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The Emergence #2
Redemption
America still reels from inter-dimensional demon attacks. War profiteers and fundamentalists
attempt to use the Emergence to further their own ends.
Amadeus Brunmeier, the bumbling hero of the Emergence, is called upon to investigate rumors that suggest the deadly subluminals are more than they appear. He soon finds himself in direct conflict with powerful political enemies.
When Lilly becomes convinced that Amadeus has committed a horrific act, Amadeus must enlist the help of bureaucrats, hackers, and jaded spies to prove his innocence to her. Along the way, he follows the trail of a conspiracy that leads to the highest halls of American power.
Meanwhile, Grassal Delgado begins to experience strange, occasionally violent, psychotic breaks. His life ruined, he seeks help, and finds hope … but the world has other plans.
attempt to use the Emergence to further their own ends.
Amadeus Brunmeier, the bumbling hero of the Emergence, is called upon to investigate rumors that suggest the deadly subluminals are more than they appear. He soon finds himself in direct conflict with powerful political enemies.
When Lilly becomes convinced that Amadeus has committed a horrific act, Amadeus must enlist the help of bureaucrats, hackers, and jaded spies to prove his innocence to her. Along the way, he follows the trail of a conspiracy that leads to the highest halls of American power.
Meanwhile, Grassal Delgado begins to experience strange, occasionally violent, psychotic breaks. His life ruined, he seeks help, and finds hope … but the world has other plans.
Kindle Edition
First published July 19, 2013
3 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Seth M. Baker
9 books8 followersSeth M. Baker has worked as a software engineer, international English teacher, freelance writer, and pizza delivery man. He’s been making up stories since he was a kid.
He grew up in West Virginia, USA and has traveled extensively. His earliest memory is of a wildfire consuming the hill behind his house.
He lives in a misty Appalachian valley with his wife and sons.
He grew up in West Virginia, USA and has traveled extensively. His earliest memory is of a wildfire consuming the hill behind his house.
He lives in a misty Appalachian valley with his wife and sons.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 21, 2018
‘This is going to keep the conspiracy theorists busy for decades.’
Appalachian author Seth M. Baker earned his degree in English from Marshal University and has been writing tales that successfully combine science fiction, magical realism and satire/parody. This is his third book. Seth demonstrates a technique more authors of ‘series novels’ should emulate: provide readers who enter a series in medias res a map of where the series began and is going. Seth’s overview: ‘The End of the Iron Age is a three-part sci-fi adventure series that tells the story of a group of friends as they fight to save each other ... and themselves. The fight was never something Amadeus, Grassal, and Lilly wanted, but circumstances thrust them into it. The trouble all started with kipium, a type of exotic matter with a negative mass. One curious property of kipium is its role in stabilizing Lorentzian wormholes, as demonstrated by independent researcher Dr. Tommy Brunmeier in several well-cited publications. However, an unfortunate consequence of this property -- curiously unmentioned by Brunmeier -- is that such demonstrations tend to manifest violent inter-dimensional demons. And where there are violent inter-dimensional demons, there are people ready to weaponize them. As the danger grows, so do Amadeus, Grassal, and Lilly. But will it be enough to stop an inter-dimensional apocalypse?
Seth’s polished writing skills offer intellectual entertainment while successfully relating a very well structured story. ‘In the distance, beyond the concrete walls and across the Tigris, a garbled voice beckoned the faithful to pull out their prayer mats, aim for Mecca, and prostrate themselves. For such a religious group, these people were brutal. The administrator had a theory that a direct relationship existed between the strength of a group’s religious belief and their propensity to commit heinous violence. If he ever wanted to pursue a doctorate, he had his thesis.’
The descriptors of this book label it a technothriller, metaphysical, and visionary science fiction thriller. But it is even more complex than that. Depending of what each reader brings to this story the book delivers on many levels. The synopsis places us in the midst of this second volume of THE END OF THE IRON AGE series – ‘America still reels from inter-dimensional demon attacks. War profiteers and fundamentalists attempt to use the Emergence to further their own ends. Amadeus Brunmeier, the bumbling hero of the Emergence, is called upon to investigate rumors that suggest the deadly subluminals are more than they appear. He soon finds himself in direct conflict with powerful political enemies. When Lilly becomes convinced that Amadeus has committed a horrific act, Amadeus must enlist the help of bureaucrats, hackers, and jaded spies to prove his innocence to her. Along the way, he follows the trail of a conspiracy that leads to the highest halls of American power. Meanwhile, Grassal Delgado begins to experience strange, occasionally violent, psychotic breaks. His life ruined, he seeks help, and finds hope … but the world has other plans.’
Though young in years and experience, there are indications of the powers of Asimov, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Crichton et al in his work. He deserves our attention.
Appalachian author Seth M. Baker earned his degree in English from Marshal University and has been writing tales that successfully combine science fiction, magical realism and satire/parody. This is his third book. Seth demonstrates a technique more authors of ‘series novels’ should emulate: provide readers who enter a series in medias res a map of where the series began and is going. Seth’s overview: ‘The End of the Iron Age is a three-part sci-fi adventure series that tells the story of a group of friends as they fight to save each other ... and themselves. The fight was never something Amadeus, Grassal, and Lilly wanted, but circumstances thrust them into it. The trouble all started with kipium, a type of exotic matter with a negative mass. One curious property of kipium is its role in stabilizing Lorentzian wormholes, as demonstrated by independent researcher Dr. Tommy Brunmeier in several well-cited publications. However, an unfortunate consequence of this property -- curiously unmentioned by Brunmeier -- is that such demonstrations tend to manifest violent inter-dimensional demons. And where there are violent inter-dimensional demons, there are people ready to weaponize them. As the danger grows, so do Amadeus, Grassal, and Lilly. But will it be enough to stop an inter-dimensional apocalypse?
Seth’s polished writing skills offer intellectual entertainment while successfully relating a very well structured story. ‘In the distance, beyond the concrete walls and across the Tigris, a garbled voice beckoned the faithful to pull out their prayer mats, aim for Mecca, and prostrate themselves. For such a religious group, these people were brutal. The administrator had a theory that a direct relationship existed between the strength of a group’s religious belief and their propensity to commit heinous violence. If he ever wanted to pursue a doctorate, he had his thesis.’
The descriptors of this book label it a technothriller, metaphysical, and visionary science fiction thriller. But it is even more complex than that. Depending of what each reader brings to this story the book delivers on many levels. The synopsis places us in the midst of this second volume of THE END OF THE IRON AGE series – ‘America still reels from inter-dimensional demon attacks. War profiteers and fundamentalists attempt to use the Emergence to further their own ends. Amadeus Brunmeier, the bumbling hero of the Emergence, is called upon to investigate rumors that suggest the deadly subluminals are more than they appear. He soon finds himself in direct conflict with powerful political enemies. When Lilly becomes convinced that Amadeus has committed a horrific act, Amadeus must enlist the help of bureaucrats, hackers, and jaded spies to prove his innocence to her. Along the way, he follows the trail of a conspiracy that leads to the highest halls of American power. Meanwhile, Grassal Delgado begins to experience strange, occasionally violent, psychotic breaks. His life ruined, he seeks help, and finds hope … but the world has other plans.’
Though young in years and experience, there are indications of the powers of Asimov, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Crichton et al in his work. He deserves our attention.
February 25, 2018
The aftermath of the Emergence continues to unfold as the government and private security companies find that last of the demons and clean up the destruction that was left behind. Amadeus, Gravity, and Grassel were asked to take on a mission to find a demon that is part of a circus exhibit and put it out of its misery. It has been said that it could telepathically communicate with the crowd. Grassel’s refusal to take this mission, but to work out a problem in his life, surprises the team. What he didn’t tell them was he was having major complications from the demon attack which took part of his leg.
Amadeus starts searching for his father, who staged his own death to continue working on his project. He is now working for one of the most evil men who has the money to hide and buy anything he wants. But Amadeus is determined to find his father and taking missions allows him more information. The intensity and suspense of this novel makes it an excellent read for fellow Sci-Fi fanatics. The complexity of the characters and the plots behind different parties, who are pushing their own agendas, keeps even the most vigil reader on their toes.
Amadeus starts searching for his father, who staged his own death to continue working on his project. He is now working for one of the most evil men who has the money to hide and buy anything he wants. But Amadeus is determined to find his father and taking missions allows him more information. The intensity and suspense of this novel makes it an excellent read for fellow Sci-Fi fanatics. The complexity of the characters and the plots behind different parties, who are pushing their own agendas, keeps even the most vigil reader on their toes.
October 24, 2018
Alright, I’m a huge fan of government conspiracies and cover-ups—all that kind of stuff. I haven’t read many books that attempt to delve into the crazy knot of the conspiracy world simply because most of those books aren’t terribly good. They aren’t believable. What sets Redemption apart from the rest of the apocalypse-yet-government-still-trying-to-work novels is the level of reasonableness—for lack of a better word—that Baker has managed to work into the pages. Without giving too much away: the different groups vying for power and control operate like you would expect, and writing all that in a manner that really flows without becoming several thousand pages is a difficult task. Even the government fiscal expenditures were believable. As with volume one, the writing was spot on, tightly constructed, and highly polished. My only complaints really stem from personal preferences in sci-fi—just a handful of plot points I wanted to go in different directions.
International best-selling author Stuart Thaman
StuartThamanBooks.com
International best-selling author Stuart Thaman
StuartThamanBooks.com
December 3, 2019
This is the second book in the series and extremely awesome. The author is very talented and has written a story that compels the reader to live the story instead of just reading it. This is an amazing world that is so believable, as are the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
December 17, 2019
This is the 2nd book I've read written by Seth Baker; he has done a great job at writing a good book; I will definitely be reading more of his books.
The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.
I loved the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.
The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.
I loved the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.
