I got a little lost in the sea

The Digital Sea by Thomas K. Carpenter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The year is 2052 and everyone is living in a virtual reality. It's not quite like Matrix where no one is actually doing anything. People are viewing the world via virtual reality implants or glasses and the government encourages it by making sure to issue older, base models to even the down people and places so everyone can view themselves and the world however their imagination wishes.

There is concern that the world is becoming over populated. Someone is starting wars all over in order to manage this issue. Jartelle the journalist wants to find out who for his next big story. Zel accepts the challenge of finding out who and stopping them because she is desperate for money to save her daughter. Mekena is caught up in a kidnapping ring while trying to save some boys from being enslaved as soldiers.

While the ideas are interesting—a VR implant which allows you to manipulate your view of the world and also use the internet more readily. But with at least six different characters each in their own scene all operating in a realm called the Digital Sea, sometimes I got lost and couldn't follow the storyline.

Due to some graphic scenes and sexual situations, I would only recommend this to adults.

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Honest vampire hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How much do we really know our history? Could some of the mysteries be explained by … the existence of vampires? Grahame-Smith takes us on an imaginative adventure through Abraham Lincoln's life interweaving sketchy history and filling it in with vampiric fantasy.

The story does get quite bloody and gory, but I still enjoyed it. I already admired Lincoln but then to picture him as a vampire hunter made me like him even more.

Grahame-Smith's story telling style made it hard to put down. This is not for the faint of heart, however.

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A good Christian Military thriller

Congo Dawn by Jeanette Windle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lieutenant Cristina Robin Duncan comes from a military family. She even spent some time as a child in Africa at the embassy which added Swahili and French to her now grown-up resume. Her skill set is in demand as a supposedly humanitarian business group heads into the Congo to deal with rebelling natives that are slowing profitable mining operations.

Doctor Michael Stewart is with Doctors without Borders. He too is heading to the Congo, returning to the mission hospital his grandfather built and Michael and his sister helped rebuild. He is returning to help with the victims of the mining conflicts, the native victims.

When Duncan and Stewart run into each other in Africa, each has flashbacks of being on the same side in Afghanistan. Unfortunately this time these old friends seem to be on opposing sides of the conflict.

It took a few chapters to get into the story and excitement as there is a lot of back story and detail. However, once I did, this book was hard to put down. As a Christian military thriller it can get a little preachy but I think it also deals well with the question “Why does God allow suffering?”

I enjoyed the ride and would recommend this to adults who struggle wit the aforementioned question as well as those who enjoy a clean, exciting read.

I received this book free from the publisher to read and write an honest review.

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