This book is Bourne on Steroids - Brilliant!!

The story is told through the eyes of Daniel Hunt, a ‘Centurion’ at a dive bar on the Moon, Centurion being a fancy name for bouncer. Humanity has had to abandon Earth as we have killed it, there is nothing living on the surface anymore, and so we now live on the Moon and Mars. Daniel woke 5yrs ago in an alley with no memory, no clue as to who or what he is, just a piece of paper in his pocket with his name and number one written on it. I say what, because he can be cut to the bone, and 5 minutes later, he is healed up like pretty much nothing happened, not even a scar.
Having the story told for Daniels point of view is brilliant, we get to learn things as the story progresses, so we learn as he does, keeping us just as much in the dark as he is.
However, the story doesn’t hold back, there is a myriad of characters, starting with Wesley Cage, Daniels old handler who informs him that seven where created like him in a team, and he was lost on a mission (good old Jason Bourne style), 5yrs ago.
And speaking of Bourne, if you thought those movies were fast, they have nothing on Forsaken Mercenary. Daniel seems to be a magnet for combat, and in the first half of the book has fought more battles than Arnie, Stallone, Bourne, and the Avengers combined, and taken more damage than all of them and is happily standing there with gun in hand grinning saying ‘Who’s Next?’, as what is left of whatever army was dumb enough to come at him crawls away on bloody stumps.
The action scenes are just magnificent in this book, Yanez has taken a masterclass in how to write combat scenes, like you are sitting inside Daniels head watching as the combat unfolds around him, each shot, each blow, and in some cases, each impact to him as well.
What is really fantastic is that the Character writing has not suffered as so many stories of this nature do (Da gun go boom, I have to kill bad guy… Rarrgghhh – and that is the main characters contribution to intelligent conversation), but in this story, Daniel actually has a brain. He has been trained in Strategy and Tactics, to think for himself, not just as a mindless killer, and this makes for a very interesting Character arc. As we learn more and more about his past, we get to see more of who and what he was, and who and what he wants to be now, there is a very strong connection between this story and that of the Bourne series in that aspect, the two characters having lost their memories and being at odds with everything they are being told, and not knowing who to trust.
One of the best characters in the book is an A.I. that Daniel gets called X1097854107890, and the sequence there when he is trying to reason out what the A.I. is, and her name (the string of letters and numbers), is just hilarious. Eventually, the A.I. gets called ‘X’ and she becomes an integral part of the story.
There is a lot of brilliant humour in this book, Daniel’s character seems to thrive on a sense of sarcasm, and the addition of X inside his head, only adds to this. It makes for some outstanding scenes.
In the first part of this book, without giving too much away, Daniel is found by Wesley Cage, his handler for Immortal Corp, the organization that created him. They want to bring him back into the fold, which of course, Daniel is reluctant to do. They offer Daniel a mission for both sides to check things out, and that is to return to Earth, and check out a group on Earth, gather intel on them, and then return with this intel.
Obviously, Daniel takes the mission, gets on board a ‘Dropship’, (Dropships are the only means of transport between the Moon, Mars and Earth, don’t think of something like the Dropship from Halo or Aliens, this is more of a Dropship that is probably twice that size, with Engines capable of Hyperdrive (explained in the book), and ships that are larger than you think, again, all explained in the book. They are awesome!
I should mention the Tech aspect of this book is just exceptional, so much fun, and the Author has really thought of the reader when putting it all together.
Overall, this is just a brilliant book, well worth the read for anyone who wants something FUN, or Mil Sci-Fi, Action Adventure, or just a really good read. If you loved Bourne, you will go nuts over this. Get into this series, its awesome.
The Narration is outstanding. Jay Snyder has a wonderful voice, at times he reminds me of Lance Henriksen, who played Bishop in Aliens. He has that same deep voice, which is just perfect for the character of Daniel. His narrating is perfectly clear, with crystal clear pronunciation, and easy to understand character voices. He has no issue with different genders, allowing him to create a multitude of voices of any gender or age (he does a fantastic young female child), and his voices are so distinctive you can quite often tell the different characters apart without having to be told.
Snyder’s narration is perfect for this book.

