Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
A woman on the run. An unexpected meeting. Rising tensions.
Sloane happily worked as a farmhand for an elderly couple in Nebraska...until people arrived in blacked-out SUVs asking about a woman who turns into a giant bird. When Sloane refused to go with them, they killed her elderly employers and razed the farm to the ground. Then? They pinned the crimes on her. Sloane's been running ever since.

Karleen returns to Precious after a meeting with her sister. She's within an hour of home when a woman stumbles out of the underbrush lining the road and collapses on the yellow line. The woman whispers one word as she passes out: hunters.

There's only one thing for Karleen to do...

307 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2021

103 people are currently reading
61 people want to read

About the author

Robert M. Kerns

27 books147 followers
Robert M. Kerns (or Rob if you ever meet him in person) is a geek, and he claims that label proudly. Most of his geekiness revolves around Information Technology (IT), having over fifteen years in the industry; within IT, he especially prefers Servers and Networks, and he often makes the claim that his residence has a better data infrastructure than some businesses.

Beyond IT, Rob enjoys Science Fiction and Fantasy of (almost) all stripes. He is a voracious reader, with his favorite books too numerous to list.

Rob has been writing for over twenty years, and "Awakening" is his debut novel.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
454 (61%)
4 stars
206 (27%)
3 stars
60 (8%)
2 stars
12 (1%)
1 star
4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
5 reviews
June 9, 2021
Although Mr. Kerns has come up with an engaging story with interesting characters and a fast-paced story, the number of red flags here is very concerning.
The main character is a complete Mary Sue (or Marty Stu, I guess) - former IT geek who instantly becomes the most bad-ass shifter ever seen while also being irresistible to women and flawlessly navigating shifter politics, one-on-one fights and challenges, and pretty much everything he turns his hand to.
Normally I can take this sort of thing in stride - this is escapist literature after all. But my god, this book turns it up to eleven.
The other negative factor is the continuation of what was suggested in the first book, that this novel falls into the Harem sub-genre. I guess it follows the whole 'irresistible to women' theme, but if I heard Wyatt refer to "my ladies" one more time, my eyes would roll back in my head so hard I'd be looking at my brain.
Too bad, it could have been an interesting series.
Profile Image for Dannan Tavona.
968 reviews10 followers
June 2, 2021
Good story

Urban fantasy harem fade-to-black

Wyatt helps a falsely accused shifter, Sloane, find shelter and confronts the real criminals. But that's two-thirds of the book, as the rest of the story deals with a short side quest before taking on the black ops group trying to capture Sloane for secret experimentation aka torture and possible vivisection.

The tale was good with the shifters and images coming to the rescue again, but oddly, while military shifters are regularly mentioned they are strangely absent, even during a meeting with the President, or when breaking into a rogue black ops site on US soil.

It's a fact that the military dislikes its specialty units. Snipers were an important part of infantry operations in WW2, and yet right the war, the Army tried to do away with them, had bring them back for Korea, tried to do away with again, and had to bring them back for Vietnam. And each time, sniper training had to start from scratch. It wasn't until the last few decades that snipers have become a respected, discrete, and important unit specialist. Using that stubborn intransigence as an example, it's possible to imagine shifter specialists being treated the same. After all, the Green Berets and later Rangers received a lot of grief before becoming accepted.

The other fantasy is a political one -- a woman from Oregon becoming elected President? Especially without mentioning the Vice President? Unless that person is super charismatic, not going happen for Oregon, Washington, or any north central U.S. state. Name recognition means a lot, and so does political power, like coming a state like California, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, or New York to help sway electoral votes. And being a woman leader is still a political impediment. Having both is a sign it's a fantasy. At least, for now.

