This edition combines Volumes 1 and 2 of the Echo series. In the late 21st century, humanity left Earth due to multiple resource shortcomings aggravated by an acceleration in climate change. They settled Echo, a planet that was nearly a carbon copy of Earth except for being devoid of all but the most basic life forms. Fast forward 1200 years later. Echo has endured over a thousand years of dark age. Corporations and government merged early on, becoming the oppressive authority known as the Regime. Military and police merged into the Department of Enforcement, their only mission to crush the huge network of rebels known as the Dissidents. Over half the planet is covered by decaying cityscapes and the elite live high above, removed and remote from the greater populace on the moon-city of Ascension. Hope lies in one man, a former Enforcer named Atriya. But before he can break the cycle of darkness and ignorance on Echo, he has to do it within himself.
Echo Volume 1: Approaching Shatter was a savage ride! A book stripped to the rawest nerve of a human being, and a plot readers not only invest in, but battle apart of. Volume 1: Approaching Shatter hooked me into reading Volume 2: The Taste of Ashes. By chapter 2 of Vol. 2, I knew Kent Wayne was my favorite action author. Because like Atriya killed it out in the field, Wayne killed it behind the keyboard, and I'd like to see another author try and fail to out-write him.