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Preacher's Daughter #1
A Hole In The World
Weston Ochse returns with an action-packed, high-octane solo adventure for Preacher's Daughter, and the world will never be the same again.
Preacher’s Daughter Saves The World
The town of Iron Hat, South Dakota, has disappeared and only one eccentric local remembers it ever existed. Investigators hear him out, but decide he's just gone crazy.
When Graves Hill, a town near Leicester, also disappears with only the MP complaining he's missing some constituents, the Black Dragoons—a clandestine military unit dedicated to protecting Great Britain from supernatural threats—investigate.
Soon, the Black Dragoons and their American counterparts are working together. Preacher's Daughter is on the case, but Great Britain may never be the same again...
Preacher’s Daughter Saves The World
The town of Iron Hat, South Dakota, has disappeared and only one eccentric local remembers it ever existed. Investigators hear him out, but decide he's just gone crazy.
When Graves Hill, a town near Leicester, also disappears with only the MP complaining he's missing some constituents, the Black Dragoons—a clandestine military unit dedicated to protecting Great Britain from supernatural threats—investigate.
Soon, the Black Dragoons and their American counterparts are working together. Preacher's Daughter is on the case, but Great Britain may never be the same again...
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2021
3 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Weston Ochse
129 books295 followersThe American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21 st Century.” He has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, Publishers Weekly, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Jon Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, and many more of the world’s best-selling authors. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico Arizona Book Awards.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 31, 2021
This was not for me. It felt like two novellas grafted together, and the editing also seemed slapdash.
In the first half, I felt like this book was a lot of military Mary Sue's having headshop conversations that seem like over justifications of the fantasy. I usually like that kind of thing, but not much actually happened to support the pontificating. It felt like a tiny fillet of plot in a sea of pseudoscience gravy.
Then the second half kicks in and it's non-stop plot, careening breathlessly from one event to the next with barely a line of reflection to connect them, and characters dying off-page, and an resolution that involved a character death and still managed to be, for me, entirely emotionally uninvolving.
Supposed to be a good horror writer? But I dunno, not interested in picking up other work with this as an introduction.
In the first half, I felt like this book was a lot of military Mary Sue's having headshop conversations that seem like over justifications of the fantasy. I usually like that kind of thing, but not much actually happened to support the pontificating. It felt like a tiny fillet of plot in a sea of pseudoscience gravy.
Then the second half kicks in and it's non-stop plot, careening breathlessly from one event to the next with barely a line of reflection to connect them, and characters dying off-page, and an resolution that involved a character death and still managed to be, for me, entirely emotionally uninvolving.
Supposed to be a good horror writer? But I dunno, not interested in picking up other work with this as an introduction.
June 16, 2022
Written for the writer not the reader. Difficult to make sense of and more of a soap box than a novel.
February 3, 2023
3.5 stars
Now I don’t want to be mean buuuuut I need to rant.
At first I was very interested in the plot, but as the book went along it became more curiosity than enjoyment. By the end I was just annoyed. The plot was too fast pace. I kept mixing up names, and it didn’t help that people would drop off and reappear a lot. Especially when the author interchangeably used character's real names and code names.
I know the main character is an experienced soldier but she’s a complete Mary Sue. (I couldn’t think of why she annoyed me until I saw another review for this book and realized that exactly what she is.)
She is a visiting soldier for a joint mission and yet by the end she’s breaking rules left and right with no consequences and leading the fight.
Lastly the epilogue. . . I was going to give this book 4 stars till I read it. It felt very unnecessary and the author tried to drop hints here or there. The epilogue came out of nowhere and I feel that the author went back to add hints when he realized it didn’t make sense.
Again I don’t want to sound cruel in my review but I had a lot of feelings when I finished and this was my only way to have a discussion about it. Most of my friends/family don’t read horror. (And btw this doesn’t feel like horror. More a military fiction with urban fantasy.)
Now I don’t want to be mean buuuuut I need to rant.
At first I was very interested in the plot, but as the book went along it became more curiosity than enjoyment. By the end I was just annoyed. The plot was too fast pace. I kept mixing up names, and it didn’t help that people would drop off and reappear a lot. Especially when the author interchangeably used character's real names and code names.
I know the main character is an experienced soldier but she’s a complete Mary Sue. (I couldn’t think of why she annoyed me until I saw another review for this book and realized that exactly what she is.)
She is a visiting soldier for a joint mission and yet by the end she’s breaking rules left and right with no consequences and leading the fight.
Lastly the epilogue. . . I was going to give this book 4 stars till I read it. It felt very unnecessary and the author tried to drop hints here or there. The epilogue came out of nowhere and I feel that the author went back to add hints when he realized it didn’t make sense.
Again I don’t want to sound cruel in my review but I had a lot of feelings when I finished and this was my only way to have a discussion about it. Most of my friends/family don’t read horror. (And btw this doesn’t feel like horror. More a military fiction with urban fantasy.)
December 14, 2025
A Hole in the World is a really enjoyable read starting off with a fascinating premise when a member of an Indian tribe comes to the realization that a town in South Dakota has gone missing from the world and nobody but him understands that this has happened. When the exact same thing happens in England, the Preacher’s Daughter, a military intelligence agent specializing in the supernatural, goes to England and joins a special military/intelligence branch of her Majesty’s army to investigate. This sets in motion a deep dive into English folklore complete with Seelie and Unseelie, dryads that protect and replenish the land, a centaur that is the liaison with the Queen, the legendary Green Man, and a group of Unseelie that are trying to destroy the world.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was an interesting mix of fantasy, folklore, and military thriller. At first, when I started reading the novel, I thought there would be a scientific explanation as to why this town had gone missing and nobody could remember it, but going the fantasy route made more sense here. The characterization in the novel was strong, both with the human and unhuman, although the Green Man was too much like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy for my liking. My favorite characters were Crockett and Tubbs, two bogies who were obsessed with the show Miami Vice. I thought there could have been a little more background on some of the folklore elements because I wasn’t terribly familiar with English folklore and felt like I was missing things from time to time. The ending was strong, and this novel kept me entertained the whole way.
Carl Alves – author of The Traveler’s Door
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was an interesting mix of fantasy, folklore, and military thriller. At first, when I started reading the novel, I thought there would be a scientific explanation as to why this town had gone missing and nobody could remember it, but going the fantasy route made more sense here. The characterization in the novel was strong, both with the human and unhuman, although the Green Man was too much like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy for my liking. My favorite characters were Crockett and Tubbs, two bogies who were obsessed with the show Miami Vice. I thought there could have been a little more background on some of the folklore elements because I wasn’t terribly familiar with English folklore and felt like I was missing things from time to time. The ending was strong, and this novel kept me entertained the whole way.
Carl Alves – author of The Traveler’s Door
September 27, 2021
A Hole in the World
[Blurb goes here]
It's the first time I read something from Weston Ochse. This particular adventure seemed to be a branch of a series. I'm sorry if I can't tell you more about the series, since I really wasn't to kin on knowing more about the characters or the other novels.
These one is interesting but it lacks heart. It feels as if it was written mechanically. The main character is a bit obnoxious. As she becomes part of a new team overseas, somehow, she ends being mostly in charge. Why? Beats me. There's not one thing she does that's remotely remarkable.
I can't in good conscience recommend this book to Ochse's first time readers. Although, if you're a fan of the series, go for it. You might enjoy it a lot more than I did.
Thank you for the free copy!
[Blurb goes here]
It's the first time I read something from Weston Ochse. This particular adventure seemed to be a branch of a series. I'm sorry if I can't tell you more about the series, since I really wasn't to kin on knowing more about the characters or the other novels.
These one is interesting but it lacks heart. It feels as if it was written mechanically. The main character is a bit obnoxious. As she becomes part of a new team overseas, somehow, she ends being mostly in charge. Why? Beats me. There's not one thing she does that's remotely remarkable.
I can't in good conscience recommend this book to Ochse's first time readers. Although, if you're a fan of the series, go for it. You might enjoy it a lot more than I did.
Thank you for the free copy!
November 12, 2022
I liked A Hole in the World quite a lot. I didn't realize the main character, Preacher's Daughter, was featured in Ochse's previous Burning Sky and Dead Sky but references concerning her former team and their missions are provided to show how they affected her then and now. Ochse skillfully blends the soldier and fantasy elements to weave an interesting story, though there are a couple of info dumps that drag a bit. With the narrative focused on Preacher's Daughter some of the action takes place off-page, which could have been included to flesh out the novel without being needless padding. Ochse paces his action scenes well and knows how use humor effectively. I hope to see addition novels in a Preacher's Daughter series.
November 19, 2021
Before reading A Hole In The World my only experience of Weston Ochse was his work on an Alien novel that tied into the recently released Aliens: Fire Team video game. He’d managed to craft an interesting story with engaging characters and interesting world building. And throughout it all he managed to create a creepy and atmospheric read. As such, when I read the description for A Hole In The World it sounded like an intriguing idea, one that could be very scary too.
The plot begins with the town of Iron Hat, in South Dakota, suddenly vanishing one day. Not only is the town itself gone, but no one can remember it even being there. People who head to the town turn their cars around and go home, people who work there don’t remember having a job, and records of it start to slowly vanish from databases across the world. Except one man seems to remember it, and appears to be the only one who does. This get the attention of a special branch of the military whose job it is to investigate strange events, and if needs be, kill monsters.
When they discover that another town also seems to have vanished, with only the one person remembering it, one of their operatives, Preacher’s Daughter, is sent across to the UK to assist their British counterparts in their investigation. As Preacher’s Daughter settles into this new team they begin to uncover evidence that something powerful is behind the disappearing towns, something that could lead to a lot of death and destruction.
When I first read the description of this book I thought that this was going to be a spooky mystery story, one where the reader gets to try and figure out what’s happening alongside our lead characters, and scary, spooky things happen. Whilst there are elements of this in the book it’s actually more of a military combat book, where more time is given over to focusing on soldiers being soldiers than the more interesting supernatural aspects of the world. Rather than focusing on monsters, fey spirits, and other creatures that exist we spend a lot of time reading descriptions of guns and equipment, complete with technical specs and names that mean very little to anyone who’s not a big gun fan, and needed to Google a lot.
Ochse does give a lot of time over to the characters as well, however, come the end of the book I still felt like I didn’t know much about these people; and in a lot of cases found that I didn’t really like them. Preacher’s Daughter, the lead of the book, felt very underdeveloped, despite the majority of the book following her, and that we spent as much time watching her hanging out with people and chatting shit with them as we do seeing her in action. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is the fact that despite nothing saying that this book is part of any of Ochse’s other series, such as Seal Team 666, and as such I came to believe that this was its own stand alone thing.
Perhaps this is my fault, maybe I didn’t think it through enough; but the end result was me being dropped into a story and a world that seemed to have expected me to be familiar with a lot of things. There were times where Preacher’s Daughter would be thinking about her old team, and we’d get long paragraphs about people and places from her past where she’d outline how important this was to her before it suddenly going ‘but they’re long dead now so it doesn’t really matter’.
I’m sure for someone who had read the previous books this would have been moments of great callback, or added insight into beloved characters, but for someone coming into it fresh it felt tangential and often frustrating. This would also be the case when Preachers Daughter would start talking about things like the time she fought an ancient god in a strange spirit plane, and drop a chunk of technobabble explaining it. Again, for anyone who’d already read her adventures in killing a god this must have been great, but for me it ended up pulling me out of the book.
