In 2052 a squad of Marines from the Earth Military Federation are sent to investigate a newly built terraforming colony on mars. The station has mysteriously gone dark, after the colonists unearthed an alien structure buried just beneath the surface. The EMF unit embarks on a mission to find out what has happened, only to uncover a nightmarish blood bath—the entire colony has been violently slaughtered. Now the unit must uncover what has caused the gruesome deaths of the colonists, and manage to escape before whatever it is that is hiding in the station begins to hunt them down, and they wind up another victim of the ENTITY.
A contemporary American author and master storyteller, Donald Morrison is renowned for weaving intricate tapestries of science fiction, horror and fantasy. Boasting an impressive catalog of over 30 published works, Morrison captivates his readers with narratives that delve into the dark and thought-provoking corners of the human experience. His ability to blend spine-chilling suspense with a profound sense of dread sets him apart in the literary landscape. Synonymous with names like King and Koontz, Morrison's writings are not just a journey through terrifying realms and thrilling escapades; they're an exploration of the shadows that lurk within us all.
This book starts off pretty decently! The bodies, the darkness of space, the claustrophobic Mars outpost….
Then things get weird as the small band of soldiers decides to investigate alien activity and solve the mystery of what happened. This is above their pay grade and not their role, so of course things go terribly wrong.
A decent, quick, fun space horror book that just spends too much time with over description. But the pacing was great and the tension good - ending kind of felt like they needed to just wrap it up.
It well written and a easy read, but l was kind of disappointed. I was expecting a lot more action, which was very little. Another things is that soldiers that have been in the thick of it, would be able to handle the dead bodies a lot better than these did. Don't get me wrong, dead bodies are not pretty and do smell, but if you are ready been in thick of it like these soldiers, you learn to did with and move on, or you get out of the service. It really wasn't that exciting or scary to me, and in kind of of reminded me of the "The Ghosts of Mars" movie without the action. That us just my option though, and I am others will love it. Just not, and I do wish the author great the best and great success in his writing endeavors.
The story was nonstop action from begging to end. We have a group of Marines that flew to Mars to investigate why communication is off. They uncover the possibility of an alien trying to kill them all. The alien's motive is freedom and he's very hungry.
This book is in dire need of an editor and a proofreader - so many spelling and grammatical errors, continuity issues. It reads like a raw manuscript.
Characters suddenly appear (where did that medic come from? who's Mills? who's Corlin? where did they come from?), characters' names change, like, not in whether they're addressed/referred to by first or last name, but the main marine started off as Baker Thomas (or Thomas Baker?) and then his name was Williams.
The POV jumps all over the place, even within the same paragraph. And, speaking of, the character we'd been with the most abruptly gets his head blown off. Nothing felt earned.
The writing is over-written: "The unease that hovered in the air wore thick. Questions were lost in an image of frailty cut short; depleted sanity lost to the echoing crack of a single gunshot. "Well ok," Baker said, tearing at the thick sheet that had blanketed them." What?
"The facility now stood in full view, a massive structure of titanium and steel, contrasting against the Earth that surrounded it." <--this describes their shuttle's approach to a facility on MARS.
There's the hot chick: "He watched the woman with light brown hair... Even though she had just woken, she moved with untapped grace across the floor. His eys caressed the gentle curves of her body as she approached her locker... The others would joke that she should have chosen modeling instead of military."
And the corporate tool: [upon entering the aforementioned facility and finding a literal slaughterhouse, Baker/Williams yelled at him] "Talmadge held his tongue, fury coursing through im as he turned away and walked to the back of the group. The soldier had apparently forgotten his position on the ladder, but at this moment, his focus was on retrieving the data that had been collected, and sealing off any information that could be detrimental to the company's image. Things had to appear as though everything had gone by the numbers, ..." etc. etc.
That said, there's a compelling, if derivative (Alien, e.g.), story here, and it held my interest enough to finish it. There's a sequel, but, in reading the reviews, I see that the above issues continue. Ah, well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A derivative sci-fi horror that is rather mediocre.
Well, I tend to enjoy B-quality levels of novels here and there every once in a while, usually lowering my expectations and blindly jumping into a dark sea that I know will either drown me or give me some pleasant vistas. Entity left me just... floating, I guess. It is not bad, per se, but it doesn't really manage to stand out on anything due to how simply ineffective it is at trying to be original. All of it feels like a fever-dream that combines The Thing with Aliens and some Event Horizon here and there, and rather than feel like a tribute to such classics, it feels more like mere fanfiction that tries to do its best but fails at it.
