sci-fi novel, but it fails to incorporate the science into the confines of good narrative writing. The first 100 pages of this book were difficult to read because I felt like the author was just simply explaining things to me. The author did not paint a picture and the characters personalities felt like something out of the CW network. If the author focused more on the actual story he had the potential of making a story that was truly interesting to follow. The author needs to focus less on what genre he is trying to fulfill and more on telling a story that connects to the reader. In addition, I do not need an author to proselytize to me about his political views. This can be done without being so blatant and incorporating his ideas about the world in a more natural way. Overall, the author’s first novel was rather unsuccessful.
I was asked to read this book at the authors request of an honest review. The novel The Tabernacle of Legion suffers from some major issues as a story. I truly appreciate the intelligence of the author and his expertise regarding space travel, but that is not the point of reading science fiction. I understand that this is a hard sci-fi novel, but it fails to incorporate the science into the confines of good narrative writing. The first 100 pages of this book were difficult to read because I felt like the author was just simply explaining things to me. The author did not paint a picture and the characters personalities felt like something out of the CW network. If the author focused more on the actual story he had the potential of making a story that was truly interesting to follow. The author needs to focus less on what genre he is trying to fulfill and more on telling a story that connects to the reader. In addition, I do not need an author to proselytize to me about his political views. This can be done without being so blatant and incorporating his ideas about the world in a more natural way. Overall, the author’s first novel was rather unsuccessful.
May 15, 2018
This was really enjoyable book to read at the first glance. I am not going to ask for a sequel as the author has already been answered to that question. Looking forward for that.
In the first few chapters, author prepare the readers proving several background knowledge so even the people with less scientific background can enjoy it. I have a fair Physics and Astronomical knowledge but I learned a lot when reading through this book. I must say the language is really great. I am not a native speaker so most of the time I find English novels boring. So I first watch the movie/ tv series and then read the book so It helps to imagine the flow events and understand it. This is the first book I read solo and I am very happy its easier to imagine the even because of the style of the language and presentation. I found some conversations are two lengthy but its ok.
The end of the story is quite come suddenly. I though Mark was somehow saved but he was not. Ask still lives and its good to reveal his counterpart at the end. For the tabernacle, I would rather know the idea of it as this type of sci-fi was first presented in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series. Aliens helps to seed the human technological evolution and hide something in space till human are technologically advanced enough to reach it and then it send a signal that Alien's project was successful. Therefore, I found the idea was not novel but it I found this book very interesting and I enjoyed a lot. So looking forward to read the sequel soon.
In the first few chapters, author prepare the readers proving several background knowledge so even the people with less scientific background can enjoy it. I have a fair Physics and Astronomical knowledge but I learned a lot when reading through this book. I must say the language is really great. I am not a native speaker so most of the time I find English novels boring. So I first watch the movie/ tv series and then read the book so It helps to imagine the flow events and understand it. This is the first book I read solo and I am very happy its easier to imagine the even because of the style of the language and presentation. I found some conversations are two lengthy but its ok.
The end of the story is quite come suddenly. I though Mark was somehow saved but he was not. Ask still lives and its good to reveal his counterpart at the end. For the tabernacle, I would rather know the idea of it as this type of sci-fi was first presented in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series. Aliens helps to seed the human technological evolution and hide something in space till human are technologically advanced enough to reach it and then it send a signal that Alien's project was successful. Therefore, I found the idea was not novel but it I found this book very interesting and I enjoyed a lot. So looking forward to read the sequel soon.
March 23, 2018
The Tabernacle of Legion is about the discovery of an alien artifact and first contact with a highly evolved extraterrestrial civilization. The author is very knowledgeable about a variety of subjects related to space exploration and the plot itself is a cool concept. But it's not well written, especially in the beginning of the story. I almost gave up after the first 5 chapters but I kept reading because it was an interesting concept and I'll admit that the writing gets a bit more tolerable by the end. The book follows a team of astronauts as they begin to venture towards the alien artifact found within an asteroid. It also follows an ancient human who possesses alien nanobots who has been uncovered from the Antarctic ice. I think the story has a lot of potential but needs some serious editing help. There were few sentences that couldn't be improved by dropping some words. There were entire paragraphs that repeated the same internal thoughts and beliefs but very little space was given to explaining physical setting and external characteristics of the major characters. Given the excess of time spent narrating and repeating the dialogue was terse and unrealistic. So much of this book could be cut out without losing any of the story that it just felt rather immature and unfinished. I understand that the author is very new on the scene but if you spend so much time setting up your story readers will just give up be the end.
