A Question of Will

Book One of the Aliomenti Saga

THE BLURB:

They murdered his wife and son. They burned down his house. They beat him within an inch of his life.

And then they realized they had the wrong man.

They should have killed him when they had the chance.

Will Stark is a thirty-five-year-old self-made billionaire. He's happily married and father to a young son he adores. He's well-loved in his community for his philanthropic efforts. He lives in a beautiful home inside a private, secure community designed to provide safety for his family from those who would do them harm.

His idyllic world is shattered when, despite his best efforts, men storm his community, murder his family in their home, and burn his house down. In his efforts to rush to the aid of those he loves, Will is seized, beaten, and nearly killed.

And as it's happening, the men who've attacked him realize they've mistaken him for someone else.

Will's rescue from certain death brings him into the midst of a battle between two factions of a secret society, one in which members learn the secrets of developing superhuman abilities. And it's a battle in which a man named Will Stark has been the focal point. Will seizes the opportunity to learn these secrets, and battle those who destroyed his family. His own rapid development, however, means he may become a target for attack of his own accord.

As he builds his new life, however, Will is faced with a critical decision. Will he use his new abilities to seek out vengeance? Or will he risk everything he has to save those he holds most dear?

MY THOUGHTS:

The story in this book is a sort of thriller with heavy science fiction and fantasy elements. There is a nefarious organization of people with special powers, plus a rebel group that broke away from the others and works in the best interests of the plain old humans. A man and his family get unsuspectingly tangled up in all that business. A dash of time travel spices things up.

The author has some good ideas and a degree of talent with the written word (although he is rather fond of some cliche phrases), but has yet to learn how to string it all together into a cohesive novel in a way that works.

The book would tell the same piece of information over and over again as we read from different character points of view. I understand that one person is just learning of it, but since the reader already knows, you have to find a better way than just repeating the same things to us. And then again. And again. This was especially tiresome when the entire first scene was repeated from different perspectives at least 4 times. 15% through the book and we were still reading about the same sequence of events, again and again. I struggled to keep reading at that point.

(Only now do I realize the author's long-winded blurb for the book does the EXACT same thing - Will is attacked, his family killed, his house burned, but he's not even the man his attackers were after. Insert some descriptions of Will, and then tell us AGAIN that he was attacked, his family killed, his house burned, but - gasp! - he's the wrong man! Still...Again. Oy.)

I developed no connection to any of the characters, and found some of the characterization laughable.

As I said, though, the author has some good ideas, he just needs some more experience on how to piece the story together in a more compelling way. 

MY RATING:

2 booksies

Author's website: http://www.alexalbrinck.com/

There are currently six books in the Aliomenti Saga, and this first installment is available to download as an ebook for free at most major retailers.

Find it for free on Amazon