Gemini Cell - Myke Cole

Gemini Cell: A Shadow Ops Novel by Myke Cole (Jan 27, 2015)

 

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2015

Myke Cole continues to blow the military fantasy genre wide open with an all-new epic adventure in his highly acclaimed Shadow Ops universe—set in the early days of the Great Reawakening, when magic first returns to the world and order begins to unravel…

US Navy SEAL Jim Schweitzer is a consummate professional, a fierce warrior, and a hard man to kill. But when he sees something he was never meant to see on a covert mission gone bad, he finds himself—and his family—in the crosshairs. Nothing means more to Jim than protecting his loved ones, but when the enemy brings the battle to his front door, he is overwhelmed and taken down.

That should be the end of the story. But Jim is raised from the dead by a sorcerer and recruited by a top secret unit dabbling in the occult, known only as the Gemini Cell. With powers he doesn’t understand, Jim is called back to duty—as the ultimate warrior. As he wrestles with a literal inner demon, Jim realizes his new superiors are determined to use him for their own ends and keep him in the dark—especially about the fates of his wife and son…

 

 

This is a fantastic book from the Military/Fantasy genre.  It is actually a prologue to the Shadow Ops series I don’t really like Zombie based speculative fiction, but I liked how Mr. Cole handled it.

 However, how this book is written may keep this series to a smaller audience.  There are a lot of strong kick-butt scenes –with a few slightly quixotic relationships. It may be better to stick with the kick-butt, politicking and fighting relationships and leave the romance alone.

I have a feeling that I would not have been so disappointed in this book had I read the others in this series. However, as a set up for exactly what the ‘Gemini Cell’ is, this book is fantastic and has even tempted me to try the first book.

It would be   difficult to describe to a possible reader just what the Gemini Cell is – but I can tell you that they are part of a secret branch of the government (naturally!).  So far, the ‘experiment’ in using these ‘people’ is not working out too well.

What I did have larger  issues with is Mr. Coles’ world of magic is explained away very much like the one in Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series.  In addition, the Zombie aspect is very much like Kate’s Vampires.  I realize that this is a genre in which some authors ideas may overlap – but this part of this world seemed to overlap quite a bit for me. Later in the book (the ending actually) Mr. Cole breaks Jim out of the mold and I really loved this aspect.  This is why I want to follow my instincts and read more of the series. I think the rest of the series will break the mold.

ARC supplied by publisher.