Overall, A Hole In The World is a perfectly fine supernatural military shooter book. It has some interesting ideas and moments in it, but with it being part of a bigger universe it often felt inaccessible to a new reader, and there were times where I felt like I was lacking a lot of information. For anyone who’s already read Ochse’s series and enjoyed it I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of this one, but for anyone thinking of trying this out without that background it might not be the best place to start with Ochse’s work.
The plot begins with the town of Iron Hat, in South Dakota, suddenly vanishing one day. Not only is the town itself gone, but no one can remember it even being there. People who head to the town turn their cars around and go home, people who work there don’t remember having a job, and records of it start to slowly vanish from databases across the world. Except one man seems to remember it, and appears to be the only one who does. This get the attention of a special branch of the military whose job it is to investigate strange events, and if needs be, kill monsters.
When they discover that another town also seems to have vanished, with only the one person remembering it, one of their operatives, Preacher’s Daughter, is sent across to the UK to assist their British counterparts in their investigation. As Preacher’s Daughter settles into this new team they begin to uncover evidence that something powerful is behind the disappearing towns, something that could lead to a lot of death and destruction.
When I first read the description of this book I thought that this was going to be a spooky mystery story, one where the reader gets to try and figure out what’s happening alongside our lead characters, and scary, spooky things happen. Whilst there are elements of this in the book it’s actually more of a military combat book, where more time is given over to focusing on soldiers being soldiers than the more interesting supernatural aspects of the world. Rather than focusing on monsters, fey spirits, and other creatures that exist we spend a lot of time reading descriptions of guns and equipment, complete with technical specs and names that mean very little to anyone who’s not a big gun fan, and needed to Google a lot.
Ochse does give a lot of time over to the characters as well, however, come the end of the book I still felt like I didn’t know much about these people; and in a lot of cases found that I didn’t really like them. Preacher’s Daughter, the lead of the book, felt very underdeveloped, despite the majority of the book following her, and that we spent as much time watching her hanging out with people and chatting shit with them as we do seeing her in action. I think one of the biggest reasons for this is the fact that despite nothing saying that this book is part of any of Ochse’s other series, such as Seal Team 666, and as such I came to believe that this was its own stand alone thing.
Perhaps this is my fault, maybe I didn’t think it through enough; but the end result was me being dropped into a story and a world that seemed to have expected me to be familiar with a lot of things. There were times where Preacher’s Daughter would be thinking about her old team, and we’d get long paragraphs about people and places from her past where she’d outline how important this was to her before it suddenly going ‘but they’re long dead now so it doesn’t really matter’.
I’m sure for someone who had read the previous books this would have been moments of great callback, or added insight into beloved characters, but for someone coming into it fresh it felt tangential and often frustrating. This would also be the case when Preachers Daughter would start talking about things like the time she fought an ancient god in a strange spirit plane, and drop a chunk of technobabble explaining it. Again, for anyone who’d already read her adventures in killing a god this must have been great, but for me it ended up pulling me out of the book.
Overall, A Hole In The World is a perfectly fine supernatural military shooter book. It has some interesting ideas and moments in it, but with it being part of a bigger universe it often felt inaccessible to a new reader, and there were times where I felt like I was lacking a lot of information. For anyone who’s already read Ochse’s series and enjoyed it I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of this one, but for anyone thinking of trying this out without that background it might not be the best place to start with Ochse’s work.
November 20, 2021
The plot begins with the town of Iron Hat, in South Dakota, suddenly vanishing one day. Not only is the town itself gone, but no one can remember it even being there. People who head to the town turn their cars around and go home, people who work there don’t remember having a job, and records of it start to slowly vanish from databases across the world. Except one man seems to remember it, and appears to be the only one who does. This get the attention of a special branch of the military whose job it is to investigate strange events, and if needs be, kill monsters.
