It’s difficult to imagine anyone standing against the Darth-Vader-like Lord Zodiac, at least not for very long. The Flash Bombs he detonated simultaneously in every major city around the globe was an impressive display of his powers, and the fight was over almost before it started. Then, the Seekers took over, Lord Zodiac’s own immense private army of lobotomized humans controlled by a mechanical spider-looking device implanted in their skulls. They feel no pain nor fear, and carry out whatever orders Zodiac and his generals give them. Also, they send out waves of fear towards anyone who dares to resist them, which is a very intimidating deterrent to rebels attempting to form an alliance. Still, pockets of rebels do organize in Connecticut (the setting of the novel). Unfortunately for them, the SATs are controlled by Lord Zodiac, and the satellites are able to pinpoint the rebel bases and eliminate them, one by one. Vincent Black, also known as the Night Viper, is reluctant to talk about his past, and what the government did to him, other than to say: “I’m what happens when the government plays around with things they shouldn’t.” Black had once had cancer, but the governments’ experiments on him got rid of it, besides making him into a super soldier. His eyelid is tattooed with the number 7, The first 6 people the government experimented on didn’t survive, but somehow, Vincent Black did. The project was called Project Scorpion, so after Black escaped, he had a scorpion tattooed around the same eye as a “kind of memorial to the six people I never met who died perfecting a procedure which would save my life.” The fear-inducing waves that Lord Zodiac, his generals, commanders, and Seekers send forth have no effect on Vincent Black. They also have no effect on Alexis Hera, who teams up with him, along with other rebels trying to escape the Seekers and Apocalypse Dozers trying to destroy them. Alexis is a woman who, like Black, had cancer, and had to have an operation on her brain stem to remove a tumor “near the amygdala, a walnut-sized portion of the brain that controls fear.” She is an expert marksman, and has considerable hand-to-hand fighting skills. Other than Vincent, Alexis is the only other person who has ever managed to kill a Seeker commander. The Apocalypse Dozers are one of the cooler weapons of mass destruction at Lord Zodiac’s disposal. They have whirring, spinning blades that destroy everything in their paths, including trees, buildings, vehicles, and people. Lord Zodiac has those under him, like the evil and sadistic Commander Jade, direct the Apocalypse Dozers towards rebel headquarters, which makes short work of them. Then, any survivors are either made into slaves or new Seekers, zombie-like soldiers used to find and annihilate any other rebels foolish enough to go against them. The experiments the government performed on Black left him strong enough to lift a car over his head and throw it, or to leap incredible distances even if he is carrying someone. Many aspects of the novel 7 Scorpions: Rebellion seemed almost to be the stuff of super hero comic books or computer games. I’m a fan of both, so that played into my enjoyment of the novel. Though Black, Alexis, and rebels like the computer techie Josh have some success against Lord Zodiac, I am anxious to read the next novel in the series, 7 Scorpions: Revolution, when it comes out. 7 Scorpions: Rebellion is an exhilarating, high-octane adrenaline rush of a novel that anyone who loves military science fiction owes it to themselves to check out. The unfolding origin tale of Vincent Black was interesting and plausible, though it was reminiscent to movies like Universal Soldier. It was still pretty cool, and Alexis Hera is a good foil for him. For being a human who was not directly involved in Project Scorpion, she is one bad-ass and then some. This is a great start by Mike Saxton, and I hope that the other two novels in his trilogy are as fantastic or more so than this one! Disclosure in Accordance with FTC Guidelines 16 CFR Part 255 http://www.bestsellersworld.com/2010/12/29/7-scorpions-rebellion-by-mike-saxton/7 Scorpions: Rebellion by Mike Saxton
When a tyrannical dictator who calls himself Lord Zodiac makes the world bow down to its knees to him, who can stand against him and his forces’ immense power? How about Vincent Black, a man who represents one of the signs of the zodiac, the scorpion, and who was kidnapped against his will by a government agency and was transformed, becoming super-strong and super- fast? That’s the basic scenario of the edge-of-your-seat, page-turning SF novel, 7 Scorpions: Rebellion, the first in a planned trilogy, by author Mike Saxton.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Author Mike Saxton Does it Again.....
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