Gabriel's Revenge (Evan Gabriel Trilogy) Book 3 by Steve Umstead

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Book 3 in the trilogy of Commander Evan Gabriel was as fast paced as the previous books.  Written in an easy writing style with pacey action and well described action scenes, both on the surface and out in space.

I am still completely enamoured with the idea of a neuritics implant that allows us to receive messages and files just like a computer, but in our heads and gives us control over electronics such as lights and doors and machines, just with a thought.  Off course HE had to introduce the concept of HACKING and overloading someone else's 'system' and ultimately their life, which would be a bit of a downer, but hey ho, everything has a bit of risk attached to it - still love the idea though.....

So, as is usual, Gabriel gets burned and singed along the way while others around him on his team die, nothing new, but deaths on the team are kept to a minimum on this one as Gabriel heads back to Mars which has effectively had a bloodless coup in it's two main city's after rescuing the main city dome's governors son on Eden [wow that was a mouthful to type, now trying saying it aloud]  after rescuing the main city dome's governors son on Eden, hey ho....

The South Americans have hired some Chinese Mercenaries including fighter space ships but Captain McTeirnan on the Marcinko makes quick work of them with some classy weapons upgrades while at maximum speed and in stealth mode at the same time as he drops Gabriel and his team out the loading bay doors in a shuttle against tremendous g forces, exciting stuff, yes it is actually, but you have to read it for yourself to see.... (And Captain McTiernan, I'm sure he was a character in another syfy novel I read recently, sounds awfully familiar).  Gabriel's lady friend, Lt Renay Gesselli has been taken hostage by the South Americans and he is on a mission to get her back and you can feel his rage, which his team 2nd in command is battling to keep under control.

This book then, wraps up the trilogy nicely, still with lots of action, unanswered questions from the previous books are answered and Gabriel may finally be able to put some of his demons to rest along side the body count .... A good ending.

Editing for Kindle: 5 out 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
No of Pages: 305
Chapters: 39 + an Epilogue

Links to other reviews in the Evan Gabriel trilogy;

Gabriel Zero Point A Prequel
Gabriel's Redemption Book 1
Gabriel's  Return  Book 2

Book Review: Gabriel's Return by Steve Umstead

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Book 1 in the trilogy of Commander Evan Gabriel was reviewed by me earlier, a link to that review is shown below and in which I commented;

"Gabriel's Redemption tell us the story of Commander Evan GABRIEL from the NAF, North American Federation, which comprises America, Canada, Cuba and Mexico and is head quartered in Toronto after most of the seaboard states have been swept away. The South American Federation largely made up of Brasil and Argentina after that continent is blown apart by nuclear war is a bit player with ambitions. GABRIEL is on the run, just because he doesn't want to be found, and hiding out in flea bit hotel in Jamaica after being dishonourably discharged when an off world mission on 'Eden' goes horribly wrong and he is (believed to be) the only survivor. We don't get to learn to much about this previous mission, which maybe we could have done as it left a big gap in the character of the 'hero' " 

Gabriel's Return,Book 2:  After being reinstated into the NAF in Book 1 and carrying out a successful mission, Gabriel is posted to Mars along with his new team to help and assist the local Mars governments and the Mars Defence Force to clean up the corruption on the planet.  After receiving opposition from the locals he and is team come to be accepted as they clean up the criminality without imposing penalties on the honest traders in the domed cities.

He is summoned to the office of the Governor of the largest city and finds that she wants him to take his team back to Eden where he lost 'all' of his team on his first mission to that planet.  The terrorists are still operating there and the governors son, studying at the university, is taken hostage along with all of the other students in residence. Also received is an apparent call for help from the only other surviving member of Gabriel's first visit to the planet, who was found alive and until the moment the message was received, thought to be dead! If it wasn't for the other surviving member from his first mission there, Gabriel would probably have declined the request to rescue the kidnapped student, as the mission wasn't sanctioned by the NAF!

As they set of on their mission Gabriel has to brief his team and tell them that not only will they have to fight the terrorists but that almost all of the indigenous plant life is as deadly as a terrorists bullet but what they don't know is that the kidnapping is all part of a bigger plot that trebles the chances of this mission being as deadly as the first mission to the planet!

Umstead writes flowingly and the book moves along at a cracking pace keeping you interested and turning pages.  It's not a terribly long book, just over 300 pages and as the narrative keeps you going, it will not take long to finish reading.


You can connect with Mr Umstead via Twitter @SteveUmstead

Related Posts - 
Book Review: Gabriel's Redemption by Steve Umstead

Book Review: Gabriel; Zero Point by Steve Umstead

Editing for Kindle /iPad: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 321
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Book Review: Gabriel: Zero Point by Steve Umstead

Steve Umstead wrote three books in the Gabriel, series but has now released this shortish Novella as a prequel to the three books.

I've read the first book in the series, Gabriel's Redemption and enjoyed it, see that review here ,  and fully intend to download and read the remaining books in the trilogy, but as always the TBR pile is rather large, so they are probably some way off, but then I saw mention of this one pop up on Twitter and so as it was a novella decided to take a punt on it.

So, Evan Gabriel has joined the navy after both his parents have died and his older brother has disappeared off world leaving him alone.  He then applies to become an officer and as we know from reading the first book in the series he is one tough soldier with enhanced neuretic implants.  Zero Point tells us how he came to be selected for Special Forces and how he was turned into a super soldier with the abilities that he has.

