Monday, August 25, 2008

Wholly Good Book -Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco


For the action adventure fan out there, this one's for you. Religious terrorists, power hungry and ruthless technocrats, post-apocolyptic culture and society - its all in there. This is Silence of the Lambs versus Jim Jones and everybody stands to lose if our mild-mannered hero doesn't save the day.
SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!



My only problem with this book that at the height of the clash, it ended. No resolution, no idea of the fate of the characters, no justice meted out. Can you say "Sequel"? I have stated before that I generally loathe series work, and this is a classic example of why. This isn't a series of building climaxes and accompanying denouments, its one long story broken up into seperate books. Its a dad-gummed soap opera. I HATE that. Why would you do that to your readers? Its like selling somebody junk bonds and skipping out when the market goes bad. I shall have to write to the author and ask him when to expect the rest of the story.

Otherwise, it is a well-written, captivating story with shoot 'em ups, showdowns, intrigue, full-out combat, and a little romance thrown in to spice things up. The bad guys (and there's a bunch of 'em) hate each other more than they want to rule the world (rather one is in the way of the other) and the interplay there is fascinating. It reads almost like a Robert Ludlum novel, accept the hero is a true innocent but fully cognizant of his past and the players affecting his future. Its good reading - not great - but darned good.

I probably would have given this 4 stars, but that ending just ruined the 4 stars for me. Its still worth reading just for the authors take on future technology, but if you want the whole story, you're probably going to have to buy (borrow, steal) another book.

No comments: