Herokiller 2

Herokiller #2

by Paul Tassi

In 2045, the Crucible is going global. The televised gladiator tournament is celebrating its tenth anniversary, the wounds of the bombing of the Vegas Colosseum all but healed. Mark Wei, the ex-CIA operative and Year One winner, hasn’t been seen in the decade since the attack. Cameron Crayton, the media mogul running the tournament, has rebuilt, and crowned eight new winners since. Now he’s expanding his search in a sprawling, worldwide tournament, the Crucible stretching beyond the borders of the US for the first time.

Violet is the pride of Project Embryo, China’s covert ops program to create sleeper agents by training killers from birth. Awaiting her first infiltration mission in the US after turning eighteen, she’s stunned when Commander Zhou sends her to fight in Crayton’s new tournament. The goal? To reclaim some measure of glory for a fractured China after America tore it apart in the second Cold War. Win the tournament and become a symbol of a nation reborn.

But to claim victory, Violet will have to make her way through giants, monsters and murderers. Russian mobsters, South African warlords, fanatical American cult leaders. And the third sister of a storied Crucible family who has been fighting since Year One. Out of the arena, she’s hearing whispers about Mark Wei, and his story seems to haunt her in ways she doesn’t fully understand. Violet must discover the truth about her mission, and herself.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2020

Reviews

[colin c ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!

The first and second books were incredible, keeping me up late at night reading until I was done.
The action is slick, well-written and draws you in looking for more.
Not necessarily sci-fi but near future, a few bits of possible future tech thrown in.
Definitely books worth reading and now at the end of this possibly a third.
You won't regret reading these if you love some good spy/sword/thriller reads.

[bryce d miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

just a good as the first of not better

I was really excited that the author made a 2nd book. I honestly didn’t think he would as the last one seemed to end it all. But I think the author pulled it off very well. Just like the first book, I couldn’t put this one down. And it actually had a good ending. I don’t know where he could go for a while gird book, but I hope he does. The author is a great story teller. I hope he writes many more of these stories.

[João Lima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma sucessão digna do primeiro livro. Conservou tudo de bom, apenas aplicaram a uma personagem nova da trama. Infelizmente, não acho que tenho muito a falar em diferencial ao primeiro. É quase a mesma coisa, poucos elementos de ficção científica, muita ação, luta, vários plot twists e personagens cativantes... Fico feliz que por mais que o autor tenha inalterado muitos elementos do primeiro livro, esse não tem a qualidade afetada. Eu diria que a qualidade foi igualada, o segundo não foi melhor nem pior.

De qualquer forma, vale muito a pena caso você tenha lido o primeiro e gostado.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great. Amazing follow up to the first one. Probably the best self published Amazon book Ive ever read. Paul Tassi has easily become one of my favorite authors of the last little bit. I didnt want to put it down and the action never lets up.

[Aden · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as clear a continuation as a sequel can get, it has all the same charms as Herokiller with its constant action, but for me it didn't add anything and the twists and turns felt more predictable and contrived than they had in the original.

[Kimberly M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel to Herokiller

Another fun story. I love the diversity in his books. Again, as with Herokiller, it was very gory and gruesome.

[Evan Colchamiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good books!

Both Herokiller and Herokiller 2 are really good books! Well written, great stories, interesting characters - they would make great movies!

[Silea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been having trouble getting into books lately, but I freakin’ devoured this one. An absolute page-turner. Read book one, and if you like it, you’ll like this one.

[Kube00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fitting conclusion for the series.

If you liked the first book this one is simialr. More arena fighting and character development. Interesting until the end

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story doesn't continue how you think it will based on the first book, it gets even better. New characters, more world building, never forgetting the past while moving forward.

[Michael Cutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Herokiller 2 elevates the first book to its level by delivering an exciting story, and a very satisfying conclusion.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart kind of sank at the start of this book. I read and loved Herokiller earlier this year, then I read and loved even more Chain-Gang All Stars, a book with a powerful message and a devastating storyline. Herokiller 2 has a few typos at the start and whereas Herokiller is told from Mark's perspective, Herokiller 2 is a man writing the voice of a woman, and early on Violet makes a dismissive comment about make up and I was bracing for breasted boobily-esque writing.

Well, I shouldn't be quite so quick to judge. This was an insanely satisfying sequel to the first book. Ten years have passed and the world is in a much worse state, the hand our heroine has been dealt is horrendous and for much of the book, anyone she cares about is either tortured, maimed or straight-up murdered. I was fearful that it would be grim, dark and devastating as the tournament unfolded and the only true winners would be greed and sociopathy.

But fortunately, Paul Tassi decided to do the megahappy ending, Wayne's World-style, and I was so delighted. We get a lot of smart callbacks to the first book, get to revisit some old friends (yay Carlo!) and ultimately, the good guys get to live out a very satisfying happily ever after.

I'll be thinking about this duology for a while, I suspect - I'm trying to convince my husband to read it because A) we both love actiony Mortal Kombat-style stories so I think he'll genuinely enjoy it and B) I just need someone to talk to about it, as I'm not sure I'd recommend this ultra-violent morality tale to anyone else, unless I discover that someone I know also thinks that Paul WS Anderson's 1995 movie is a bonkers masterpiece, in which case they should read this.