April 15, 2018
A few jarring notes in the writing here serve to lose something of the thrill of the story. A lot of gratuitous swearing, especially out of the mouths of characters who are otherwise very well-spoken and almost Spock-like was somewhat irritating. We also had a few instances where something mentioned in dialogue had also appeared previously in the form of narrative, or vice-versa - such as the analogy of the wall, which appears in speech and narrative both but in unrelated contexts. Sisyphun was used far too often, and 21 uses of the word fucking is probably about 15 too many for a book this size, especially one where there are very few bad actors in Humanity and they're mostly depicted as the Roddenberry-style Eutopic society.
So, all that aside, it was an engaging idea. We've had plenty of secret aliens in the fold stories here before on my review feed, but this was told with energy and verve, leaving plenty for future installments. Our characters are diverse in mind and body, and Shillo's shown he can pull a trick out of his hat toward the end of a story to keep the blood pumping to the very last page.
So, all that aside, it was an engaging idea. We've had plenty of secret aliens in the fold stories here before on my review feed, but this was told with energy and verve, leaving plenty for future installments. Our characters are diverse in mind and body, and Shillo's shown he can pull a trick out of his hat toward the end of a story to keep the blood pumping to the very last page.
January 17, 2018
The Tabernacle of Legion (Kindle Edition) by Kevin Schillo
The author reached out to me via Amazon and asked me read a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Well, the kindle version only cost 99 cents, so I bought it.
Alas, this book is not worth the money nor time I invested in it. There were some good passages, but overall, the book failed to pique my interest.
The characters were all one dimensional, and pretty much cliche. The two exceptions to that were Ask (whom I thought was appropriately named) and Jed. Otherwise the author wastes too much time in building characters that you have seen in every bad SciFi movie and TV show.
The plot bumbles along, with no surprises, throughout the whole book.
And the ending is wholly unsatisfying, and sets up for a sequel. A sequel that I, for one, will never read.
The author reached out to me via Amazon and asked me read a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Well, the kindle version only cost 99 cents, so I bought it.
Alas, this book is not worth the money nor time I invested in it. There were some good passages, but overall, the book failed to pique my interest.
The characters were all one dimensional, and pretty much cliche. The two exceptions to that were Ask (whom I thought was appropriately named) and Jed. Otherwise the author wastes too much time in building characters that you have seen in every bad SciFi movie and TV show.
The plot bumbles along, with no surprises, throughout the whole book.
And the ending is wholly unsatisfying, and sets up for a sequel. A sequel that I, for one, will never read.
April 25, 2018
Disclaimer: the author gave me a copy of the book.
The premise of the book is strong: a robotic mining company discovers a pre-Earth alien artifact in the asteroid belt and the world deals with what it all means. At the same time another prehistoric discovery is made in Antarctica that relates to the alien discovery and it doesn't bode well for humanity.
Overall, it was good. I'm glad to see that hard science fiction is becoming more mainstream. Is this The Martian? No, its severely lacking the human aspect that The Martian had and the science in The Martian is readily made clear to the reader and integral to the plot (something goes wrong, here is how it could be solved, here is how it succeeded and/or failed). In this, the science is there but its more ethereal, unrelatable for most readers. More akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey or Interstellar than Star Trek. All are grounded in science but some are more engaging than others. This book has the science, not so much the engagement.
There are a number of proofreading errors that should have been ironed out but if the book was published as a manuscript instead of through a publishing house (as seems to be the case) but the errors jumped out of the page. More so in the second half than the first so perhaps it was related to a time crunch. That's speculation on my part though and ultimately the errors don't detract from the story.
The future presented is...liberal. A woman proposes casual sex to a man and he rejects her on the basis that he is asexual and berates her for not being accepting. Then she turns around and casually proposes sex to another man who reveals he is in an open relationship with his wife and alludes that she is bisexual (my interpretation). If you don't want to work or can't work then the government pays you a living wage regardless. Religion is waning and we're only shown to sides: a zealous brother who turned to the priesthood because of a spurned love, and violent extremists. The majority of characters are atheists, making their god Science. Several times we get the idea that any religious belief in the future is berated. It seems you can be accepting of someone's sexual orientation (or you're a terrible person if you aren't) but you shouldn't be accepting of someone's religious choice. I don't want to say its the author's values coming through but....
