About the Book:
Eternal life. Eternal battle.Steve—Diomedes Tydides to his Trojan War buddies—just had a bad day on his charter fishing boat in San Diego, but when the goddess Athena calls on her faithful warrior for another secret mission, he’s ready. The bomb that exploded inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn’t the crime American authorities think it is. Someone also stole the Cup of Jamshid, and Diomedes knows its fortune-telling abilities won’t be used for anything benign.
Though Diomedes recovers the Cup from a determined shaman holed up beneath Central Park, when he finds his allies slain and the Cup taken once more, he knows he’s up against a truly powerful enemy. Over a millennium has passed since Diomedes last contended with Medea of Colchis, deranged wife of Jason the Argonaut, but neither her madness nor her devotion to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, has waned, and she intends to use the Cup of Jamshid to release across the world a dark brand of chaos unseen in human history.
Immortal since the Trojan War, Diomedes must once again fight for mortals he understands less and less, against a divine evil he may never truly defeat.
My Thoughts:
Having never heard of this prior to seeing it come up for a blog tour, I went into it with no expectations, and I have to say that it was freaking fantastic!!
This started with a bang, literally! When a suicide bomber bombs a museum, Diomedes Tydides aka, Steve is sent in to investigate by Athena (yes that Athena). He realises that the bomb was a distraction for a robbery of an ancient and powerful cup. It's up to him to find out who's behind the theft and what they want the cup for.
Let's start with Steve. He is an ancient warrior, from the Trojan War times, whom Athena made immortal. He is her warrior and protector of innocents. He is the longest and best serving warrior Athena has ever had. I absolutely adored his character!!! Despite being an immortal, he was surprisingly human. He was strong, brave, tough, loyal and charming. His job is to protect humans from things they don't know exist, and he takes it seriously. When he meets Sarah, a detective who is investigating the bombing, he is in turmoil because of the feelings he is developing. He knows he can't drag her into this life but with the feelings he is developing, it's hard. I loved seeing both of their interactions and even the feelings developing between them. I so hope we get more from these characters because I want to see what happens!!
The world the author created was fantastic, mythology mixed with the modern world. We have magic, mythology, jinn, ifrits, witches, faeries and a large number of creatures all rolled into one compelling read. I loved the sheer number of creatures and beings involved in the story. We also have Greek gods and Titans!!! There is so much happening in the book that it's impossible to put down. So much awesomeness!!!!
In all this was a fast paced and gripping read. At times laugh out loud funny, and at other's edge of your seat tense, Havoc Rising is a must read. I loved everything about this and really want to see more from this universe. Highly recommend!!
About the Author:
Brian S. Leon is truly a jack of all trades and a master of none. He writes just to do something with all the useless degrees and skills he’s accumulated over the years. Most of them have no practical application in civilized society, anyway. His interests include mythology and fishing, in pursuit of which he has explored jungles and museums, oceans and seas all over the world.
His credentials include an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and a master’s degree from San Diego State University, plus extensive postgraduate work in evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied animals most people aren’t even aware exist and theories no one really cares about anyway.
Over his varied career, Brian’s articles have been published in academic journals and popular magazines that most normal people would never read. They can be found in The American Society of Primatologists, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Proceedings of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the like.
His more mainstream work came as an editor for Marlin and FlyFishing in Salt Waters magazines, where he published articles about fishing and fishing techniques around the world. He won a Charlie Award in 2004 from the Florida Magazine Association for Best Editorial, and several of his photographs have appeared on a number of magazine covers—almost an achievement of note, if they weren’t all fishing magazines.
Always a picky reader, Mr. Leon enjoys stories by classical masters like Homer and Jules Verne as well as modern writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, David Morrell and Jim Butcher. These books, in combination with an inordinate amount of free time, inspired him to come up with tales of his own.
Brian currently resides in San Diego, California.
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GIVEAWAY:
One (1) $25 Amazon gift card
Two (2) Amazon gift cards
Open Worldwide
Ends Oct. 21, 2015
Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible.
YAY! I'm so glad you loved this! Thank you so much for giving it a try and reviewing it for the blog tour!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I gave it a go myself. It was so so good!!!
DeleteI love books that incorporate mythical deities in them! This looks like an awesome read!
ReplyDeleteMe too!! You should definitely give this a go because it's awesome.
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