Summary: In post-apocalyptic America, two orphaned children raised as sharecroppers live together in a fragile, farm home. Michael Gilliganson Jr, the son of the world’s greatest mercenary, Mopy, acts as the sole guardian of his little sister, Nya, after the death of their parents. But when the NeoMen (humanoid dinosaurs) invaded their small town, they take Nya hostage. Michael, who must now live up to his parent’s legacy as the legendary Sky-Titan to save his sister, is gifted with his father’s Badge of Alpha, a blue and yellow, badge-like device that gives him the ability to transform into the therianthropic god, Alpha to fight against the emergence of the tyrannical dinosaur dominated empire led by the evil King Mungfalme. He then joins forces with legendary werewolf hunter, Val Helsing (now known as Pappy), Jullian the Iota Eagle, the Vendor, Mr. Dalton, The Duke of Washington, and newcomer Samantha as they fight against the Dinosaurs to save and protect mankind from the brink of annihilation.
Note: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The book opens with Michael and Nya Gilliganson living on a farm in post-apocalyptic America. They are orphans, so Michael cares for his younger sister. They go about their lives in seemingly normal fashion for the time period, but it’s clear that they are just trying to mind their own business and survive. While at the market one day to get produce, they meet a young boy named Thames, who is also an orphan. They take him home. That’s when things start to get interesting.
Thames is not an ordinary boy, which we find out when Michael drops Nya and him off at the schoolhouse one day. Thames and Nya quickly develop a close bond, and Thames is fiercely protective of Nya. When a bully picks on them at school, chaos ensures. Things unravel, and what was once a benign relationship turns complex, even sour. Thames is not who he appears.
Meanwhile, back home, Michael makes a discovery that will change his life. He finds the Badge of Alpha, which gives him immense power. He is the son of two legendary Sky-Titans, who battled the Neomen (dinosaur-men who invaded Earth and took over). An intense battle plays out right after he gains power from the badge, and not even understanding what’s happening, Michael is joined by the fruit vendor from the marketplace (Pappy). They fight some demonic creatures, who seemingly appear out of nowhere and are looking for the badge.
Not only do we get the story of Michael and Nya, but we also read about the Neomen through a letter that one of them, General Yalen, is composing to King Mungfalme. Yalen begins having reservations about how the Neomen are treating (more like mistreating) humans. He befriends a human named Samantha, who is one of the prisoners on the ship he’s on. His hostility toward the Earl who is in charge on the ship grows daily.
There are many exciting action sequences in this story, which read quickly and keep the reader engaged, although some of the scenes are hard to follow because there is perhaps too much going on in just a few pages. This book is anything but boring, but it is filled with typos, grammatical errors, tense changes, and punctuation problems, which make the reading clunky. I am unsure if this novel was edited at all, but it doesn’t appear to be. If it went through an edit, I believe the story would read much easier and flow better.
The characters are all interesting, and their different voices are clear. However, the constant change of point of view reads odd. I feel that this story would work better told in third person instead of the switching first person views.
There are some lovely passages, showing a clear sense that the author has the ability to write beautifully, but then there are several sentences that read unevenly, repeat the same word, or have extraneous words in them. Again, if edited, I believe this would clean up much of this and help tell the story better.
The content of the story is solid and good, but due to the level of other issues mentioned above, I didn’t feel I could enjoy it as much. I also admit that fantasy is not a genre I read much, so while I am sure others may enjoy this type of story more, I found it good but not great. It was an easy book for entertainment, yet I didn’t feel fully invested in the characters enough to care what happened or feel for them.
3 out of 5 stars
Favorite quote: “Just before I ran to this discarded hill, I heard voices, a melancholy rainbow of voices pouring into my head like a raging waterfall.”
Buy this book on Amazon:
The Son of Alpha (The Legend of the Sky-Titans Book 1)
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