Book Review - "El Sombra" by Al Ewing

El Sombra

By Al Ewing

The Story

The terrifying Luftwaffe, on their steam-driven wings, have torn apart the sleepy town of Pasito in the heart of Mexico, only to rebuild it as a terrifying clockwork-town where the people become human robots, furthering the nightmare dreams of the Fuhrer.

General Eisenberg and his sociopathic son Alexis control this paradise of horrors. But they are unprepared for the return of a man the desert claimed nine long years ago, a man who has returned from the doors of death and the depths of madness to bring his terrible fury upon their world. With the slash of a sword and a laugh that lights up the night, the man in the bloodstained mask cuts his way through the hopeless, endless routines of the clockwork men to bring new hope to the people. He defies death! He defies man! No trap can hold the masked daredevil, the saint of ghosts men know as El Sombra! – Abaddon Press

The Deal

This is another novel in the Pax Britannia series. This series is based on modern day timeline however the British Empire is the reigning government. Technology is Steampunk based, which apparently steam can power spacecraft and micro circuitry. Nazis, Mexico, Steampunk, and high action, this book has a lot packed into its covers.

The Bottom Line

I must be honest here; this is not my type of literature. I do like alternate reality, but fantasy alternate reality is beyond me. This has Nazis flying around in flapping winged steampunk backpacks. Rocket fueled jetpacks, yes. Flapping wings, no. I can’t get into storylines where steampunk equals magic.

Nevertheless, I am going to give this a PASS. Pass this book on by and look for some other titles from Abaddon Press.

Book Review - "Kill or Cure" by Rebecca Levene

Kill or Cure

By Rebecca Levene

The Story
Jasmine has spent five years underground, locked in a secret government bunker with no one but the skeletons of her dead colleagues for company. Outside, the world has gone to hell, a mysterious virus killing all but 1 in 20 of the world’s population.

It’s enough to drive anyone mad – but Jasmine’s crazier than most. The cure she was working on had an unexpected side effect, psychotic symptoms which only the most powerful drugs can suppress. Jasmine’s rescuers, the pirate rulers of the New Caribbean, don’t care. They need Jasmine’s help to discover what it is that has turned the inhabitants of Cuba into rabid killers. Jasmine’s quest to find a cure for this new plague, as well as for her own barely suppressed madness, draws her across the fractured continent of America and in to the darkest recesses of her own past. – Abaddon Press


The Deal

We have a scientist who is living a messed up, drugged out life. Alone in a caved in underground facility, with a lifetime supply of food and morphine, she waits for someone to come along. Then somebody does. She is then spirited away and forced to detoxify on an ocean liner turned into a floating fortress. There she must work on the cure to the virus, that she created years ago, that turns the living into the walking dead or worse.

The Afterblight Chronicles, which this is a book in that series, is about life after a virus attacks mankind that quickly kills earth’s population. Only people with O negative blood type are spared, however they are not “safe” by a long shot.


The Bottom Line

I loved this book. If had an award to give out for the “2007 Best Post-Apocalyptic Story” this would have received it. This book had many tough storylines: isolationism, drug addiction, horror, and sci fi elements. Think the Resident Evil movies, but much better.

Of course, I am going to say this is a BUY. It’s a buy and read more than once. One of the very few stories that I can say I read cover to cover in a couple days.

Best Quote

“I can help you,” the Voice in my head said “I’m the only thing that can.”