Review: 7 Scorpions: Rebellion by Mike Saxton

7 Scorpions: Rebellion (Book 1)
by Mike Saxton
Release Date: May 13, 2010
2010 Eloquent Books
E-Book Edition; 450 Pages
ISBN: 978-1609112868
Genre: Science-Fiction
Source: Review Copy from

5 / 5 Stars

Summary
On May 7th, the mysterious dictator known only as the Zodiac unleashed an event called the Flash Storm, destroying every major city and military base across the world in one moment. No one saw it coming. There was no warning. There was no terrorist chatter. Hundreds of millions perished almost instantly. Humanity across the globe was plunged into chaos. In the days that followed, the enigmatic and frightening Seekers marched on the remnants of humanity, systematically enslaving or destroying everyone in their path.


All attempts to stand up to Zodiac's Grand Army failed. His Seekers, who radiate a mysterious aura that induces intense fear were virtually unbeatable. It seemed as though the prophecies of the End of Days were coming to pass until the day came that a glimmer of hope arose in the form of an exile who had been part of a super soldier experiment. It is up to this man, Vincent Black, to rally a resistance to free humanity from the grips of oblivion, if he can let go of his past.

My Thoughts
7 Scorpions: Rebellion is a novel that gripped me from the very beginning and I was captivated by both the story as well as by the struggles of the characters, both good and evil.  Set in a post-apocalyptic world brought about by a man known only as the Zodiac, it's a novel full of suspense, intrigue, action, adventure, technology, and human suffering.  What is really scary and frightening about this novel is the possibility that it could really happen; the reality of it hits pretty close to home.

What I find really interesting about this novel is that there is nothing really cliched about it.  While there is really nothing new to the idea of a post-apocalyptic Earth, the author takes the events and makes them wholly his in the sense that there is so much originality in this novel that it makes you feel that you are reading something fresh and new.  Take the lead character for instance, Vincent, also known as the Night Viper, a super-soldier who people treat as their saviour.  While at first he appears to be the cliched character, a man who is dark and mysterious and cold to others, as the novel progresses, he is anything but.  With flashes of humour and humanity, he has his ups and downs like everyone else and as we learn more about his story, we learn about his personality, and how he became who he is, and we feel his emotions and his pain.  To be honest, this is one of the strengths of this novel as we learn everything through the eyes of all of the characters and we feel their emotions; it helps the reader to connect with the characters on a level that I don't think would be possible in a novel such a this. 

I say we connect with all of the characters because Mr. Saxton includes ALL of the characters in this fascinating writing tool he uses.  This means that we learn things through the eyes of the enemy as well and learn their personal stories as well which means the reader also develops a connection with characters we would classify as enemies;  now that connection may contain anger and fear as mine did towards the Zodiac and towards Jade, even when I learned about her horrible story of abuse she suffered at the hands of the baseball team, but Mr. Saxton doesn't hold back on the graphic side of the violence either and there were times when I could feel myself shuddering and wincing through some of the scenes.  I have to tell you I have to give credit to someone who can me feel sympathy towards someone who inflicted terrible punishments on other people.

This novel was somewhat frightening because the world we know today is completely gone, destroyed.  The characters have to live with what is left and I couldn't imagine myself living in that type of world.  There is one interesting comment that one character makes: Josh tells another characters that he was really naive when he used to wish to live in a post-apocalyptic world and he used to wish that all of the governments would disappear.  He goes on to say that you should never make wishes on something you would never want to happen as now he has his wish and he would like nothing better than to go back to the way it was.  This novel is downright scary as the author holds nothing back.  The characters are put in multiple situations where they are in extreme danger and people all around them are killed in horrible ways, including children.  There is starvation, little water, no electricity, little food, and people are fighting to survive.  Then you have the Seekers, lobotamized killers who scare the willies out of me, as well as technological advances and weaponry that I hope never to see.  The Dozer just scares me to death thinking that something like that could exist, and I'm sure we have the technology for something like that somewhere in the world today. 

Verdict
7 Scorpions: Rebellion was a fantastic novel and I had a difficult time putting it down.  I was pleasantly surprised how much development there was in the characters as I usually find a novel like this tends to spend too much time on the events and the plotline and ignores the characters, but this is definitely not the case.  The novel fits together beautifully and it is definitely a warning to us that we need to heed, at least that's how I took it anyways.  There was plenty of action, adventure, and even the hint of some romance developments.  I am definitely looking forward to the release of 7 Scorpions: Revolution as there are many undeveloped plot threads that need some conclusion or at least, development in order to satisfy a reader that couldn't get enough of this science-fiction novel.