Pulled out for a transfer that he did not request, but accepts, transported to a lab and submerged unconscious for 22 hours while nano probes enhance his body he comes to in the empty lab with a blood trail but no bodies.... still trying to orient himself to his situation he finds that he is fighting for his life, the enemy have guns, grenades and body armour, he has managed to get his socks on and ..........

Umstead is a SyFy writer who writes, or so it seems to me, with some clarity; in that his prose flows seamlessly along without the uncomfortable trap that many of his contemporaries fall into.  By that I mean that many SyFy writers out there seem to feel that there is a need, as they are writing about 'off world' existences and other planets, that they have to make up the most complicated language and names for people and technology, it is of course needed in some stories, particularly if you have created a whole new species, but still!

I don't know about others but when I am reading, the words are actually being spoken aloud in my head by my brain and while Ishbel sitting opposite me on the sofa clearly can't hear me, I can hear them, and so when reading to myself and I find that suddenly I am stumbling over another made up foreign name or word, it can be more than slightly off putting as well as irritating, Umstead doesn't do that [much] - he writes in good old fashioned English without, I suppose, feeling the need to complicate the language, which makes for a flowing narrative....

A good read and good value for the money and, I am sure,  a good addition to the first three books.


Editing for Kindle: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Book Review: Gabriel's Redemption by Steve Umstead

I have been threatening to read one of Steve Umstead's books for some time now but kept putting it off.  The reason I was putting it off was that I had recently got back into the science fiction genre through two other Indie authors and whose books I really really enjoyed and then I read another one recently that left me largely disappointed, and that's the thing with a particular genre it is either good or very bad not really much of an in between ground to rest on.

So after reading the bad one I was again reluctant to pick up another author that I hadn't visited before, but I did with this one and was pleasantly pleased that it was not at all unsatisfying.

Gabriel's Redemption tell us the story of Commander Evan GABRIEL from the NAF, North American Federation, which comprises America, Canada, Cuba and Mexico and is head quartered in Toronto after most of the seaboard states have been swept away.   The South American Federation largely made up of Brasil and Argentina after that continent is blown apart by nuclear war is a bit player with ambitions.  GABRIEL is on the run, just because he doesn't want to be found,  and hiding out in flea bit hotel in Jamaica after  being dishonourably discharged when an off world mission on 'Eden' goes horribly wrong and he is the only survivor.  We don't get to learn to much about this previous mission, which maybe we could have done as it left a big gap in the character of the 'hero' (but I think that it may be covered in book two of the series looking at the teaser at the end of this one, still...)

Setting aside the 'Eden' question for a moment, Gabriel is recalled by an old commander and fed a story whereby he needs GABRIEL's special skills to lead another off world mission to close down a planet which is producing the latest high tech drug.  A drug that in it's production, an indigenous life form on another planet is being subjected to barbaric torturous methods to remove the gland needed to produce it.  It is difficult to write to much about the plot as spoilers are all to easy to give away the story.

Humans of the future have been surgically enhanced with neuretic enhancements allowing them to receive and respond to information, and holographic messaging in their minds eye, cool, I like that and it gives them the ability to intercept and decode messages, open doors, arm  weapons, all sorts of cool stuff.

The book offered a lot but didn't deliver as much as it offered in the main because the calamity of the 'EDEN' mission hung over the whole book like an unanswered question.  SANTANDER, the main protagonist, who we sort of saw was going to be the baddy from something we had hinted to us, turned out to be that baddy after all , but, then when we did learn that he was the baddy from that excursion we didn't learn about, it was dropped like a hot potato (mind you to then tell us about it in detail at that juncture would have taken the story off tack, so... )

It will al become clear and hopefully you will see what I mean WHEN you read the book.  Yes I am saying read the book, as apart from that one glitch (my view)  it is a good story and although there is not much action to talk about, I do like my action and the bloodier the better, the book is one of those that simmers just below boiling point.

Umstead has an easy flowing writing style and I think there are nods in there to other syfy such as Star Trek, remember the Kobiashi Maru, the ship where Kirk cheated, there's a ship in this called the Maru and a couple of other references to other syfy  shows and books as well.

The narrative flowed along seamlessly between Gabriel and his team being put together and their time between Earth and the target planet and between them and the main off world protagonist, and I have classified this under Science Fiction and Thriller, but I hope that book two doesn't take quite as long to get to the action and become a proper thriller.

Even although I have a few criticisms of it I can always tell how much I enjoyed a book by the time it takes me to read it, and that time is precious to me so if I pick up a book and I keep putting it down and going back to it over a few weeks, while I might like it (and I've bought it so I am darn well going to finish it) it's not the same as really enjoying a book enough to read over a couple of days.  I started this one on Thursday evening and completed it today, so definitely worth a read.

And as to my critique over the unanswered question of Eden I picked up in this plot style in another book recently and the author came back to me and said that 'You have to remember that this is the first in a series and so it will be developed on in the next instalments.' fair comment, not sure, I just don't like it where the emphasis is placed on something so heavily but it is really left hanging in the air.... But that might just be me.


Editing for Kindle: 5 out of 5

Reading Enjoyment: 4 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5