On that, the author is a scientist. From my casual searching online he's studying for or achieved a Ph.D in a field related to his book. I like that. "Write what you know," afterall.
Would I recommend it? Probably not. Was it good? Eh.
The premise of the book is strong: a robotic mining company discovers a pre-Earth alien artifact in the asteroid belt and the world deals with what it all means. At the same time another prehistoric discovery is made in Antarctica that relates to the alien discovery and it doesn't bode well for humanity.
Overall, it was good. I'm glad to see that hard science fiction is becoming more mainstream. Is this The Martian? No, its severely lacking the human aspect that The Martian had and the science in The Martian is readily made clear to the reader and integral to the plot (something goes wrong, here is how it could be solved, here is how it succeeded and/or failed). In this, the science is there but its more ethereal, unrelatable for most readers. More akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey or Interstellar than Star Trek. All are grounded in science but some are more engaging than others. This book has the science, not so much the engagement.
There are a number of proofreading errors that should have been ironed out but if the book was published as a manuscript instead of through a publishing house (as seems to be the case) but the errors jumped out of the page. More so in the second half than the first so perhaps it was related to a time crunch. That's speculation on my part though and ultimately the errors don't detract from the story.
The future presented is...liberal. A woman proposes casual sex to a man and he rejects her on the basis that he is asexual and berates her for not being accepting. Then she turns around and casually proposes sex to another man who reveals he is in an open relationship with his wife and alludes that she is bisexual (my interpretation). If you don't want to work or can't work then the government pays you a living wage regardless. Religion is waning and we're only shown to sides: a zealous brother who turned to the priesthood because of a spurned love, and violent extremists. The majority of characters are atheists, making their god Science. Several times we get the idea that any religious belief in the future is berated. It seems you can be accepting of someone's sexual orientation (or you're a terrible person if you aren't) but you shouldn't be accepting of someone's religious choice. I don't want to say its the author's values coming through but....
On that, the author is a scientist. From my casual searching online he's studying for or achieved a Ph.D in a field related to his book. I like that. "Write what you know," afterall.
Would I recommend it? Probably not. Was it good? Eh.
June 6, 2018
In recent years, I had found myself getting back into the sci-fi and space opera genres, albeit always in a format that carried sub-tones of a different genre (ie. survival, drama, horror). The Tabernacle of Legion was my first foray - or perhaps better stated, return - into the true hard science fiction.
At its core, it's a first contact-esque exploration into humanity's still plausible expansion beyond Earth. Being firmly nestled in the hard sci fi space, it forgoes much of the fantastical technologies many science fiction readers would be accustomed to for a more gritty, realistic and credible climate of technological achievement. We've expanded beyond Earth and are operating throughout the solar system, but not so much further that you just need to accept what the author is telling you as fact. Much of the science is explored in significant detail, and the command of the subject matter is plainly evident throughout. A brief background check into Mr. Schillo reveals a significant degree of study and practical application into the 'space' sciences.
Like most hard sci fi, the descriptors can be dense, but like most fans of sci fi, I don't mind that level of detail. Being someone with a tremendous interest in astrophysics (...but holding a career in finance), reading thorough explanations as to the why and far less daunting than if someone were picking through it for what could perhaps be a more casual read.
Whereas I believe in spoiler-free reviews, suffice to say that we've unearthed something that radically changes our understanding of our place within the universe, and the story leaves humanity feeling even tinier as a result. It's a race against time and understanding with significant repercussion on the horizon should we fail.
Worth the read for any fan of nearer-term deep science fiction.
At its core, it's a first contact-esque exploration into humanity's still plausible expansion beyond Earth. Being firmly nestled in the hard sci fi space, it forgoes much of the fantastical technologies many science fiction readers would be accustomed to for a more gritty, realistic and credible climate of technological achievement. We've expanded beyond Earth and are operating throughout the solar system, but not so much further that you just need to accept what the author is telling you as fact. Much of the science is explored in significant detail, and the command of the subject matter is plainly evident throughout. A brief background check into Mr. Schillo reveals a significant degree of study and practical application into the 'space' sciences.
