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The End of the Beginning
Tragedy. Death. Loss. That is all retired U.S. Air Force pararescuer Captain William Emerson has ever known. Both nature and man have controlled his life, and taken all he thought he was. Reduced to a shattered shell, William is ready to end it all when, after years of isolation, he is unexpectedly approached with a chance to begin anew. With Earth’s ecological systems nearing collapse, society finds within itself one final gamble to find its hope for a better future in the form of a new United Nations organization, called UNIRO, designed to rescue and rehabilitate the planet and its people. Swept back into the business of saving others under this new organization, William must first learn how to save himself in a new position that sees him struggle to become a leader again. As he trains and rebuilds his life within UNIRO, he finds strength through friendship, inspiration, and sheer human will, realizing he is not alone on his endeavors of recovery. But UNIRO is not the only organization preparing to fight for change. A new sect of terrorist, formed from the inaction and corruption of an unjust system that serves only the powerful few, rises from the shadows of desperation and take matters of change into their own genocidal hands. Attack after attack begins to challenge the budding UNIRO and brings the planet closer to the brink. William is thrown back into chaos as suspicions of allegiances arise from within his own ranks and terror finds its way into the very heart of civilization’s final hope for survival.
565 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 24, 2017
30 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 16, 2017
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Overall, it was written rather well and was very interesting.
Chapter three was my absolute favorite. I really wished the story had started there instead of where it did. The dialogue in chapters one and two is cheesy and forced, obviously there to reveal things to the reader but done in an unnatural way. I did not have high hopes for the rest of the book until I got to chapter 3. Wow. Chapter 3. I loved it.
After that, the story carries itself with reveals about UNIRO/the world of the future. It isn't a thriller, as I had expected after reading the opening chapters, but it does stay interesting. Eichholz did an amazing job creating the inner workings of UNIRO. He details all the (9 i think) subgroups within the organization, lists their functions, etcetera. It's all very well developed and realistic.
The book is written in third person omniscient, which is weird. Mainly weird because so much of it is about William, the main character, that when it suddenly shifts perspective to another character, it throws you. Another thing I disliked was Eichholz's use of their instead of him/her. I understand wanting to keep certain characters' genders secret when we don't know who the bad guys are, but he did it with lesser characters too when I didn't think it mattered. The guards were all 'guardsmen' too. So "the female guardsman" is an actual line in this book *face palm* I think he did this with police officers too, making them all policemen. I can't remember.
There were a few things here and there in the plot that I found unbelievable or odd. But I don't want to give spoilers, so I won't mention them specifically, except for one. At the end, there is the moment where everything stops and everyone (literally more than a dozen, very capable people) all seem to be unable to function or take action while the main character is down. They all just stand around for minutes and wait until he can pursue the bad guy ALONE.
There were also a ton of characters in this book. It was neat in the random chapters where government officials/dignitaries were discussing UNIRO, for each of them to have a name, but I think if I had taken longer to read this book, I might have gotten confused with the great number of characters mentioned.
In general, I enjoyed this read. I definitely didn't hate it. Not sure who I would recommend it to, probably anyone who enjoys near-future sci fi, techno thrillers, or dystopias. Because even though I think this book is categorized as 'cli fi' I think it contains elements of several other subcategories of science fiction.
Chapter three was my absolute favorite. I really wished the story had started there instead of where it did. The dialogue in chapters one and two is cheesy and forced, obviously there to reveal things to the reader but done in an unnatural way. I did not have high hopes for the rest of the book until I got to chapter 3. Wow. Chapter 3. I loved it.
After that, the story carries itself with reveals about UNIRO/the world of the future. It isn't a thriller, as I had expected after reading the opening chapters, but it does stay interesting. Eichholz did an amazing job creating the inner workings of UNIRO. He details all the (9 i think) subgroups within the organization, lists their functions, etcetera. It's all very well developed and realistic.
The book is written in third person omniscient, which is weird. Mainly weird because so much of it is about William, the main character, that when it suddenly shifts perspective to another character, it throws you. Another thing I disliked was Eichholz's use of their instead of him/her. I understand wanting to keep certain characters' genders secret when we don't know who the bad guys are, but he did it with lesser characters too when I didn't think it mattered. The guards were all 'guardsmen' too. So "the female guardsman" is an actual line in this book *face palm* I think he did this with police officers too, making them all policemen. I can't remember.
There were a few things here and there in the plot that I found unbelievable or odd. But I don't want to give spoilers, so I won't mention them specifically, except for one. At the end, there is the moment where everything stops and everyone (literally more than a dozen, very capable people) all seem to be unable to function or take action while the main character is down. They all just stand around for minutes and wait until he can pursue the bad guy ALONE.
There were also a ton of characters in this book. It was neat in the random chapters where government officials/dignitaries were discussing UNIRO, for each of them to have a name, but I think if I had taken longer to read this book, I might have gotten confused with the great number of characters mentioned.
In general, I enjoyed this read. I definitely didn't hate it. Not sure who I would recommend it to, probably anyone who enjoys near-future sci fi, techno thrillers, or dystopias. Because even though I think this book is categorized as 'cli fi' I think it contains elements of several other subcategories of science fiction.
May 31, 2018
Could this event happen?
This book makes you wonder if this event could happen for real. The players in the book are what I think real people would do in life. Rating of 3 is fine cause the book goes into details about certain situations. Worth reading.
This book makes you wonder if this event could happen for real. The players in the book are what I think real people would do in life. Rating of 3 is fine cause the book goes into details about certain situations. Worth reading.
April 25, 2023
Choose legibilty
If grammar was more prevalent this would be much more enjoyable. Expediency was chosen over grammar. This story is quite good but because it was not proofread it loses coherence.
If grammar was more prevalent this would be much more enjoyable. Expediency was chosen over grammar. This story is quite good but because it was not proofread it loses coherence.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews