The Redemption Trilogy Box Set

Redemption Trilogy #1-3

by A.J. Sikes, Bronson Pinchot (Reading)

The entire Redemption trilogy in one box set. Jed Welch thought washing out of the Marines Corps was the worst thing that could happen. It landed him back in his old life of crime, running with drug dealers in Queens. Just when he thought his luck couldn’t get worse, a global viral outbreak unleashed virulent hordes of Alpha predators. He quickly finds himself alone, saving his own skin, and on the run in New York City as the outbreak spreads. In a twist of fate, Jed discovers the remnants of a devastated Marine platoon, and decides to join them in the fight for survival. With these new allies, Jed has more than a new safe haven. He finds a renewed sense of mission and the conviction to serve again. Together, he and the other Marines will take the fight to the enemy, striking them where it matters most. As the battles rage across the earth and humanity slowly gains a foothold, Jed grows into a leader, bringing his squad into the front lines against a new and more dangerous threat than any they have yet faced.

Genres: Horror

1 pages, Audio CD

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

See Aaron Sikes.

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stay frosty, suckerface, rah. You’ve now read the trilogy.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot with lotsa violence. Some Profanity. Romance. (EOD) End of days collection. Well narrated. 3-1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️🔆

[Michael Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York was falling! The Hemorrhage Virus was rampant, turning people into bloodthirsty monsters.

The reports about an epidemic of some kind of Ebola in Chicago had barely been broadcast when New York was quickly overwhelmed. A virus was turning people into bloodthirsty monsters. Victims who weren't killed became monsters, their eyes turned a slitted yellow, their fingers becoming claws, their mouth filled with needle-like sharp teeth and their lips like suckers. Their joints moving in impossible angles, snapping and popping as the moved with unbelievable speed, sometimes upright, sometimes on all fours, sometimes crawling up walls or across ceilings.

Meg Pratt witnessed her husband's transformation after being infected by blood from another infected, watched him attack and kill a police officer. Meg was a firefighter and she raced down the streets to her firehouse. There were a handful of firefighters and civilians in the firehouse when Meg arrived and together they fortified their building as much as possible to keep the monsters out.

Jedediah Monroe Welch was a Georgia boy, out of the Marines and back from the suck. He hadn't done too well after he left the Marines with a bad conduct discharge. He couldn't land a regular job but ended up slinging drugs to high school kids. He got jammed up and did a few months in jail for possession, just thankful it wasn't for dealing. After he got out, he left Georgia and relocated to New York City, guarding stash houses for a small crew. Jed had no idea what was going on until he ran into his first monster. Blood streamed from the thing's eyes, ears, nose and mouth. And what a mouth! All puffy and protruding like those kissing fish he'd seen in a pet store, with teeth like long sharp needles, those lips opening and closing with sloppy popping sounds. Its eyes were yellow slits and hands ended in claws. Jed ended its pain with a shot to its head. The unusual quiet of the street was broken by bloodcurdling shrieks from more monsters and screams of pain and terror from the victims. Jed turned the corner and ran into a small Army unit. He figured he'd just roll with them for a while.

The characters are vividly described and painted in horrid detail. Their fear, terror and panic obvious as survival becomes the game of the day. This fresh perspective on the denizens of the Extinction Cycle is drawn in blood in broad strokes. The monsters have the upper hand and always stay one step ahead of their victims. Meg and the firefighters and civilians that had found shelter in the firehouse did everything they could to turn the firehouse into a safe haven, but the victims of the Hemorrhage Virus held the upper hand.

I'm really enjoying Meg's backstory in this well-written book, and the rest of the Redemption Trilogy is just as amazing! I know you're going to enjoy it as well!