Even with all that, it was still an engaging read. Looking forward to book 3.
996 reviews13 followers
June 4, 2021
Another good book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like other reviewers I questioned the title because the rock is not in most of the storyline. That said I do understand that the discovery of the rock Start at the ball rolling on all the current misadventures. Obviously the grand story line is building towards something. We get a little bit of closer in this one. I am curious to see what kind of shifters are MC can make I expect to see by next book. Though the MC does gather a Harem the is no descriptive sex. The MC is very clear with his affactions and preferences but he keeps running into the right type of woman. I enjoy the overall plot. Especially when the shifter start to interface with the government in a positive manner. Obviously there something bigger on the horizon and they had sir been dropped slowly. The writing style in the tone of the book are just fun and enjoyable. Almost all of the characters are Good With the MC being obviously the best in both moral and strength.Definitely a good versus evil Style of confrontation with no ambiguities. The MC has a very clear line And sticks to it. I look forward to the next book I'm rather dismayed that I'll have to wait till fall.
Profile Image for Steve.
1,612 reviews61 followers
October 25, 2021
Ok overall, but the title character didn't play anywhere near enough of a role in the story to rate top billing. I'm also a bit torn on the MC, as I keep seeing him make brutal threats, then not follow through when someone threatens him. Seriously, humiliate a guy in front of his entire family while he explicitly states that he's going to kill you, yet you turn him loose?

I'm not sure what the author is going for here. No, I don't want the MC to kill everyone who looks at him sideways, but there is a time and a place where lethal force is the logical move. All of the above adds up and leads to the mediocre review I've given it. Overall, this story seems like it wasn't fully baked before it was released.

Someone made a point about the fact that all of the impressive characters other than the MC were women, the men being quite lame or ineffective. Good point, and something that irked me while reading it. Making strong characters shouldn't be restricted to any one sex, race, etc., and overcompensating in one direction ruins the balance of the book.



Profile Image for Christopher Daly.
77 reviews8 followers
December 31, 2021
Great potential derailed by politics

The first story set up a great potential urban fantasy series but this instalment derailed all of that with partisan politics. To further the problem the subject is treated with all the nuance of a brick to the face. Democrats are treated as inherently good and republicans, in addition to the US military, are treated as inherently evil/racist and working against the citizens. I'm British and even I found it disgracefully biased. I read fiction to get away from political arguments, not be a captive audience for the authors own rants.
593 reviews21 followers
July 5, 2021
I've read everything written by this author and this was his most disappointing story ever. The excessive number of extremely strong and a bit overbearing women he surrounds himself with, harem or not, was quite a bit ridiculous. I'm a woman and all for being whomever you want to be, but come on. Where are all the men besides the MC that are actually manly men. They made the females so overwhelmingly scary that grown men, no matter their status, kept literally shitting their pants. Women can be strong, yes, but they shouldn't have testosterone. I also was tired of hearing the MC always referring to his ladies. I enjoyed much about this, but had many irritations as well.
1,084 reviews
June 3, 2021
Ok

This was just ok. I’m not sure if there was any character growth. New characters were introduced but we never saw any interaction. You in don’t get any insights into Wyatt and his harem beyond the somewhat pointless cooking scene. Lots of loose ends in the narrative.
Profile Image for Sydney.
1,339 reviews67 followers
May 3, 2022
4 If We Wrapped The 82nd Airborne Around Her Stars

Roc is the second book in The Primogenitor Sga by Robert M. Kerns.

Kerns did a fantastic job of filling all of the plotholes previously mentioned, in my review of Smilodon. Primarily, that of the relationship and guidelines facilitating the connection between the US government and the Shifter Council or Magi's. As well, we learned infinitely more about the shifter population as a whole. Mostly comprising information regarding the mating rituals and functions of the Alpha. I believe Wyatt's (unwanted) appointment as the Consul of the North American Shifters will go a long way in further bridging this gap of knowledge. Much in the same way it will help strengthen the future working relationships between Shifters, Magi, and the US at large.

Moira MacCallan is a mystery I hope is touched on sooner rather than later. (Hint hint Author.) I find myself lending most of my consideration for this book towards how many gaps in the US' operations have nearly led to a fallout or war with multiple factions of the supernatural community. And, if we can come to expect more of these concerns in the future?