FULL REVIEW: https://setthetape.com/2021/10/26/a-h...
FULL REVIEW: https://setthetape.com/2021/10/26/a-h...
October 28, 2021
Cities disappear in this spinoff from the Sky series, A Hole in the World. The tale is a military thriller with a supernatural twist.
I’m not sure if it is because I jumped into this series late, but A Hole in the World is a miss for me. About half the time, I needed a map to figure out what was going on. The other half, I didn’t care. The frequent run-on sentences didn’t help. However, if you are a fan of the series, you may feel differently. 3 stars.
Thanks to Rebellion, Solaris, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I’m not sure if it is because I jumped into this series late, but A Hole in the World is a miss for me. About half the time, I needed a map to figure out what was going on. The other half, I didn’t care. The frequent run-on sentences didn’t help. However, if you are a fan of the series, you may feel differently. 3 stars.
Thanks to Rebellion, Solaris, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
October 28, 2021
This is an entertaining take on the trope of "disappearing town" and I had fun in reading this book.
It's gripping and enjoyable story that kept me reading.
It's fast paced, there's plenty of action and I liked the characters even if there's some inconsistencies in their arcs
I think it's an entertaining read, I'd like to read other works by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
It's gripping and enjoyable story that kept me reading.
It's fast paced, there's plenty of action and I liked the characters even if there's some inconsistencies in their arcs
I think it's an entertaining read, I'd like to read other works by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
February 19, 2022
Wasn't sure what to expect when buying this one. I've read many of Weston's other books and have mostly enjoyed them.
The main point is action, action, action and in places and with "people" you probably weren't expecting.
If you're read his SEAL Team 666 novels, you'll enjoy this one. I'm betting you will want this as a series, which I think is happening.
Get ready for your lesson in entertainment from far out and far off places!
The main point is action, action, action and in places and with "people" you probably weren't expecting.
If you're read his SEAL Team 666 novels, you'll enjoy this one. I'm betting you will want this as a series, which I think is happening.
Get ready for your lesson in entertainment from far out and far off places!
September 27, 2022
great read, really abrupt ending: I don't say this about many books, but it could use about forty more pages to really flesh out the late middle and ending: give it a bit more complexity and depth. As it is, it just sort of feels like we hit a page count and Ochse was like "Okay! Let's call it a day"
February 16, 2023
I stopped reading this book before I even made it halfway through it. It's basically Harry Potter and the military thrown into one book. A lot of sentences didn't make sense and it felt like the author was jumping around on topics. More than once did the author ramble on about a specific notion or theory of some sort.
Read
July 4, 2025right from the off i just couldnt get on with it i found it really irritating. so many errors in the edit which i also found hard to ignore, and the foreword stating that the book was apolitical/commentary on nothing??? that also just put me off because how can a whole novel not have any sort of message? dnf because im trying to get back into reading and i did not want to pick this up
September 28, 2021
This author is very prolific, and thus produces inconsistent quality stories. This one is in the middle -- not bad, not great. This is essentially Fantasy, and will be enjoyed by many fans of that genre.
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
September 20, 2021
Wow. Great read from Weston Ochse. I enjoyed the characters, and thought the plot and pacing were great. Will need to track down more from Weston Ochse. #AHoleInTheWorld #NetGalley
March 28, 2022
I mostly picked up this book because of the South Dakota references. Overall, kind of mash up of supernatural creations.
May 21, 2022
I really enjoyed this! Magical beings and monsters, an international black ops military division that ensures nothing too crazy happens, and strong women in charge on both sides.
April 11, 2024
A bit disconnected. I couldn't feel fully immersed in the world he had created here.
October 13, 2022
Military fiction meets fantasy with a lot of pop culture references and every kind of supernatural being you've ever heard off, this book is a bit overwhelming. It's certainly not dull but tries to pack too much into its slim volume.
Oh, and it's Coventry City not Coventry United.
