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Vic: A Savage Place
A Savage Place Book 9 of The Incredible Adventures of Vic Challenger. The series is static, The novels are in chronological order, but it isn’t necessary to read earlier books to know what is happening. Each novel is a complete tale that stands on its own (Think Nancy Drew). What appears to be a pirate ship attacks the dhow Vic Challenger is aboard. Vic narrowly escapes, but the attackers kill the entire crew and sink the dhow! Why? They didn't take the cargo but seemed to be looking for something. Challenger is a pen name, and Vic wasn't always an adventure travel writer. Victoria visited Africa in 1919 and had a mind-boggling experience. Before that visit to Africa, Vic had no clue where the future might take her. After that visit, what lies ahead is even more uncertain. In Africa, Vic vividly recalled a past life as a cave girl. Vic is no superhero, but her recall has awakened primitive abilities that make her quite unique. She has the potential for savagery to equal the fiercest predator. Her senses are heightened like a jungle animal, especially hearing and smell. She is fearless and has an uncanny sense of impending danger. On occasion, in an exceptionally tight spot, her translucent amber eyes transform to the opaque black of perfect opals, and she will call out the spine-tingling war cry of her ancient tribe. When that happens, every living thing within earshot cowers, for no such savage cry has been heard on earth for 100 millennia! As an unfortunate result of the recall, Vic seems to attract bad guys and deadly creatures wherever she goes. However, her extraordinary animal abilities, adeptness with any weapon, primitive or modern, and her two degrees - math and astronomy - and her rugged, self-imposed training make her a formidable opponent for all-comers!OPINION / COMPARISONS The Midwest Book Review did a series review of the first nine novels and had this to “Harkening back to the Golden Age of pulp fiction, "The Incredible Adventures of Vic Challenger" uniquely features a young female heroine … action/adventure with elements of classic science fiction in the kind of narrative storytelling style that associated with such legendary authors as Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, and Robert E. Howard. … simply outstanding series is unreservedly recommendedOPINION / ORIGINALITY Ron Fortier (artist/author - Green Hornet, Captain Hazzard, Terminator) at Airship 27 says, "With Victoria Challenger, Jerry Gill has created one of the most original, fun, pulp heroines ever…This is a rousing tale expertly written ... Gill tags Vic as the Queen of the Pulps, and …She is clearly one of the most original such ever put to paper and worthy of your attention." OPINION / COMPARISONS An Amazon Top 500 Reviewer “I absolutely love stories like this and, if you like Clive Cussler or James Rollins, these are definitely the books for you…with both non-stop adventure and some very likable characters.” After her recall of life as a cave girl, Vic became an adventure travel writer to finance the search for the reincarnation of her mate from 100,000 years ago. After the dhow attack, Vic wonders if the pirates were looking for her. She doesn't need to wonder for long. Before it is over, Vic must face street thugs, giant crocs, lemurs that fight with stab sticks, and two ruthless gangs searching for sapphires. Of course, there is the man-eating plant, as well. It dissolves people in a vat of acid to absorb them. Its tentacle-like vines cover acres of terrain and often are unnoticeable until it is too late! Like all Vic Challenger novels, this one is unpredictable.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 26, 2020
I'm giving this book such a high star count because I really like it. This book can be read by itself or as a volume of the series. Do yourself a favor. It is a great read.
Vic: A Savage Place certainly gives the reader the description of a savage land with outlandish predatory animals and a flesh eating plant with a long viney reach. Also, two sets of bad men arrive from the rest of the world in search of a treasure in sapphires. The land Mkodo described has the feel of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Caspak books or Pellucidar books such as At the Earth's Core or Tarzan At the Earth's Core. The author has intentionally written a multi-volume homage to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Jerry Gill's books feature the reoccurring heroine Vic Challenger, an adventure travel reporter from the 1920s. Vic Challenger is a strong, self-actualizing character intended by the author to entertain and be an imaginative inspiration to all young readers. The author carries it off well. This is the fourth our of nine Vic Challenger books that I have read and I highly recommend all of them.
The target audience of these chapter books is probably mid-to-late elementary school through middle-school. The author shows the heroine traveling the world and having adventures that she writes about as a journalist and in which she defends herself with a variety of modern and handmade weapons and martial arts. The author describes her strategies and motions in detail as she fights in a way that is convincing and exciting. Vic Challenger has skills comparable to any of the heroes in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Like with ERB characters, she has a back story. 100,000 years ago, in an earlier reincarnation she was a beautiful and self-actualized cave woman who was killed on the day she was about to accept the proposal of her beloved. In the 1920s Vic Challenger searches the world in the hope of finding her beloved as a reincarnated man of her time. The back story contributes to the explanation of why the heroine is so good at fighting. She remembers a lot from her fighting and survival skills from life 100,000 years earlier. I like it and find the explanation to be convincing within these stories.
I recommend this book for young people who want an exciting story about an honorable and capable character. I also recommend this book to people who love Edgar Rice Burroughs. It isn't ERB. Don't expect that. It is the work of Jerry Gill and is a fine reboot of the pulp literature he is honoring with this multi-volume homage of ERB.
To be clear, I don't know Jerry Gill -- I wouldn't be able to recognize him if we were in the same room -- and I don't profit in any way by writing these reviews about his work. In 2014 he sent me the first two novels in Vic: Double Trouble and asked me if I would write a review. He approached me because of some of my reviews of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was surprised and pleased to find out how good the books are. The things I mention about the author's intentions are all on his Goodreads and website pages. I think his goals in writing the homage volumes are laudable, and I want to encourage and support what he is doing so that the literature he is producing will be there and available to the public. I read the first three or four books and then didn't keep up with them until the author recently sent me a copy of this latest volume. And, I really enjoyed it. I will be going back and reading the volumes I missed.