Like most hard sci fi, the descriptors can be dense, but like most fans of sci fi, I don't mind that level of detail. Being someone with a tremendous interest in astrophysics (...but holding a career in finance), reading thorough explanations as to the why and far less daunting than if someone were picking through it for what could perhaps be a more casual read.
Whereas I believe in spoiler-free reviews, suffice to say that we've unearthed something that radically changes our understanding of our place within the universe, and the story leaves humanity feeling even tinier as a result. It's a race against time and understanding with significant repercussion on the horizon should we fail.
Worth the read for any fan of nearer-term deep science fiction.
April 25, 2018
I found this book to interesting and exciting in the structure and the technology but the language made it difficult to enjoy. There was a lack of sensuality. We learn what the characters think not by seeing what they see and hearing what they hear but by simply being told what they think. It seemed like the sentences were more like they’re descriptions of want the author wanted to be there; placeholders, rather than a experience of a character. This style undermined scenes that would’ve otherwise been suspenseful.
The author’s approach to theory of mind is at times overly simplistic. In one sentence Ask shows no remorse. In other he experiences all of the emotions that one of the identities he assumes simply because he has their memories. There is a sense of the author having his cake and eating it too here. While going into impressive detail of a fusion engine, he glosses over the complexity that makes up a personality.
There is a great diversity of characters, which is great but the characters are not given much in physical description. There is an ongoing issue with SS/F wherein characters’ skin tone is not described and some characters end up defaulting to white in reader’s minds. The best way to avoid this, as Saladin Ahmed pointed out, is to describe every character physically.
The dialogue was very robotic at times. The flat definition of the characters made it difficult to distinguish between speakers. The book also frequently speculates on the ramifications of a character’s decision and possible outcomes. It would be more effective if they came convincingly from one of the characters. Thoughts such as “was Miles relying on public support of him to get what he wanted?” seem to come from a sort of phantom Greek chorus. The author thereby denies his characters this opportunity to enrich themselves.
I wish there were more attention given to the social and economic ramifications of automation. It was covered in a few lines but we never got to see it through the eyes of one of the characters. I would’ve enjoyed another chapter detailing everything Desmond had to go through after IE.
I want to reiterate that the plot twists are great. The story has a very rewarding mythology to it which I would compare with Clarke’s Childhood’s End. Schillo also makes very difficult scientific ideas accessible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were someday a household name in hard-scifi.
The author’s approach to theory of mind is at times overly simplistic. In one sentence Ask shows no remorse. In other he experiences all of the emotions that one of the identities he assumes simply because he has their memories. There is a sense of the author having his cake and eating it too here. While going into impressive detail of a fusion engine, he glosses over the complexity that makes up a personality.
There is a great diversity of characters, which is great but the characters are not given much in physical description. There is an ongoing issue with SS/F wherein characters’ skin tone is not described and some characters end up defaulting to white in reader’s minds. The best way to avoid this, as Saladin Ahmed pointed out, is to describe every character physically.
The dialogue was very robotic at times. The flat definition of the characters made it difficult to distinguish between speakers. The book also frequently speculates on the ramifications of a character’s decision and possible outcomes. It would be more effective if they came convincingly from one of the characters. Thoughts such as “was Miles relying on public support of him to get what he wanted?” seem to come from a sort of phantom Greek chorus. The author thereby denies his characters this opportunity to enrich themselves.
I wish there were more attention given to the social and economic ramifications of automation. It was covered in a few lines but we never got to see it through the eyes of one of the characters. I would’ve enjoyed another chapter detailing everything Desmond had to go through after IE.
I want to reiterate that the plot twists are great. The story has a very rewarding mythology to it which I would compare with Clarke’s Childhood’s End. Schillo also makes very difficult scientific ideas accessible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were someday a household name in hard-scifi.
June 14, 2018
Plausible science, an interesting story well told - this book has all the ingredients for a satisfying sci-fi read. And it delivers very well. The characters are mostly well drawn and credible, the pace is excellent, and there are a couple of surprises.
If you love Arthur C Clarke, space and intrigue, you'll enjoy this book.
If you love Arthur C Clarke, space and intrigue, you'll enjoy this book.
April 14, 2018
Tabernacle of Legion
Caveat: The author reached out to me for a review because he liked a review I had written for a different scifi first contact book. I bought my copy despite the author’s offer of a free copy.
It gets two stars because I was able to finish it but without much enthusiasm for reading it.
This is a first novel and as such would have strongly benefited from a good proofreader and editor.
