Palingenesis

The next post on Fantasy Muse will be about Palingenesis by J. Lewis Bennett.

Front Cover

Synopsis

Zeb Johnston inhabits a future world where a mega-corporation, Serene Soul Systems, sells the services of human clones for sex and sport. A wealthy, powerful businessman, Zeb's hobby is hunting clones in simulated worlds contained within massive domes. When he realizes one of those clones may not be the sub-human Serene Soul advertised him to be, Zeb is drawn to hunt the clone repeatedly. After stealing the clone during what was to be a hunt to the death, Zeb is forced to leave his good life behind and run from the corporate killers who are after him.

On the run, Zeb falls for a beautiful woman who helped create the clone he has stolen, but he is torn between his love for her and his knowledge of her past. At the same time, Zeb becomes haunted by nightmares about his own mentally challenged brother, who he left behind many years before in his pursuit of power and money. With the help of his ex-wife, a brilliant attorney, Zeb will attempt a daring rescue from the heart of Serene Soul System's headquarters. With everything on the line, will Zeb be able to save the clones and find what has been missing from his life?

My Opinion

I was asked to consider this book for review and after reading the blurb I immediately had visions of 'I, Robot' which starred Will Smith. I enjoyed that film so I thought I’d give this book a shot.

Well, I’m glad I did. I enjoyed the book but there were some points I didn’t quite like, but I’ll get to those later.

The blurb does a good job in basically describing what the whole book is about. Zeb is a successful businessman who in his spare time likes to hunt human clones for sport. The whole concept of that idea was intriguing and kept me reading. As the story progresses he realises that the clones are not so inhuman and lifeless as he thought they were. Feelings of guilt and shame spur him on to rescue one of the clones, later named Rick, and it was endearing seeing Zeb connect with Rick.

I didn’t particularly like Zeb in the beginning, I found him frustrating and naive but as the story went on he did start to grow on me and I guess that is what the author intended. So, it’s a thumbs up from me on character development. 

The love interest in the book is in the form of Simone, and for me, their relationship felt a bit too sudden . I mean within something like their second meeting they were ripping each others clothes off. However, saying that they do develop a deeper connection later on in the book. While talking about ripping off clothes, I would say book is more suitable for young adults and above. The book while not graphic does go into mature sexual scenes. 

As far as editing goes, I didn’t find any misspellings or grammar mistakes. However, I did notice a couple of times the name Simone switched to Suzanne briefly and then back again, which did leave me a little confused. I had to double check to see if Suzanne had accidentally crawled onto the scene while I wasn't paying attention.

Some other thoughts on the books:

*The story does become slightly stale during the middle. There is a portion of the book where the story didn't really go anywhere. 

*The book is told mainly through one person’s (Zeb)  perspective and while it was good to get a feel for him, I personally would have liked to have read other characters povs and to see what their thoughts were on particular scenes. 

*The ending was well written but I didn’t agree with it but that’s just me. I was hoping for a different outcome but that is what’s great about books. We don’t all get the result we expected or wanted.   

Conclusion

An enjoyable book but there were times when my mind wandered. With a somewhat unique storyline it will definitely appeal to those looking for something different.

Out of 10 Stars:

6 stars - Better than average and I was tempted to give it 7 but I reserve 7-10 stars for exceptional books.

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Buy it here:

Amazon UK

Amazon US