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20 people found this helpful

Not terrible

Not super compelling. The character development is not good, but I've seen worse. The story is pretty bland. The ideas are not new, but not yet overused tropes. I probably won't pick up the rest of the series. Not because its bad, but there's a lot of other series I could start or finish that are better than this one.

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This future world is like our slums are now.

Interesting enough that I finished it, but not great. Would it be possible to kill every living weed. Nothing on Earth is green, so it must have been written by an environmentalist who has drunk the kool aid.

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futuristic battle to save earth

surprisingly good book. I have now been drawn into buying the series, this book stops at a cloud hanger!

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very interesting

though this story is not as long as I like or hoped it would be, it did capture my imagination and I will buy the next one in the series

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Proper detail of future tech

Proper detail of future tech in the dystopian world of the near future. Good place descriptions for following the action. Nice character development.

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Dystopian Bourne w/ Capt America/Wolverine origins

As the summary promised, MC Daniel Hunt is basically Jason Bourne in a dystopian future. We pick up five years from his memory loss as his new life as a bouncer on the moon is interrupted by the appearance of his old handler. To learn about his past, he accepts a mission on ravaged Earth. From there we charge from chapter to chapter in almost cliff notes fashion, glossing over settings and character development in favor of just getting you to the next action sequence.

Other than Daniel himself, an enhanced super soldier, we hear about a laundry list of red shirt side characters thrown into the story in one chapter only to drop off in the next. Not until the final quarter of the book do we see development of two or three recurring characters with a little backstory. And, just when the stage is set for the larger story arc, the book ends and the epilogue gives us the teaser for the next book.

If you are expecting deep Robert Heinlein like sci-fi or complex spy craft like the Bourne novels, you will be disappointed. But, if you like cheesy B movie matinees (Waterworld, or maybe any Van Damme movie) or superhero origin stories (Captain America), especially with unbeatable, impossible to kill superheroes (Wolverine), then this quick book will provide a fun afternoon listen.

The narrator was decent, and his female voices didn’t grate on me, although his cadence was a bit choppy at times. Also, I felt his tone sounded like he was narrating a movie trailer... and maybe that’s part of what gave me the B movie vibe.

This was almost completely free of profanity, sex, religion, or politics (except for an environmental angle... but that’s almost a given for dystopian books, right?). I was mildly annoyed at the first person narrative and the several times Daniel calls the lady scientist a chick, which seemed off character.

If you want a great dystopian series with a sci-fi, military bent, I suggest the Hell Divers series (oddly with another X character- albeit an entirely different one). If you want more military sci-fi, heavy on the military-Merica-Starship Troopers vibe, try Galaxies Edge. If you want smart Bourne spy craft and thrilling action, just get the Bourne books and pass on this Bourne-lite meets Mad Max-lite meets Universal Soldier (or just Soldier with Kurt Russell). But, if future Bourne as a mercenary anti-hero amid gangs like The Reapers and mutant beasts sounds fun to you, then this juice may be worth the squeeze.

I was satisfied getting this super cheap on a daily deal, but would have been disappointed to spend a full credit on this six hour novella. I liked it enough to stick the next two in my wish list and will get them only if they go on sale.

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6 people found this helpful

Wow what a find.

I'm glad I decided to purchase Audible daily special. Yes definitely brought Jason Bourne memories.

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Decent story, uneven writing

An OK story with good action but uneven writing. If you turned this into a drinking game and drank a shot every time the author used a simile (like a..., like a..., like a... like a..., like a...., like a... ) you’d die of alcohol poisoning.

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Enjoyable SciFi Mystery Thriller

It’s a who am I story without a lot of angst. Clues and discoveries dropped along the way. The book description saying for fans of Jason Bourne and WeaponX is on point, just put into a futuristic sci-fi setting. The narrator was decent, but felt a little like one of the guys speaking in a movie preview from the 80s, which took some getting used to.

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6 people found this helpful