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First Sentence
New Orleans, January, the forty-eighth year of the Kurian Order: Formerly glorious in its decay, under the New Order the city transformed from an aging beauty into a waterlogged corpse. Read the first page
E E Knight's Tale of the Thunderbolt is the third book in the series, and I would recommend that you read the series in order so as not to get lost in the authors terminology.
As always, the author plunges you into a world similar to our own, but darker, more desperate. I'm not going to tell you what happens, just that we continue to follow David Valentine and his struggle against the Kurian's, and against the memories of his past that haunt him. In fact, it is the strength of the author's creation of Valentine that has kept me coming back for more. He truly is the reluctant hero, and so much more.
Yet again Valentine meets a whole new array of people while on a mission to find a rumoured weapon that can defeat the Reapers. And there's no doubt that the strength of the story comes from the intriguing characters.
I do feel that there isn't as much action in this book as we have previously seen, but at the same time, the desire to know more will keep you flicking those pages.
In short, not as good as the first, or the second book, but damn good all the same! There's a forth book around the corner; "Valentine's Rising," and I'll be eagerly awaiting the arrival of that just to follow Valentine's wayward path towards freedom.
I enjoyed the first two books in this series, so I was looking forward to this one.
The story is set in a post apocolypse world run by aliens who feed like vampires. So the story mixes the horror/SF/post apocolypse genres to come up with a new take on all three.
The central character, David Valentine, is an enhanced soldier with exceptional abilities. However the character is not some one brain cell grunt, you get a real sense of a thinking soldier who constantly questions his motives and actions and this struggle makes him very interesting to read. The supporting characters are well written too.
The book is action packed but it is never at the expense of character development or the story. Although I enjoyed the first two books this one really seems to take this series to a whole new level.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:4.1 out of 5 stars 24 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 starsTale of the Thunderbolt is my favorite so far!!!!!!!!11 April 2007
By Rhona L. Westbrook - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I enjoyed Way of the Wolf and Choice of the Cat, but Tale of the Thunderbolt is my favorite so far. Maybe this is because I am not a sci-fi buff. Maybe it's because I dig dark and urban fantasy(where we like a fast moving story-line and sympathetic characters)or maybe it's because the plot is so much deeper and more fascinating.
There were times in this story where goosebumps flashed across my skin. Other places where a lump came into my throat and still others, where I laughed out loud. What I loved most though, I think, are the supporting characters in this book. I grew very attached to some, like Ahn-Kah the 'golden one' and the half-drunk sailor who showed his true metal when the stakes were down. Tale of the Thunderbolt is chuck full of amazing characters. Some good, some bad and others who walk that gray line in between. That's the sort of thing I like to have in my stories.
If you dig fast paced action, suspense and gut-wrenching emotion...you'll dig this book.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 starsNot up to par with the previous two17 May 2005
By Neker - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I could barely stand waiting for this next one in the series to come out. I so enjoyed the first two. The futuristic world created by Knight is entralling and even a bit scary. This book did not follow through on either one of those emotions.
Basically Valentine has spent a year on a secret mission as a Cat to secure a strong enough ship to obtain a secret weapon to fight the Kur. Somehow the knowledge of this "secret weapon" had only landed in the revolutionaries laps recently. The weapon is located in Haiti and Valintine doesn't even know what it is, only that the "contact" whom never saw him before in his life would recognize him and contact him. Strange? Well, it was. This was only one of many loose strings throughout the story.
What I missed most about Knights writing was the incredible development of characters and realtionships with these characters. I didn't see any this time. Valentine takes up a bit of a romance in Jamaca, but if I was suppose to feel sorry for him for having to move on, well, I really didn't even know this new character well enough to even care.
Overall, I still enjoy this series and plan to continue reading them. I'm hoping the next one, Valentine's Rising, will pick back up where the first two left off.
Read it in one day. Great set up for the next book thank goodness it will be published this year also. I was hoping for a little more progression in Valentine though. At times it seemed that the Hunters arts had almost left him as a normal person. I was also hoping that he would have progessed to the next level of the hunters arts as a Bear but that will hopefully occur in the next installment. All the other books in this series have dealt with a new art each time but there really is very little information on the Bear caste that I would like to see very soon.