There are many weaknesses that could gave been tightened up with that kind of help. ( The author - when asked - said he had an editor- he clearly needs a better one.)
Instead of treating the world building elements as normal and usual for the characters, it always feels like the descriptions are being given to someone from a different time and space. There isn’t a listener character to make that more natural. As “they” would say, this is too much tell, when show is more direct and effective. .
The human characters that are there aren’t well developed, especially the female characters. If he spent more time on the non-humans, it was simply because he had to, to advance the story.
I didn’t find any reason to care about any of the characters. They were all rather stereotypical archetypes. Too much time was spent on what they were thinking about doing- again the too much tell problem. The astronaut and astronaut culture worship was overplayed in a world with regular flights to the moon and Mars.
The plot is a cliffhanger clearly meant to launch further books. I had already figured out what would likely unlock the mystery early in the book, so key plot twists were not that much of a surprise to me. I think I will have to pass until the author improves his craft.
Caveat: The author reached out to me for a review because he liked a review I had written for a different scifi first contact book. I bought my copy despite the author’s offer of a free copy.
It gets two stars because I was able to finish it but without much enthusiasm for reading it.
This is a first novel and as such would have strongly benefited from a good proofreader and editor.
There are many weaknesses that could gave been tightened up with that kind of help. ( The author - when asked - said he had an editor- he clearly needs a better one.)
Instead of treating the world building elements as normal and usual for the characters, it always feels like the descriptions are being given to someone from a different time and space. There isn’t a listener character to make that more natural. As “they” would say, this is too much tell, when show is more direct and effective. .
The human characters that are there aren’t well developed, especially the female characters. If he spent more time on the non-humans, it was simply because he had to, to advance the story.
I didn’t find any reason to care about any of the characters. They were all rather stereotypical archetypes. Too much time was spent on what they were thinking about doing- again the too much tell problem. The astronaut and astronaut culture worship was overplayed in a world with regular flights to the moon and Mars.
The plot is a cliffhanger clearly meant to launch further books. I had already figured out what would likely unlock the mystery early in the book, so key plot twists were not that much of a surprise to me. I think I will have to pass until the author improves his craft.
March 26, 2018
The Tabernacle of Legion is a science fiction book by Kevin Schillo. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more books by Kevin Schillo. This book takes place in the near future. Space flight has once again become a priority for mankind. NASA as well as private companies have made major gains into exploring our solar system. NASA has a maned base on Mars and private companies take rich people for vacations to the Moon. A private company has robotic miners working in the asteroid belt where they discover a mysterious object that is obviously of alien origin. It is decided to send a manned mission to investigate this object. The only problem is that NASA doesn't have any ship ready that is capable of reaching the asteroid belt with a manned crew. A private company does have such a ship almost completed however. It is decided to send this ship with one of the company's pilots and a NASA picked crew to investigate this object.
Meanwhile a team of scientists in Antarctica dig up a seemingly human body that is thousands of years old. They decide to thaw it out and when they do it revives and kills everyone at the Antarctic base. The creature escapes and soon learns about the discovery of the alien object. The creature has his own reasons to find a way to get to the object too. He believes it will give him unlimited knowledge and power over the human race.
Kevin Schillo has taken the first contact concept and has put a new and unique spin on it. I highly recommend this book to science fiction fans. The author has indicated that he intends to write a sequel called, "The Empyrean of Legion." I will definitely read it also!
Meanwhile a team of scientists in Antarctica dig up a seemingly human body that is thousands of years old. They decide to thaw it out and when they do it revives and kills everyone at the Antarctic base. The creature escapes and soon learns about the discovery of the alien object. The creature has his own reasons to find a way to get to the object too. He believes it will give him unlimited knowledge and power over the human race.
Kevin Schillo has taken the first contact concept and has put a new and unique spin on it. I highly recommend this book to science fiction fans. The author has indicated that he intends to write a sequel called, "The Empyrean of Legion." I will definitely read it also!
February 2, 2018
Full disclosure: The author of Tabernacle of Legion went to school in my home state of Alabama, which might prejudice me to like the book before I read it.
Luckily for me, I totally skipped the introduction where he said he went to school in Alabama, so I liked the book before finding that out.
In "Tabernacle of Legion," the author has taken the hard science of space stuff and made a top-notch sci-fi adventure.