I think it's very likely the next book will increase the number of humans that will become Shifters. Wyatt was the only one in the first book, three presented themselves in this sequel, and I already know of at least one (possibly two) that are practically guaranteed in book three.

Merlin definitely has more surprises in store for us. Possibly having to do with his/Vicki's staff. Made glaringly obvious with how many extremely detailed paragraphs went into explaining the staffs 'hunger'.. As well, more than likely it will touch on the Progenitors. Merlin made some very vague remarks pertaining to Wyatt's coming into power, and Wyatt advanced fairly far in his understanding of his other side to lead to the belief that (other than the series title itself) made obvious how important this rare class of shifter will be in quite literally shifting their community into a necessary change.

Oh, and Karleen's family can stuff it.
239 reviews
October 21, 2021
After a decent first book, this one feels disappointing. I went ahead and rounded this book up to 3 stars though I'm not sure it deserved it. You may have expected a book titled Roc to have the main storyline include the Roc but that wasn't to be.

From the end of the first book to the end of this book main character goes from a fairly humble, level-headed guy to a complete arrogant butthead and the characters around him continue to "fawn" (pun intended) over him in spite of the fact that he is becoming everything he said he never wanted to be from the beginning.

The MC is definitely feels like he is moving the direction to become the villain. His arrogance is growing fast, his reaction to any type of slight is to threated/attack and now is railroading a man whose only crime is poaching and not knowing the truth (purposely hidden by magic world) of the world and the MC is even threatening to murder a man when his only mistake was daring his friend to do something stupid (poaching).

The harem part of the book was not necessary and is starting to get a little cringe worthy. The constant referral to "my ladies" was tiring.



Profile Image for Garry Whitmore.
294 reviews4 followers
February 9, 2022
A good continuation from the prior volume, continuing the growth of the primary character among his unusual community. The author continues to build up the story and world in an interesting way. Without giving spoilers I can't say more, but I understand the frustration of some reviewers as it is all left rather open-ended as clearly an enticement to get the next book in the series.

A couple of small weaknesses which from my aspect stopped it from getting a 5-star rating. First the character the book is named after sort of disappears mid-story, and secondly the use again of the secret black ops organisation within the US government which I'm finding to be a bit overused in the genre in general. At least the majority of the US government is shown not to be total twerps for once. Alas, this may be just a reflection of the real world.

Still, it was an enjoyable read, which I finished fairly quickly, and made me want to read the next volume. Congratulations to the author for creating such an enthraling and involving world.
127 reviews
June 2, 2021
The Story Continues..

Contrary to the title and blurb, this book is a continuation of book one with more great slice of life with our Smilodon mc mixed with some shifter action. The blurb does highlight the weirdest thing in this book though, there are a lot of diversions, 4th wall breaking flags, main events that turn out to be side tracks, characters that pop in and fall off fast as well as emotional changes in them flying out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly that it’s a little jarring at times and hard to know what to focus on or get too invested. All in all though, I really liked this addition to the saga and can’t wait to see where it develops next.
447 reviews12 followers
August 25, 2021
A entertaining urban fantasy

The story continues and for me it does not disappoint. I like the way the story flows and the things that happen it gives a lot of entertainment value for me. The characters continue to evolve and I like the way they interact with each other. And there is romance in it but the bedroom seems fade to Black so it is somewhat safe for those who do not wish to read erotica. For me I plan on buying the next clip when it comes out enjoyed myself and can't wait to read what happens next.
6 reviews
June 3, 2021
Great! The story continues...

