Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Jericho Solus: A Great Book



Today it's my turn to host the Jericho Solus Blog Tour as stop #3.

“They watch me—the feeling as acute as a sharp, cold blade against my skin. I may have lived an ordinary existence, but I can fight. Though my memory is like a beast cowering in the shadows, I know in my core I can fight, as if it’s what I’m wired to do.Her breaths echo in my dark cell. Is she real? She fills my emptiness with heat, and God help the people that harm her. I am the Solus. My name is Jericho, and killing is what I do best.”

Jericho’s captivity begins a journey to a forgotten past, forgotten comrades, and forgotten love. His remembrance pulls him back in time to reveal an unexpected metamorphosis to his current state. As memories move Jericho back through history, his captors propel him forward into a surreal world, until both time lines combine to expose who and what Jericho is.


And now, for my review. I want to begin by assuring you that my review is not influenced by my personal or business relationship with Jeff. I was lucky enough to read Jericho Solus as Jeff was writing it, for critiquing and editing. I'm already a fan of Jeff's other books (The Bounds series) but I really love this one. I could hardly wait for him to send new chapters as he wrote it. Really like the cool cover as well. Here is my honest review:

Jericho Solus grabbed me from the first page. It begins with a young boy asking his grandfather about a legend. The legend is fascinating, and I could probably have read a whole book of just the story of the legend being told. There's a reason for the legend being told, and a reason it is being told to this particular boy. And that's as close to a spoiler as you're going to get from me about that!

From there we jump into Jericho's story. He wakes to find himself in a strange room. Actually, a strange environment would be more accurate. As this part of the story unfolds, I found myself not only intrigued by exactly what was going on and why, and curious about how it was going to play out, but also enthralled by Jericho's dreams that are actually memories being restored to him. It isn't long before the reader figures out that Jericho isn't who--or what--he thinks. I love the idea of being something/someone other than what you completely believe you are.

Jericho Solus is written like a 3-part play. Each part is Jericho's story in a different environment, and as a different entity (though the same, if that makes sense. If not, read the book and it will). The parts are all important to his journey. And they are all part of the legend in some way.

The book is described as speculative fiction. It is that, but it is also fantasy, sci-fi, romance (a legendary romance), and history served up as fascinating fiction. Really, there's something for almost everyone. I highly recommend this book. I can't reiterate enough how much I genuinely love this book. If you have the creativity to suspend your disbelief enough to take the ride, you won't be disappointed.

Here are all the places you can find Jeff and his book.

Jericho Solus Blog

Jeff's Blog

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great review...awesome!

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  2. Been there, read the book, loved it! I'm a huge fan of Jeff's and his novels. He's an incredible talented author. Jericho is by far his best novel.

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