Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Blog Tour with Giveaway!: Havoc Rising by Brian S. Leon


Havoc Rising
by Brian S. Leon
250 p.
Publisher: Red Adapt Publishing
Published: 6/16/15
Source: CBB Book Promotions for review and tour
Eternal life. Eternal battle. 
Steve—Diomedes Tydides to his Trojan War buddies—just had a bad day on his charter fishing boat in San Diego, but when the goddess Athena calls on her faithful warrior for another secret mission, he’s ready. The bomb that exploded inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn’t the crime American authorities think it is. Someone also stole the Cup of Jamshid, and Diomedes knows its fortune-telling abilities won’t be used for anything benign. 
Though Diomedes recovers the Cup from a determined shaman holed up beneath Central Park, when he finds his allies slain and the Cup taken once more, he knows he’s up against a truly powerful enemy. Over a millennium has passed since Diomedes last contended with Medea of Colchis, deranged wife of Jason the Argonaut, but neither her madness nor her devotion to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, has waned, and she intends to use the Cup of Jamshid to release across the world a dark brand of chaos unseen in human history. 
Immortal since the Trojan War, Diomedes must once again fight for mortals he understands less and less, against a divine evil he may never truly defeat.
Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Google Play
My thoughts:

This reminded me of the Kevin Herne series, Iron Druid Chronicles in the way that mythology is real and most people know nothing about it. The main character has to work with and against these mythological entities to help humanity. However, in this series Diomedes is a team player even if he has to lead the team. He works much better with others.

The worldbuilding was well done here and it mostly deals with the Greek mythology. Other mythos are thrown in and also have a place in the world. We deal with unsurmountable odds like in most UF and the fight scenes were well done. I also enjoyed the ending which felt complete but still left enough space for more books in a series. While there is also potential for romance in the book, there is very little of it in this installment. However, foreshadowing tells us there will be more tension in that area in his life. My only small complaint is that I would have loved to have more of the worldbuilding and more about the mythos he works with and against.

I give this book 4 stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoys UF and fantasy. It also has some great secondary characters. and I look forward to reading more about this world and Diomedes. Would love to see more of his past worked into his present.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Brian S. Leon is truly a jack of all trades and a master of none. He writes just to do something with all the useless degrees and skills he’s accumulated over the years. Most of them have no practical application in civilized society, anyway. His interests include mythology and fishing, in pursuit of which he has explored jungles and museums, oceans and seas all over the world.

His credentials include an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and a master’s degree from San Diego State University, plus extensive postgraduate work in evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied animals most people aren’t even aware exist and theories no one really cares about anyway.

Over his varied career, Brian’s articles have been published in academic journals and popular magazines that most normal people would never read. They can be found in The American Society of Primatologists, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Proceedings of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the like.

His more mainstream work came as an editor for Marlin and FlyFishing in Salt Waters magazines, where he published articles about fishing and fishing techniques around the world. He won a Charlie Award in 2004 from the Florida Magazine Association for Best Editorial, and several of his photographs have appeared on a number of magazine covers—almost an achievement of note, if they weren’t all fishing magazines.

Always a picky reader, Mr. Leon enjoys stories by classical masters like Homer and Jules Verne as well as modern writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, David Morrell and Jim Butcher. These books, in combination with an inordinate amount of free time, inspired him to come up with tales of his own.
Brian currently resides in San Diego, California.


AUTHOR ONLINE: Website | Facebook | Twitter @BSLAuthor

GIVEAWAY


TOUR PAGE

Please check out the Tour Page - for schedule and more information.

10/12
Interview – Talk Supe
10/13
Guest Post - Supernatural Snark
10/14
10/15
10/16

21 comments:

  1. Love a bit of Greek mythology in my reads. I'm totally giggling over your banner pup. I'm a total scary read scardy cat. lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So am I... and my dog as well... ;) :D I think you'd like this book.

      Delete
  2. Love the Halloween look on your blog! What a fun idea!
    Glad you liked this one, I did as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. A huge yes to Greek mythology Melissa!!!!! Glad to see this one got such a good rating from you:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one too! I was also thinking it felt similar to Iron Druid. Just faster, easier reading. Thanks so much for hosting a tour stop and sharing your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but he is so much more a team player than Atticus. LOL

      Delete
  5. I should have gotten this one, I just was so packed. I love that it is a bit like Hearne, I love that series.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm happy to see that UF seems to be making a bit of a comeback.

    P.S. I love your Halloween header :-))

    Karen @For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is my kind of book, too bad I'm booked solid, I don't have the bandwidth to read/review it. Will dogear it for later, maybe I'll have some spare time when book 2 comes out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i love greek mythology, so this sounds awesome

    ReplyDelete
  9. This sounds like an interesting mythological read! It is great when the author builds a world like this you can get swept away in!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always love when a story deals with mythology so I confess that I'm really curious about this one!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the mythology aspect. You mentioned the Iron Druid Chronicles and I still need to read those, despite owning audio and physical books.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I keep seeing this book around. I love UF so I will give it a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love this cover. It reminds me of another too. But this book sounds like an amazing start to a new series. Awesome!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! I ❤ comments!