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

We jump right into the viral infection. The newspapers said there was an ebola outbreak in Chicago but it was not ebola. Volume one switches between a fire station in Upper Manhattan and a Marine veteran named Jed Welch. The main character in the fire station is Meg Pratt, a newly made widow who watched her infected husband shot down outside their home. Meg received an Army escort to her fire station and here she made her stand. Jed had done a tour in Afganistan and had had enough of the military. When the epidemic broke out he wound up reenlisted. Jed always seemed confused, whether to run or stand and fight. His inner strength won out and he never ran, eventually making it to the fire station. The infected were everywhere, unstoppable, and ferocious. Volume two follows Jed through the city, avoiding and fighting the infected. Jed ran into a few surviving Marines from Operation Reaper, a fubar operation to clear the streets of New York. Once again, Jed is enlisted into another mission, to rescue any survivors. The infected aren’t the only enemy, a few deserters have made a treacherous bargain. Dealing with the deserters takes us to the end of the volume. Volume three found Jed and the remaining survivors escaping the city by boat, picked up by Marines, and heading to Plum Island. Somewhere along the line, the contagious blood and turning by bite have lost the effect they once had in the beginning. Several people in volume two had weathered injuries, even bites without turning. Is this an evolution of the infected, or author amnesia? I don’t know how this happened but it’s a major break in the story IMO. Two years later, Jed surfaces on Galveston Island as Sargeant Welch with a squad of his own. Jed’s squad was delegated security duty on the north shore of the island while they waited for refugee ships to arrive. Galveston was to be a staging area for the repopulation of Texas. Over time, a series of unexplained and horrifying incidents shattered the mundane routine that had become the norm on the island. Had the infected truly disappeared? Did they die off due to starvation or disease? Something unsettling is taking place on Galveston Island. Jed and his squad are smack-dab in the middle of it. Ooh-rah!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three books in this edition, which deserve to be addressed separately.

1. Emergence - The most interesting of the three stories, mainly following two characters Meg (a firefighter) and Jed (a ex-marine) as they deal with an emergence of fast moving, fast arising zombies. People get infected and turn at the drop of a hat, which allows for some fun (?) "infection among the good-guys" scenarios. I had some issues with firefighters holding off the infected with axes while entire platoons of fully armed marines quickly get wiped out.

2. Penance - weakest of the series, in my opinion, as Jed, separated and alone, eventually links up with other marines who suspect him of being among a group of collaborators/traitors, who now are somehow working with the the infected "variants". I never bought into the motivation of "collaborators" who would feed people to the infected... to survive the longest? And the truck chase that consumed most of the book I found very irritating. Also inconsistencies with how infectious this virus is, where in the first story any touch or drop of blood would get you infected, now we're wading through blood and gore without it happening?

3. Resurgence - an improvement in that it deviates from the Jed story line as it follows two women who are attempting to make their way to safety, across Texas. This is months (years?) after the first two story-lines, and the virus is thought to be wiped out. Surprise! It's not over! Weird viral mutations pop up, which seem very improbable.

Overall... I got very tired of the marine/military lingo... who is on point, weapon stats, "Rah," "Err," squad discipline, AOs, "stay frosty" and radio call signs... Repeating/reinforcing all of this garbage seemed at times the primary objective, instead of plot and character development. And I guess this is why I preferred when the stories deviated from Jed's story-line to other perspectives.

[Geeti Moffatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid battle

Enjoyed the trilogy immensely. A good war story with good guys who won in the end. Hope is never lost if you keep fighting for another day. Semper fi.

[Melanie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this Trilogy!!

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Redemption Trilogy Box Set
By A.J. Sikes
This is life after a deadly virus more contagious than Ebola but gross like zombies. The first novel was fairly good where the revolved around a female firefighter and an ex-marine.
The second book was fair and it had the marine mostly alone until he finds others but what they are doing with the zombies is very disturbing.
The last book was hard to tell when it was. Mostly about two women traveling on their own trying to avoid everyone, military or civilian. Especially the zombies. They also see new monsters that evolved from the virus.
Book one was 4 stars, book two was 3 stars, and book three was 3 1/2. I rounded up to 4 stars. The narration was excellent!

[Ebony Irby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got about 2/3 of the way through this box set and had to walk away. This reads more like a tactical military mission, than a regular monsters invading earth type book. Now don't get me wrong, i have NO issue with the Military (I'm a 13 year vet) HOWEVER, I prefer the "Joe Average-man" version of these stories. The military's/police versions ALWAYS have people who have Just the right equipment/knowledge to take down the threat. Tell me how Susan from Spokane, and her two kids made it to a safe shelter without dying. It seems more realistic, than SGT Smith and his arms room full of weapons and ammo shooting his way out of his foxhole. That whole scenario reads cliché to me.

[Kyle Kiekintveld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but mediocre. These books are in desperate need of an editor or a workshop. Continuity errors. A lack of world building. A lack of character development. Even plot problems abound. Still I was partially entertained. Even if I wasn't committed to the books.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series