Someone needs to chain Dave Willmarth up and make him write post apocalyptic books all day long. Clearly the impetus of making oodles of money isn’t enough to spur him on or we’d be on Dark Elf 5 and Shadow Sun 7 by now.
The point is that Shadow Sun was not what I was expecting. To be frank, I had thought that it was going to be a story about a boy and his bear wandering through a decimated landscape, sort of like Grizzly Adams meets Slash Maraud (Show those pics here please). FYI Slash is a DC comics mini-series about aliens who take over the earth and slowly wipe out humanity as they convert earth via terraforming into a world not unlike their own. It is a series that was not well loved and did not become a cult classic that was secretly beloved years later, but I LOVED it.
No, what Master Willmarth has done is taken a concept of aliens taking over Earth and putting a new slant on it in which they literally steal earth. Earth is physically moved and given new ground rules for how life is going to be. The MC is a young fella, but he has a good head on his shoulders, and does the best he can whenever he finds himself in a bad situation. His attitude makes him become the leader of a group of refugees who have survived a giant monster attack; which sort of snowballs into bigger leadership roles later.
One thing I will say about Dave is that he isn’t afraid to kill people, which keeps you alert every time a crisis comes up. I will also say that I appreciate the way that A-holes are dealt with. It may not always be quick, but you just know that the jerk is going to get it in the end. As an example, if there is some guy that abused kids, and he was walking through the rain forest in one of Willmarth’s books, then he would most likely get slowly crushed and eaten by an anaconda. Jerk that shoot their mouths off tend to get shot in the mouth, you get the point. DW suffers no fools lightly, and under his pen they pay.
The story is utterly engrossing and sucks you in immediately, the leveling process, the process of converting currency into Klacks (alien dough) works well, and gaining abilities is pretty slick. I think I only had one moment of WTF and it involved a certain train wreck, but hey, ya gotta have something to take down void terrors and the like I suppose. I just enjoy WillMarth’s style and prose, but overall his characterizations are just on point. They feel genuine and real.
Damn, I have to say that Will Watt does an amazing job on this book. Yes, he is joined by not only Jeff hays and Annie Ellicot, but also Andrea parsnaue!!!! Yeah. As impressed as I am I almost feel bad for poor Will, because they brought in all their big guns, plus a ringer from next door to ensure the success of this book in its audible form. If I were him I would feel like I wasn’t trusted to carry a book this big! Ya know wat? He handles this book like he wrote it. I was incredibly impressed with his American accents,as I do believe that the computer helper is his own natural voice. Jeff, Annie, and Andrea really do have supporting roles, here but they all go for the Oscar too. Seriously, the sound, vocal talent, and effects were completely flawless. I applaud Will on his first outing, and give Kudos to the rest of them for keeping things so real and gritty.
My final score? Well, Dave inspired me to go out and get a pet bear myself, I call him cuddles (Add in my pic of the bear). He’sa good bear, yes he is! Back on track, The story was not what I was expecting, and I give props to DW for emulating the Grizzly Adams rescue and then turning it on its head. It was well paced, filled with action, good characters, and some “gods” from the past who sort of fluctuate between being honorable and then not so much. I don’t believe there was a slow moment in the book. Or me this is 8.6 stars all the way, from writing to narration it impressed.