Oh, and it's Coventry City not Coventry United.
June 5, 2022
While scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I came across a post from Weston Ochse where he shared a review of A Hole In The World. The reviewer left no doubt that he/she didn't appreciate the book and, with much malice, virtually shredded it. First, I want to compliment Weston on sharing a harsh review of his own work; it takes guts to acknowledge what I thought was unfair and way over-the-top. I've read Weston's work in the past and enjoyed it, but when I saw that review, I knew I had to get a copy and read it. Nothing could be as bad as the description from my fellow reviewer (who I don't care to know).
I wasn't sure what I was getting when I downloaded this story. I was expecting more of a military sci-fi tale. It is a military tale, but there is very little sci-fi to this. It is pure military fantasy.
The story is told from the point of view of a strong female character named Laurie May. She is a member of an organization that aggressively investigates (meaning sometimes fights) malicious paranormal beings. The attention of her organization, Special Unit 77, is piqued when a missing town in South Dakota. The strangest thing at the beginning is that everyone that lived in or around the town doesn't realize it is missing. As a matter of fact, it never existed as far as they are concerned. Only one person, a Native-American man calling himself Francis Scott Key Chases The Enemy, knows the place existed, and it has disappeared.
A similar incident happens in England, where Laurie is sent to investigate and offer aid wherever she can.
Paranormal mayhem ensues when she discovers she is involved in a massive war between two factions in the Fae realm. it became a brutal and bloody fight for survival to keep the fighting from spilling into the world as we know it.
Laurie May is a great character following in the tradition of many characters; one that comes to mind is Ellen Ripley. She is tough, but she cares. She knows how to take care of herself in a fight. When Laurie becomes a part of the team in England, she's more-or-less told to stay out of the way. As time passes, she earns a place in the team as they learn of her skill and ability to think on her feet and adapt to numerous situations.
My other favorite character is Francis. With a name like his, who cannot like him. He strikes me as a kind of Native-American poet/philosopher/warrior. I was hoping to see a lot more of him in this story. He's someone I want to get to know.
As far as plot points in this tale, I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the characters and the battle scenes. As I mentioned before, the battles are brutal, and some descriptions are graphic in their detail. I don't mind this, but readers who are sensitive to this type of literature may find it unappealing. Aside from that, this book is full of characters who have a lot of fun to read interactions. Their banter is humorous, but not offensive. Oches does a fine job of bringing his characters to life, making A Hole In The World an entertaining read.
My takeaway from this story is how the classic battle between good and evil is usually won by the good side, but only as long as good is ready to get down on the same level of evil and behave as such. Really, the tactics between the two are much the same.
While fantasy is not my favorite genre, my curiosity was sated in finding this work of fiction was not at all as described by the aforementioned reviewer. The story is solid, the characters are appealing, and the book is wholly entertaining. What more can one ask from an author? I've enjoyed Weston's stories in the past and I did not find the quality lagging, as a matter of fact, I saw growth in the writing from the earlier works I've enjoyed.
I recommend A Hole In The World for those who enjoy fantasy in a modern setting with modern technology as a tool to fight the good fight.
I wasn't sure what I was getting when I downloaded this story. I was expecting more of a military sci-fi tale. It is a military tale, but there is very little sci-fi to this. It is pure military fantasy.
The story is told from the point of view of a strong female character named Laurie May. She is a member of an organization that aggressively investigates (meaning sometimes fights) malicious paranormal beings. The attention of her organization, Special Unit 77, is piqued when a missing town in South Dakota. The strangest thing at the beginning is that everyone that lived in or around the town doesn't realize it is missing. As a matter of fact, it never existed as far as they are concerned. Only one person, a Native-American man calling himself Francis Scott Key Chases The Enemy, knows the place existed, and it has disappeared.
A similar incident happens in England, where Laurie is sent to investigate and offer aid wherever she can.
Paranormal mayhem ensues when she discovers she is involved in a massive war between two factions in the Fae realm. it became a brutal and bloody fight for survival to keep the fighting from spilling into the world as we know it.
Laurie May is a great character following in the tradition of many characters; one that comes to mind is Ellen Ripley. She is tough, but she cares. She knows how to take care of herself in a fight. When Laurie becomes a part of the team in England, she's more-or-less told to stay out of the way. As time passes, she earns a place in the team as they learn of her skill and ability to think on her feet and adapt to numerous situations.
My other favorite character is Francis. With a name like his, who cannot like him. He strikes me as a kind of Native-American poet/philosopher/warrior. I was hoping to see a lot more of him in this story. He's someone I want to get to know.
As far as plot points in this tale, I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the characters and the battle scenes. As I mentioned before, the battles are brutal, and some descriptions are graphic in their detail. I don't mind this, but readers who are sensitive to this type of literature may find it unappealing. Aside from that, this book is full of characters who have a lot of fun to read interactions. Their banter is humorous, but not offensive. Oches does a fine job of bringing his characters to life, making A Hole In The World an entertaining read.
My takeaway from this story is how the classic battle between good and evil is usually won by the good side, but only as long as good is ready to get down on the same level of evil and behave as such. Really, the tactics between the two are much the same.
While fantasy is not my favorite genre, my curiosity was sated in finding this work of fiction was not at all as described by the aforementioned reviewer. The story is solid, the characters are appealing, and the book is wholly entertaining. What more can one ask from an author? I've enjoyed Weston's stories in the past and I did not find the quality lagging, as a matter of fact, I saw growth in the writing from the earlier works I've enjoyed.
I recommend A Hole In The World for those who enjoy fantasy in a modern setting with modern technology as a tool to fight the good fight.
December 14, 2021
First, thanks to the publisher for a review copy.
I have to say that this is highly unsatisfying to me. The moment I read the blurb I was hooked (even though at the time I had no idea it was a kind of spin off of a main series). But as I always say, I'm a sucker for stories about weird towns, or in this case disaparing cities.
I was mostly on the ride for the premise, but I lost interest the moment I realised this was mostly a humorous book and not the more Scifi thriller that I was expecting (definitely not the book's fault, my own expectations)
Still I have to say that you can fly thru this book because of Weston Oche's writing!
(There's one minor thing that annoyed me a lot.... There are too many references, and I never thought I would complain about something like that)
For a more detailed review check out my video What the F* am I Reading? November edition
I have to say that this is highly unsatisfying to me. The moment I read the blurb I was hooked (even though at the time I had no idea it was a kind of spin off of a main series). But as I always say, I'm a sucker for stories about weird towns, or in this case disaparing cities.
I was mostly on the ride for the premise, but I lost interest the moment I realised this was mostly a humorous book and not the more Scifi thriller that I was expecting (definitely not the book's fault, my own expectations)
Still I have to say that you can fly thru this book because of Weston Oche's writing!
(There's one minor thing that annoyed me a lot.... There are too many references, and I never thought I would complain about something like that)
For a more detailed review check out my video What the F* am I Reading? November edition
December 16, 2021
Disappointing
I like a good action book but this felt shallow. The backstory on the characters was almost non- existent. I felt like this was a spin-off from another series but since I hadn’t read the other series it was like walking into the middle of a conversation with people who know each other but you don’t know them. The British characters felt like they were just a sketch without any real depth. I had high hopes for the book. It started out good but the just fell apart as it progressed. It felt like a rushed writiing project.
I like a good action book but this felt shallow. The backstory on the characters was almost non- existent. I felt like this was a spin-off from another series but since I hadn’t read the other series it was like walking into the middle of a conversation with people who know each other but you don’t know them. The British characters felt like they were just a sketch without any real depth. I had high hopes for the book. It started out good but the just fell apart as it progressed. It felt like a rushed writiing project.
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