As I wrote above, do yourself a favor or do your children or students or random young people a favor by reading this book and recommending it to the young people it was written for.
Have fun.
Vic: A Savage Place certainly gives the reader the description of a savage land with outlandish predatory animals and a flesh eating plant with a long viney reach. Also, two sets of bad men arrive from the rest of the world in search of a treasure in sapphires. The land Mkodo described has the feel of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Caspak books or Pellucidar books such as At the Earth's Core or Tarzan At the Earth's Core. The author has intentionally written a multi-volume homage to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Jerry Gill's books feature the reoccurring heroine Vic Challenger, an adventure travel reporter from the 1920s. Vic Challenger is a strong, self-actualizing character intended by the author to entertain and be an imaginative inspiration to all young readers. The author carries it off well. This is the fourth our of nine Vic Challenger books that I have read and I highly recommend all of them.
The target audience of these chapter books is probably mid-to-late elementary school through middle-school. The author shows the heroine traveling the world and having adventures that she writes about as a journalist and in which she defends herself with a variety of modern and handmade weapons and martial arts. The author describes her strategies and motions in detail as she fights in a way that is convincing and exciting. Vic Challenger has skills comparable to any of the heroes in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Like with ERB characters, she has a back story. 100,000 years ago, in an earlier reincarnation she was a beautiful and self-actualized cave woman who was killed on the day she was about to accept the proposal of her beloved. In the 1920s Vic Challenger searches the world in the hope of finding her beloved as a reincarnated man of her time. The back story contributes to the explanation of why the heroine is so good at fighting. She remembers a lot from her fighting and survival skills from life 100,000 years earlier. I like it and find the explanation to be convincing within these stories.
I recommend this book for young people who want an exciting story about an honorable and capable character. I also recommend this book to people who love Edgar Rice Burroughs. It isn't ERB. Don't expect that. It is the work of Jerry Gill and is a fine reboot of the pulp literature he is honoring with this multi-volume homage of ERB.
To be clear, I don't know Jerry Gill -- I wouldn't be able to recognize him if we were in the same room -- and I don't profit in any way by writing these reviews about his work. In 2014 he sent me the first two novels in Vic: Double Trouble and asked me if I would write a review. He approached me because of some of my reviews of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was surprised and pleased to find out how good the books are. The things I mention about the author's intentions are all on his Goodreads and website pages. I think his goals in writing the homage volumes are laudable, and I want to encourage and support what he is doing so that the literature he is producing will be there and available to the public. I read the first three or four books and then didn't keep up with them until the author recently sent me a copy of this latest volume. And, I really enjoyed it. I will be going back and reading the volumes I missed.
As I wrote above, do yourself a favor or do your children or students or random young people a favor by reading this book and recommending it to the young people it was written for.
Have fun.
February 22, 2020
I had an absolute ball reading this story, which I find to be one of the best that Jerry Gill wrote in this series. We find out more about the past of Nat-ul and it is beautiful, but soon heartbreak filles us as to how bits of her past get to unravel. I will not give any spoilers, but I found this book incredibly touching. Nat-ul/Vic is an incredible woman and we will see where she gets this as we read along.
This series could be read as a stand alone book, but frankly I think it is better read in order because it is good to know where Vic/Nat-ul went, what she went through and where she got her experiences to survive.
I highly recommend this book series to all who love adventure, fantasy, anything that made the pulp genre so popular not that long ago. And book series such as this one brings the genre out from under the dust after it seemed to have colapsed and it is thanks to series such as these that It makes reading in the adventure genre so fun and timeless. I had an absolute ball reading this book and I can't wait to see what Jerry Gill will create for us for book ten of the series that is to come.
Until then, happy reading!
This series could be read as a stand alone book, but frankly I think it is better read in order because it is good to know where Vic/Nat-ul went, what she went through and where she got her experiences to survive.
I highly recommend this book series to all who love adventure, fantasy, anything that made the pulp genre so popular not that long ago. And book series such as this one brings the genre out from under the dust after it seemed to have colapsed and it is thanks to series such as these that It makes reading in the adventure genre so fun and timeless. I had an absolute ball reading this book and I can't wait to see what Jerry Gill will create for us for book ten of the series that is to come.
Until then, happy reading!
July 5, 2020
Vic Challenger is the female version of Indiana Jones. An adventuress slash journalist who is attracted to the most dangerous places on the face of the earth. In the 9th book of this gripping series of pulp fiction, Vic heads out to Madagascar in search of a flesh-eating flower.
Somewhere in the heart of Madagascar is the "Land of Mkodo", a forbidden place, and for good reason. Having heard of a rare flesh-eating flower in this land and of the vicious creatures guarding it, Vic can't help herself but head out there. But the flower is not all that she finds there. This place might hold something far more precious to Vic personally.
This book is an engaging adventure story that can keep you glued to its pages. While I have only read the 9th part, I am definitely intrigued to go back and start from book 1. The best part about this book is that even if you haven't read the prequels, you can still read it stand alone. This is possibly one of those books with the potential to be turned into a Netflix original later. Hopefully, it will.
Somewhere in the heart of Madagascar is the "Land of Mkodo", a forbidden place, and for good reason. Having heard of a rare flesh-eating flower in this land and of the vicious creatures guarding it, Vic can't help herself but head out there. But the flower is not all that she finds there. This place might hold something far more precious to Vic personally.
This book is an engaging adventure story that can keep you glued to its pages. While I have only read the 9th part, I am definitely intrigued to go back and start from book 1. The best part about this book is that even if you haven't read the prequels, you can still read it stand alone. This is possibly one of those books with the potential to be turned into a Netflix original later. Hopefully, it will.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews