Book: **
Performance: ****

An Apocalyptic Military Fantasy

What happens if 7 of the most critical metals suddenly “rust” into nothing but “ash?” It was an interesting premise and the author infers that the story is based upon actual science … so let get this out of the way up front. The science doesn’t work like that; but it is the details of the science that trip up the plot, so it was relatively easy to give it a pass. What remains is a fairly decent military fantasy as the MC drives the almost non-stop action toward overcoming the contagion unleashed by a bioterrorist looking to “reset” humanity. The the primary plot is to figure out what the disease actually are (with a few head fakes thrown in) and then engineer a solution to save a world that has already burned down around them? Don't think about that too hard, you'll get a cramp. There is of course the requisite “hot” female spec ops character that drives this rather typical male fantasy, along with a few supporting characters to make this a character driven story … which also means we get a fair amount of navel gazing by the MC … but not enough to actually derail the fun. Unfortunately for me the low brow humor and 'good ole boy' euphemisms does get a bit old by the end. Still, with 14 hours of near nonstop action it’s worth a listen.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Metal #FreeAudiobookCodes

Intriguing premise in the hands of a fantastic writer

You should stop what you're doing and just buy this book. Okay, if you must read the rest of my review, here goes:

Most of the metal in the world is rusting because of some science experiment gone amok (with help from a rogue scientist). The premise alone was enough to peel my fingers off of my smartphone and wrap them around my kindle. But then the author has to go and execute this story with steady pacing and skillful, hilarious writing. The characters he's drawn up almost made me do some spit takes. I had to stop drinking while I read it.

Lines I found memorable:
-"...he picked up his carbon-fiber backpack with a grunt that would have done his father proud... 'Real men grunt. Getting things done requires hard work.'"
-"A question ate its way out of his brain like a rat infestation escaping a sinking ship."
-"No time for nursing at the teat of pain, lieutenant."
-"Remember this moment, Wall. This is the time and place where your definition of can't changed."
-"'Sorry,' he said with a nickel of embarrassment, a quarter of annoyance at her, and a silver dollar of frustration with his knee."
-"Her slender face, high cheekbones, thin lips, and pointy chin tickled his caveman claim a woman for himself instincts."
-"Don't worry about him, though. The world will end with that guy eating the last cockroach."
-"she was under combustion-engine-level pressure and couldn't be expected to maintain social niceties."
-"After he recovered from the butt-puckering fall..."
-"What in the bona fide nut-sack of hell are you doing?"
-"He wouldn't ever admit that anything was better than sex, but if there was, it would be smoked beef." (the main character loves jerky)
-"Are you single by design, or are you the toad waiting for your princess?"
-"Me? Oh, I'm like a 50-cal machine gun, three thousand soldiers per second trying to get into my chamber..."

Okay, that seems like a lot of memorable lines, but truthfully, my kindle has 3 pages of bookmarked parts like this. I included only half! And the author's imagining of what a world mostly without metal gave me chills in ways zombie stories never could. If you have even the slightest interest in sci-fi, try this book. This is the second book I've read by this author, and I see more of his titles in my future (but hopefully the metal doesn't rust away in real life, because I need my kindle to keep working)