There's something about the writing of that I rarely see; the author seems to have had the time of his life during the writing of the book. The intricate details and the steady, confident dialogue show a writer having fun.
The story reminds me of both "2001: A Space Odyssey," with a little bit of "Star Trek" thrown in.
Then it ends with a maddening cliffhanger. So I'm going to need the next chapter in this thing. You know, whenever. How about now?
Luckily for me, I totally skipped the introduction where he said he went to school in Alabama, so I liked the book before finding that out.
In "Tabernacle of Legion," the author has taken the hard science of space stuff and made a top-notch sci-fi adventure.
There's something about the writing of that I rarely see; the author seems to have had the time of his life during the writing of the book. The intricate details and the steady, confident dialogue show a writer having fun.
The story reminds me of both "2001: A Space Odyssey," with a little bit of "Star Trek" thrown in.
Then it ends with a maddening cliffhanger. So I'm going to need the next chapter in this thing. You know, whenever. How about now?
May 8, 2018
I couldn't help comparing it to Artemis. They are similar in some aspects, like the science focus, with plausible technology like the fusion engine or paired spaceships transporting people and equipment to Mars and back.
But here, the characters are lifeless, the storytelling style is lacking something. Instead of telling a story, the author fills the book with heavy handed political and religious commentary. Instead of letting the characters think and speak for themselves, and let the reader figure out things, the autor inserts long info dumps each time a character says or thinks something new. Besides breaking up the rhythm of the dialogues, it also breaks the immersion. As a reader, you don't get any chance to forget that this book was written by a human with his own opinions and agenda.
But here, the characters are lifeless, the storytelling style is lacking something. Instead of telling a story, the author fills the book with heavy handed political and religious commentary. Instead of letting the characters think and speak for themselves, and let the reader figure out things, the autor inserts long info dumps each time a character says or thinks something new. Besides breaking up the rhythm of the dialogues, it also breaks the immersion. As a reader, you don't get any chance to forget that this book was written by a human with his own opinions and agenda.
February 13, 2018
The Tabernacle of Legion is one great read! I found it to be less of a science fiction story and much more of a story of space exploration. True, it does have elements in it that have not happened that lend to the science fiction category, but mostly it shows how small earth is in the universe, and with a few well placed “what if” questions, expands all kind of possibilities to the reader. One personal reason I liked it, the story stands on its own merit. It does not rely on references of any other book or movie for references. There are no movie analogies. Above all, Kevin Schillo has achieved every writers dream. He wrote this book in a way that through words, you can visualize everything happening. It was so good, that while I had originally planned on reading it in two weeks, I ended up reading in a day over one week. To all fans of space exploration, I recommend this read.
March 5, 2020
The Tabernacle of Legion is a book that starts out with promise and mystery, then spends half its time in dry moments of politic and reiterated discussions between characters. There's too much internal dialogue where characters think things, then say them out loud, or have their thoughts immediately confirmed by reality, making all that internal dialogue unnecessary for the movement of the plot.
The main thrust of the story focuses on the Tabernacle, or the Bastion, and a team of humans trying to get to it. The idea of the Bastion was exciting, but the process of getting there was not, and the book quickly ended after the team arrived. I would have loved to see more of what happens next. Schillo is skilled in developing interesting questions that make me want to read on, but needs to develop a better sense of narrative tension and action-oriented prose.
The main thrust of the story focuses on the Tabernacle, or the Bastion, and a team of humans trying to get to it. The idea of the Bastion was exciting, but the process of getting there was not, and the book quickly ended after the team arrived. I would have loved to see more of what happens next. Schillo is skilled in developing interesting questions that make me want to read on, but needs to develop a better sense of narrative tension and action-oriented prose.
February 8, 2018
NOT JUST ANOTHER SCI-FI!!!
An incredible, imaginative, well fleshed out, easy to follow read that will captivate you from the beginning. You're introduced to the characters and get to know their personalities as the story unfolds. With twists and turns that keep your attention and your focus on the pages. As the story progresses you're left to wonder what next. I have to congratulate Kevin and his unique talent for bringing this story to life.
An incredible, imaginative, well fleshed out, easy to follow read that will captivate you from the beginning. You're introduced to the characters and get to know their personalities as the story unfolds. With twists and turns that keep your attention and your focus on the pages. As the story progresses you're left to wonder what next. I have to congratulate Kevin and his unique talent for bringing this story to life.
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