Zodiac stood in his empty tower room, overlooking his massive Ziggurat. The solar panels glistened in the sunlight. Not all of them were connected yet, but it was getting there. With his helmet still removed, he took a moment to glance to his side where the body of Ty Wolrick lay. The man had sandy colored hair. He’d been thin, but toned. His final expression of complete dread was frozen on his face, eyes still open and dried blood trails from his nose and ears wrapped up the eerie package. He had not yet called the seekers into dispose of the body. Instead, he looked back through the window, and his mind trailed back to his childhood…
As the school bus came to a stop, the Fat-boy…
This is the second book in Mike Saxton’s 7 Scorpion’s series, and just as scary and horrific as the first, but also different from the first.
If you remember in the first novel, Zodiac set off a fire storm through out the world, setting off bombs that leveled cities and killing millions…all on the same day! The first book was riddled with mass killings of people, while others were lobotomized to become Seekers; those that would hunt down the living and be rid of them for good, or to be captured to make more Seekers.
Of course, there has to be a good guy. That would be Night Viper…or rather, Vincent Black. He has super-human strength, and is out to find Zodiac. He has the help of some of the few humans that managed to survive the fire storm. Although not used to bonding, he considers them friends…even from a distance, and will help them in any way he can to keep them alive.
In this book, I found it differed from the first in that the author showed us how each character had become the way they were, giving us memories of when they had been children, or something from their past…an event in their lives that made them who they had become. Life shapes us from our childhoods onward, and if we had a crappy childhood, sometimes you take that with you. Zodiac was taunted as a child, therefore, when he became an adult, he held that grudge. Except that he took his rebellion a little too far.
Night Viper himself had done things that he wasn’t proud of. Those memories tormented him. But for him, those things had to be done to get him that much closer to Zodiac.
A tingle traveled down Vincent’s spine as he saw the sign that read, “Welcome to Manchester”. The last time he had come to this town was the same day he had met Talbot, Andromeda, Josh and Lexi. He had come to verify that the life he had known, the life prior to becoming the vigilante Night Viper, was truly dead.
Although a loner at heart, Vincent has formed relationships and friendships with the rebels that he has met. He’s helped them, kept them safe, and has realized that there is more to this life than just killing Zodiac (although that is priority number one).
The general was on his feet again in time to see Amanda charging at him. She was not backing off. She tackled him to the floor again with a momentum that sent them both rolling. He managed to maneuver himself on top and pinned her arms.
“You fight with a passion I never saw in you before. Think about what you could have done with us. You would be seated beside the true ruler. You would have ultimate power,” Callous said.
Amanda grunted. “You think you have power? You’re nothing more than his puppet! We all were.”
Callous shook his head as he leaned closer. “So short sighted, and here I thought you had the worldliest view of all the commanders.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, ” Amanda stated as she delivered a head butt to her opponent’s unprotected face, shattering his nose and sending him recoiling off her.
But wait!!! There’s a surprise at the end, one that I wasn’t expecting. I can’t tell you what it is, but you will see how it will lead into the third book. Vincent finds out something about himself, something so horrific, that even he has a hard time believing it.
This trilogy series is a scary one in that it actually could happen, but this one had a bit more emotion to it…teamwork grew into friendships and friendships grew into relationships. Yes, the death and killings continue, and will likely not let up until Zodiac is killed in the third book (let’s hope he’s killed, anyway), but this book showed a different side. A side with some hope attached.
Saxton’s use of the written word seemed different this time from the first novel. Just by reading it, it’s like the author grew in his own writing. Although this series scares me half to death because, as I mentioned, this sort of thing could happen, I actually enjoyed this novel, I think because of the growing relationships and friendships.
I give this book 5 stars!
Look for an upcoming interview with Mike Saxton in the near future right here at reviews and promotions!
Beth's Reviews And Promotions 