April 25, 2014
Redemption, the second in the 'The End of the Iron Age' series, is a non-stop SciFi/Action piece that is very gratifying in so many ways. Author Seth M. Baker weaves a cautionary tale that both reflects a (potential but yet true-to-life) political climate as well as an outlandish futurescape. Demons are summoned forth from a netherworld gate and terrorize major metropolitan cities; a small band of friends and unlikely allies (some of them 'afflicted' from a previous engagement with said demonic forces) work to solve the mystery of 'how', and attempt to stem the unstoppable tide of hideous creatures threatening all of mankind.
As anyone that knows me and my writing, I enjoy a raw, dark tale - Redemption does not disappoint in that arena. From the start, he hits the ground running and doesn't let up. His gut-punch style of portraying the action in the scenes is a page-turner, and his imaginative depiction of the 'afflicted' is just eerie at times. The characters are mostly well-rounded and, except for a bit of stiff dialogue that renders differences between them when speaking null and void, I found their interactions believable given the extreme circumstances into which Baker forces them.
Redemption isn't without it's flaws, however. Without sounding too much like a broken record, there were numerous editing gaffes (punctuation and misspellings) that distracted me from enjoying it more. Additionally, there were some plot holes that the author needs to shore up (e.g. Lilly has 4 rounds in her gun's magazine. She spends all 4 on one of the creatures - yet a few paragraphs later uses the 'last' bullet on someone else). And not to beat a dead horse, but the author goes from a nice, descriptive 'show' gait to more of a 'tell' later on in the book.
My biggest beef with the story came very early - like within the first 10 pages - and revolves around the author's tendency to narrate with a bit too much emotional connection. That's not a bad thing if the narrator is one of the characters, but in the case of Redemption, that isn't true. Whether he meant to do it that way, or whether the narrator was supposed to be some sort of 3rd person/1st person hybrid - I don't know. But it was very obvious after just a few pages that he has an issue with organized religion, referring to them as 'cults' and their ministry 'hucksters'. Had that been a character saying it, I would be more than ok with it - but it was the narrator. Peeve of mine, I guess. I hate it when the author uses his non-character narrator to voice his personal viewpoints on politics and religion. So much so, that I almost closed the book and deleted it from my Kindle app forever just a few pages in.
However, the story was just too damn good to give up on it.
I haven't read the first in the series, but this one stands on its own without having the first as requisite reading. I might pick up that one, nonetheless. And that should speak volumes as I am a notoriously tough/unforgiving reviewer.
I'll give this one 3 stars. It's a 4.5 star story, but proper editing is just too important to overlook, and in the end pulls down the overall rating. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a deep read and isn't easily offended by a nice peppering of profanities and adult situations.
As anyone that knows me and my writing, I enjoy a raw, dark tale - Redemption does not disappoint in that arena. From the start, he hits the ground running and doesn't let up. His gut-punch style of portraying the action in the scenes is a page-turner, and his imaginative depiction of the 'afflicted' is just eerie at times. The characters are mostly well-rounded and, except for a bit of stiff dialogue that renders differences between them when speaking null and void, I found their interactions believable given the extreme circumstances into which Baker forces them.
Redemption isn't without it's flaws, however. Without sounding too much like a broken record, there were numerous editing gaffes (punctuation and misspellings) that distracted me from enjoying it more. Additionally, there were some plot holes that the author needs to shore up (e.g. Lilly has 4 rounds in her gun's magazine. She spends all 4 on one of the creatures - yet a few paragraphs later uses the 'last' bullet on someone else). And not to beat a dead horse, but the author goes from a nice, descriptive 'show' gait to more of a 'tell' later on in the book.
My biggest beef with the story came very early - like within the first 10 pages - and revolves around the author's tendency to narrate with a bit too much emotional connection. That's not a bad thing if the narrator is one of the characters, but in the case of Redemption, that isn't true. Whether he meant to do it that way, or whether the narrator was supposed to be some sort of 3rd person/1st person hybrid - I don't know. But it was very obvious after just a few pages that he has an issue with organized religion, referring to them as 'cults' and their ministry 'hucksters'. Had that been a character saying it, I would be more than ok with it - but it was the narrator. Peeve of mine, I guess. I hate it when the author uses his non-character narrator to voice his personal viewpoints on politics and religion. So much so, that I almost closed the book and deleted it from my Kindle app forever just a few pages in.
However, the story was just too damn good to give up on it.
I haven't read the first in the series, but this one stands on its own without having the first as requisite reading. I might pick up that one, nonetheless. And that should speak volumes as I am a notoriously tough/unforgiving reviewer.
I'll give this one 3 stars. It's a 4.5 star story, but proper editing is just too important to overlook, and in the end pulls down the overall rating. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a deep read and isn't easily offended by a nice peppering of profanities and adult situations.
January 7, 2020
This book has a way of making the reader think...And on things that I rarely think about. It allows me to "walk in the skin of another" that I get better understand the perspective of someone who thinks differently from me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews