Echowake

Echowake Saga #1

by John G. Stevens

Soaring through the skies on the backs of air whales, nomadic young Trede is always on the move to avoid his dark dreams. This curse with foul consequences has always kept him alone, but now he finds himself pursued by opposing groups. The Cytech Inventors Guild wants his talent, and powerful Mystics want him outright dead. As Trede attempts to find the reason for his affliction, he discovers closer friends than he could have imagined and a glimpse of greater mysteries. Whichever way he turns, he’s drawn further into an eternal struggle for control of The Well: an ancient altar of legend.

Genres: Steampunk, Fantasy

391 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

John is a hardworking Husband and Father of three boys. He has spent most of his life on the East Coast of the US and currently resides in Southern Maine. They lived in Japan for a few years, love to travel and try to focus on what connects us all rather than what separates us. He considers the apex of all delicacies to be anything with buffalo chicken in it. Being a musician, avid reader and dabbler in Parkour gives him many avenues to pull from in his writing. A lifelong storyteller, John has always imagined worlds where there are no limits.

Reviews

[Mark Kloss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. A fully formed new fantasy world which I certainly want to know more about. Well written and believable characters, with great development. There are so many fantasy world and epic fantasy stories that it is interesting to see an interesting and original one appear.

[Iryna *Book and Sword* · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars (rounded up)
First of all - when I read the advanced copy of this book it did not have a cover yet. But goodness, isn't it just gorgeous? It's so minimalistic and elegant - I absolutely love it!

​I am always wary when it comes to reading a book that I haven't heard anything about yet. I'm always afraid that it will turn out to be another one of 'been there done that' cliche stories. With Echowake I was able to cast my fears away from the very first pages. There was nothing cliche about this story.
​I was plunged deep into the world so unique and engaging I wasn't able to stop reading. There are flying whales (which are used as transport), cat-people (well, just one, but he is so worth it!), breathtaking landscapes, dark magical secrets, amazing steam-punk inspired inventions and much, much more.

The main character of the story is Trede, who I absolutely adored, because, ready for it? Trede is not very social!! How often do you get an MC who's very introverted and anti-social? Not that often to be honest, and I was so glad for it. It was so refreshing to watch him journey on, trying to warm up to people, trying to put himself out there in the world. He is not left to be lone for long though, as he soon meets his new best friend, about whom I will talk in a minute (because he's my favorite) and other interesting characters.

Trede's little group grows as they encounter villains and dark forces. I loved how all of the characters were strong headed and driven, either by curiosity or long-life goals. There are many twists and turns, and many action scenes definitely worthy of steam-punk fantasy.

​If you know me at all, then you know that I'm always on a look out for amazing side characters to love and cherish. And I definitely found one in this book. Well, there were few actually that I enjoyed tremendously, but I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just talk of one.

All main characters need a great best friend sidekick, and Traz is probably the sidekick of all sidekicks! Big reason being is because Traz is one of the cat-like creatures.
Now, think me a huge nerd, but Khajiits from Skyrim, HELLO (please tell me there are gamers here)!! Maybe that's why I had such an easy time imagining Traz, for I just imagined him as a Khajiit - that didn't take away from his character one bit, I'd say it added to his awesomeness even more.
Traz was funny, brave and very intelligent. I will say that he was like a little sunshine of the whole group, but with claws. It was so easy to distinguish him from the rest of the characters - Traz had his own way of speaking, which was absolutely delightful to read.

Big thanks to John G Stevens for letting me read a very early version of this novel. I enjoyed my journey with these characters and would absolutely love to read more about them (hopefully there will be more)

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[Dale Lehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echowake is the first book in a truly unique series. Combining post-apocalyptic SF with fantasy and a touch of steampunk, goggles included, Stevens' tale pulls you in and keeps you reading right up to the cliff-hanger conclusion. In terms of story, this is a five-star effort. Bravo!

Plagued by horrific nightmares that come true, the young courier Trede spends his life moving from place to place in hopes of outrunning his inexplicable curse. He carries a unique weapon that attracts the attention of the Cytech guild, who are convinced me must be a gifted inventor, not to mention a pair of rival Mystics, one of whom who wants to destroy Trede and the other of whom wants to use him as a tool for conquest. Along the way he runs afoul of a marshal who's sure he's up to no good, meets a strange creature who wants to be his friend, and faces down a barrage of swords and magic assaulting him from all sides for reasons he cannot fathom. "Echowake" has all the makings of an epic adventure.

But I have to downgrade it because as with so many indie first novels, the writing needs work. I'd probably score the book three stars at best in that category. The dialogue and the narrative passages just don't show the polish we expect of a practiced writer.

Yet--and here's the surprising part--the story was so amazingly good that I was willing to forgive the writing issues and eagerly read through to the end. I hope that Stevens will grow as a writer and that the sequel(s) will be more polished. I certainly want to read them!

[S.W. Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really liking this imagery of "Dune" but with the faster pace of the original "Star Wars" film. I have to dock about half a star for the prelude though which reads quite differently than the novel itself, with a bit too much info dropping as the main objective and the action itself a bit of a secondary concern. But if you like Roger Zelazny's stuff, you won't mind it much. 4.3 stars.

[Rori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trade is running. It seems every place he goes is another place he cannot stay, and even the comfort of new friendships cannot settle the nagging feeling that even at night, as he dreams, he’s not quite safe…

Echowake had a grabbing beginning – something I value in a book. It immediately gives us a mystery to untangle, leaving us with a lot more questions we had before beginning.
The book takes us on exciting adventures, from one planet to another, letting us explore this curious story world through the eyes of several well-built characters. It keeps a firm hand on intertwining storylines, while focusing on the main problem: that everybody seems to want something from Trede, while he just wishes to be left alone to deliver his cargo from point A to point B!

The only real issue I discovered with this novel is that it slows down the action considerably midway, just when a reveal ought to happen. A mystery, albeit engaging, can lose its charm if dragged out for too long. For all the exciting bits we got to read about which included Maej, we still didn’t get a clear idea of what his actual goal is.
And since Trede’s goal is to always run away from the problem, there is a risk that some readers might get bored halfway through.

But don’t lose faith!
The action picks up soon enough, with all the characters we’ve been getting to know suddenly launching into action. To give the author props, the events flow in a very nice and logical way at this point. It’s easy to follow the narrative as the final challenge unfolds, and no character gets simply left behind as a mere instrument to support the central hero.

To that effect, I value good characters above all else, even above a great story or marvelous world building. A character is what keeps me going. And with the wonderful way Stevens manages to characterize his heroes, and to give them agency without forcing it, I can say there is a lot to stay for. I am particularly impressed by Cassidy, who is beautifully built, with an ambitious personality and an incredibly quick, intelligent mind – a person who is also kind, and passionate, and impatient, and unique.
Therefore, I hope in future works Stevens writes more than 1 woman main character in an entire group of engaging personalities to lead the novel. I think he’d manage it brilliantly.
(Which by the way reminds me to add that the secondary women characters have great agency and I cannot believe in this day and age I have to be grateful for it, but here we are, I am, and props to Stevens for writing real persons unlike many of our colleagues in the genre, amin.)

Overall, I enjoyed the story a great deal. Magic, sci-fi, science! Oh, the science! It’s used as a weapon as much as magic or you know—actual weapons, so I was so incredibly pleased with that.

I’d definitely recommend the book to some friend. And if you, dear reader, love to take your time with the action, this sci-fi will fit you!

Stay readin’,
Ro-ri

[Robert Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun fantasy story

Parts of this book are definitely 5 star material, but a few flaws drag it down a bit.

The worldbuilding is amazing. The setting is post-cataclysmic and the author does a great job teasing out that history. Looking forward to learning more. The air whales are not just a clever way to travel, but an effective literary device to show the desolation of the world, with a few hardscrabble communities separated by great distances.

The novel bills itself as steampunk but there's electricity, so purists won't like that. It didn't bother me too much but the period setting did seem inconsistent- early on there's a character working a complex steam-driven machine in a leather apron; later a guy is in a t-shirt. The author gets away with it because the setting is post-apocalyptic rather than post-industrial (also how we get a robot).

The ending felt rushed. The plot sort of meandered for a while before all the disparate storylines (of which there are many) crashed into each other near the end and then stopped.

Lastly, ending on a good note- I liked the character Traz. I kept picturing a more violent King Julien from the Madagascar films.

[Chris Keaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A future twist. In the future, thousands of years after our technology advanced to a point where it destroyed the Earth as we know it a new society has grown out of the rubble of the past. This is a wondrous world where magic and steam powered tech rides side by side with flying whales and cat people. We follow a young man cursed with a burden that keeps him on the run. But powers that want to use him to reawaken a force that brought the old earth to its knees hound him. This was a fun read. I found myself reading it slowly so I could really enjoy all of it. That being said there are some problems like the tacked on steam punk vibe and others that kept me from giving this a 5 star review. That being said I still really liked it and will be checking out the future books in this series.

[Angel Leya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trede has spent most of his life running from his curse - the nightmares that carry over into real life when he awakens to learn someone got hurt. But his world changes when Cassidy arrives from the inventor's guild, keen to add him and his gun staff to their number.

But he'll need to run further than Sedona to escape his curse--and the mystics trying to kill him.

First, the good:

I loved the world the author created. It felt fully formed and imagined. I liked the steampunk vibe - it wasn't heavy-handed, or the traditional Victorian era setting, but I liked that he took it into a post-apocalyptic world and made it fresh. I also got an anime feel when reading certain parts (like the fight scenes), which was fun.

I liked the variety of characters, but didn't enjoy all the head hopping. There were times it was needed, but especially at the end, I felt like the author took us into so many heads to build a sense of anticipation or dread, but it just felt like a stall tactic. The pacing on the first half of the book was a little slow, and the first two chapters were probably unnecessary.

If you're looking for something a little different, fun, with a full cast of endearing characters, this is a book to pick up. But beware of the cliffhanger. It's a doozie. :)

[Leah Chalmers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fantasy book. I don't read a lot of steampunk but I liked this world and I am certainly going to read the next book. I need to find out what happens!

[Phillip Murrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Echowake has all the makings of a great literary world. It’s familiar, yet it has its quirks that make you want to learn more about it. It has interesting characters, not all of them human. It has an epic quest that is in the early stages, in order to bring the reader along. I came across this story when it was mentioned in a Goodreads discussion, and I decided to give it a shot. It started wonderfully, but I felt like it ran out of steam toward the end. I wasn’t sure if this was the beginning of a series or not, until I got to the last two chapters. At that point, it was clear a standalone adventure was not in the cards for me. This made the ending appear unnecessarily rushed. I think the author could have expanded on the first half of the book (the better half, in my opinion) and saved the second part for book two. The way it plays out, it seemed like the book was giving me a slow burn (which worked well here), then decided to rush the third act. The pacing seemed off, however it was more in a way that a good book could have been better. This is a good book. I will now break down the good, the bad, and the technical aspects of the book. Some spoilers may follow.

The Good:
The world building is expertly executed. I feel like future installments will point out how it is in Earth’s far flung future. If not, the world is still top shelf. The characters are vibrant and diverse. The cast includes a loner, a workaholic scientist, a curious outsider, a marshal, and magic warriors. All of them were great, but the standouts were Maej, Tenowon, and especially Traz. Traz is the token “alien” character. He felt like a mix of Chewbacca and C-3PO. As a Star Wars fan, I really took a liking to these characters.

The carrier whales were awesome. They are majestic beasts that humans have used to circumvent a dangerous world on land. The major cities are tied together by the migratory patterns of these animals.

There is a lot of action. I like it when my characters have to literally fight a lot. Echowake doesn’t disappoint in this regard.

The Bad:
I’ve already mentioned that the end felt rushed. Natural dialogue began to take a back seat to exposition and a rush to get some closure. The heroes mostly fail in their mission, but I’m sure this will be resolved in later books. It’s a shame. I liked the bad guys winning, but characters that acted one way at the beginning changed toward the end. Specifically, Trede and Cassidy appear to care about each other far more than the acquaintances they are. The have only known each other for about a month, but they are willing to lay down their lives for each other. Many characters behave this way. It seems like they were given strong familial or war comrade bonds that weren’t earned. You can argue some of the fighting could give this, but as a veteran, I say it wasn’t enough.

That leads to my other big issue. The main characters are too willing to fight the good fight on behalf of the planet. Maej and his wife (Orielle?) have to behave this way. They are stand out characters in their duty and power. However, Traz is essentially a tourist. He has no reason to be so curious in the affairs of humans. You may look past this as a cultural thing, but that uses up a lot of suspension of disbelief set aside for the other characters. Cassidy is a science geek. She did her job as a recruiter and probably isn’t up to the task of sticking around. Trede is the only one who tries to leave, but because he’s the McGuffin, he has no choice, but to hang around.

The Technical:
The book is well polished and edited, but it looks like a manuscript. The pages aren’t formatted for the words to line up. There are also spaces between every paragraph. This is a non-issue for me, but some people may find it distracting.