The characters are very generic and trope-heavy. Your usual low grunts with a mouth and too much jokes that feel out of place about tits, butts, or fucking your mother. The usual stuff that feels immature at times but hey what you gonna do? The problem is that the cast feels to large and too copy-pasted. Nobody really stands out and you even get the usual: Smart soldiers that acts like a brute, wise yet hardy leader that always knows what to do, corporate-guy that wants to protect the interest of the company at all cost, IT guy that can hack a computer and is left alone for much of the story, etc.
I really don't much else to say about Entity. I was hoping for a more somber, moody story but all I got was a lousy story that lacks any impact or even creativity.
I read some of the other reviews about this book after reading it. I can see how many would go into this story expecting an action packed, Aliens type of adventure. I think the author decided to take it another direction, playing instead on the psychological aspects in the way that John Carpenter did with The Thing. There is no monster chasing you, no gnashing teeth and tearing claws. What there is however, is a dark, uncomfortable sense of foreboding. That feeling that you get when you are making your way home at night and have that edging feeling that something is lurking just beyond the shadows, watching. That is the energy this book carries. I loved how visceral everything was; from the mutilated bodies in the hallways to the blood stains and reminders that something had in fact, gone very wrong. One reviewer mentioned head-hopping. True, there were a few moments where I had to catch up, but I'm sure it couldn't be easy putting that to paper. If you go into this expecting a dark, hopeless and foreboding journey, then you won't be disappointed. This is for all those slow-burn lovers out there. I truly enjoyed the read!
Marines from earth are sent out to mars to investigate the lack of communication from the colonists after they unearthed an alien structure. They soon find out the entire colony has been slaughtered. But how? And who did it? ...or what? How do you kill something you can't see?
Even though this book isn't super action packed, I liked it a lot for the slow burn suspense. In my opinion it can make a book so much more unsettling. The mystery in this book was pretty good and the story unraveled nicely enough. The fact that the alien didn't straight up kill the colonists (and marines), but messed with their heads made it so much creepier. Their biggest enemy ended up being their own brains and hallucinations.
The story isn't anything too ground breaking but it was a solid read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
3.5 to a 4. I can't decide. Bunch of Marines go to investigate why a colony on Mars has gone dark- what could go wrong!
I enjoyed the writing of this, the writer has obviously taken inspiration from Dead Space and Alien, given the vibes I was getting whilst reading. A few reviews had complained about "over descriptions" but I didn't find it as bad as they made out, there were points (especially near the end) where POVs got a bit confusing for me but that was about it. There were also quite a few typos and grammar errors which took away the immersion of the story too. A mix of short and longer chapters gives the story quite a pacey feel.
Entity is a book about a group of military and a corporate head who go to a colony on Mars after communication was lost. They arrive to find everyone dead, either in mass killings or suicides. The plot starts a bit slow, but as the group arrives, the pace rapidly picks up. One by one, the group is taken over by a nearly indistinguishable entity, noticeably by only a slight visual shimmer. The book is best suited to those already fans of sci-fi/horror thrillers. This one reminds me of Ghosts Of Mars. 4/5 stars
I love the premise - creepy abandoned space colony, blood, scary stuff. And I did finish the story. However... This book needs an editor. I'm not sure the author knows the meaning of some of the words he used. Lots and lots of descriptive adjectives and statements, repeated words, wrong or missing punctuation. And commas. So many commas. It would have been excellent had it been edited.
I really enjoyed this book. A lot of the tension is reminiscent of Ridley Scott's: Alien and Dean Koontz" Phantoms. The "who is not themselves" am I not myself" factor drives this thrill as the Marines sent to find out why the terra-forming colony has suddenly stopped communication. Someone, or something may be causing it. If so, why? Time is of the essence as the countdown to them leaving is expiring. I actually read this one through once I started! The thrill was tangible
This book was such a good read. I enjoyed the detail, point of view shifts, and constant build up of tensions. The pacing for me was perfect, it kept me reading, I just had to know how it was going to end! I did find some typos but it didn’t affect my reading experience at all, I just rolled through them. I highly recommend this book, I can’t believe it has less than 20 reviews on Goodreads, I can’t wait to start the second book. I would recommend this to my sister if she enjoyed scifi lol. ✝️🤍
Space military operation filled with chauvinist clichés (author really tries hard to get them all in there. Or is this how he and his dudebros actually talk to each other? That's a real horror). Tight atmosphere, flowing text with just a few typos and errors. A decent brain-drain read, nothing less, nothing more.
This was a really good story but there were some really bad editing mistakes. Lots of misspelled or non-capitalized words, incorrect punctuation etc. Genuinely spooky in some spots. You can feel the tension as the team makes their way through the station. I was hoping for a better resolution to the story, but overall it was really good.
A lazy collection of ripped-off cliches (and self-aware about it - there is a direct mention of "Aliens" film in the text) with a class of hysterical schoolgirls for characters.