Excellent follow-up to Roc. Kearns writing is a delight and the story continues to twist and turn rather satisfyingly. The shift from first to third person for multiple POVs still bothers me every now and then, but I found enough entertainment from the characters and plot to not let it be too distracting.
Profile Image for Todd.
2,225 reviews8 followers
June 10, 2021
The only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the harem aspect. Other than that, a good story. Another child abduction is featured. And the title character, the Roc is a very minor participant of the book.
One interesting thing that comes up, none of the shifters until this book have a man beast crossover form
Profile Image for Jonathan.
129 reviews4 followers
October 23, 2022
Like…

…the first book, this one is full of action, adventure, and romance. I enjoyed the initial offering and the author’s writing. There are spots where everything just comes to a neat little solution too easy for my taste (thus the 4 stars instead of 5) but I’m just being nit picky probably.

This book is full of humanity despite the subject matter and made reading fun.
Profile Image for Cleo A. Hanson.
179 reviews3 followers
June 1, 2021
Wow! And I thought the first book was exciting

Of all the books I have read, these two books truly surprised me. Usually I figure out the characters and what will happen. This series is definitely worth reading. Looking forward to the next book.
77 reviews1 follower
June 3, 2021
Awesome book can’t wait for more

Can’t wait for more to find out all the unfinished things in this one and whatever comes next. The book was great likely going to reread the other two books in the series and this one soon loved it and gotta make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Profile Image for Daniel.
25 reviews
June 3, 2021
Great sequel to a great story.

I really enjoy this series and am looking forward to the 3rd installment.
This second book was a little different from the 1st but still enjoyable. Thanks.
905 reviews3 followers
June 3, 2021
Fun Story

I enjoyed this book immensely! I started and it grabbed me and held onto me until 02:40, when my Kindle died and I went to bed. I can give no better recommendations for a book that compels you to stay up late into the night and read!!
Profile Image for Michael Wooten.
371 reviews12 followers
June 7, 2021
Second verse better than the first

This is a new take on shifters. And we did not even need to include vampires or have sparkling vampires. Action a plenty. And a story that seems to keep getting better. Now to wait for three
68 reviews1 follower
June 10, 2021
GOOD STUFF

Another Great installment from a great author. He doesnt write bad stuff so take your pick from any series. Not a particlarly eloquent testimonial I know but its simple truth.
71 reviews
June 15, 2021
Interesting

This Is a different kind of novel for me While I love science fiction I've never Been into fantasy but this book is fabulous it has great characters And well-developed plots I recommend it to anyone Who loves a good story
36 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2021
Another great book

Smilodon was great. Finished it in 2 days as I couldn’t put it down. Roc was just as good. The story was engaging, exciting, and Robert does a great job of making you want more. My only complaint is I now have to wait until September for the next book.
Profile Image for Paps.
562 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2021
Good continuation for the series, we get shown more of the political relationship between the humans and the others beigns out there, and we can see Wyatt come into his role as leader easier after his transition. If it wasn't for the cliff at the end this book would have been perfect.
374 reviews3 followers
August 12, 2021
Entertaining book

This was a good continuation of the series. The MC is developing as a alpha and shaper. I like that there is effort to deal with the more mundane aspects of life for these characters rather than just do nonstop action.
36 reviews
August 28, 2021
The second book is great

The author continues to knock it out of the park.This book keeps you turning the pages continuing to wonder what is going to happen next well worth the time to read and enjoy.
301 reviews2 followers
September 5, 2021
I found this another very entertaing episode in the Primogenitor series. The MC is a can do sort of a guy who gets things done. There a number of parallels to other similar series i've read but Robert has introduced enough difference to keep it interesting. Looking forward to consulate at the end of the month.
104 reviews
June 22, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed…

Reading this book and all the twists and turns. An entertaining and well written book sprinkled through with humor and wit.

A recommended easy read for an afternoon of R&R.
538 reviews3 followers
June 1, 2021
Nice sequel

I love the author other series, while this is my least favorite I'm still happy to buy it since author no longer KU
116 reviews
June 2, 2021
Great read

Love this one. Took my time reading it. It's fun watching a new shifter come into his own, fielding surprise after surprise. Can't wait to see what's next.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.