Review: Revelations

Is “Better Never Than Late” a me thing, or a Sagittarius thing? Anyway, here’s my review for January 2023.

Read it: Revelations (Glyph Book 1) by Ronin Romero

Spoilers: NONE

Thousands of years in the future, a rag-tag band of human rebels fights for the survival of planet earth against demigods bent on sucking it dry. Aided by a god in human form, they wage war on two fronts, battling deadly demigod replicas while desperately seeking knowledge that will give them a long-awaited advantage.

Initial Impressions

After the first few pages: Like any sci-fi story, I have no idea what’s going on, where we are, or when we are. Generally within the first few pages I decide whether I care enough to figure it out. I’m still reading, so that answers that question. Also I can literally see the way Agnitius walks, and I love it.

After the first chapter: My mouth was hanging open in surprise at least three times just in the first chapter. Romero does a great job of getting the reader acclimated to this world without overloading on information or being repetitive. Mercelle’s creative swearing and pure bravery, drive, and curiosity make me immediately love her and want her to succeed.

Now for the review. I don’t write many of these, and never in long form, so forgive me if it’s a little rough. I’ll probably get better.

First Star: Setting

Romero’s ability to paint a picture with words took me right back to Great Sand Dunes National Park; to the harsh, overwhelming saturation of the first few minutes of Pitch Black; to the thin, dry air of high desert trails in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Throughout the book, I could feel the vast emptiness that used to be the planet earth we know and love. I could hear dust falling. I could see the ways characters moved. I mention this first because everything else is subordinate: I can’t love a character if I can’t picture her, and can’t follow a story if I can’t see and hear it in my head. Achieving this in writing is not something just anyone can do, and Romero does it exceptionally well, whether he’s describing a character’s beauty or a horrifying battle scene.

Second Star: Heroes

Get it? Each thing I loved gets its own star, so you know I’m not just giving away stars like Oprah gives away cars.

This tale is absolutely saturated with heroes. They are not interchangeable; every single one serves his or her own purpose believably and compellingly. Even the bad guys are given the chance to be understood, even to be rooted for if you’re into that. You think you hate someone, but then you learn why he’s doing what he’s doing, and you can’t say for sure you wouldn’t do the same thing. Heroism isn’t limited to the battlefield, either. There are acts of bravery so small that the reader is the only one who gets to know about them, and courage you can relate to even if you’re not waging an underdog’s struggle against alien demigods.

Third Star: Epic

Epic is used as a noun, not an adjective. Some guy I knew in high school absolutely insisted the word ‘epic’ is not an adjective, and he won me over. Revelations is a classic epic, the beginning of something big, and I hope more people will pick it up, devour it, and shamelessly harass the author a la George R. R. Martin to hurry up and publish the next book. You can tell it’s part of a whole world that exists in the writer’s head, and there’s so much more story to tell.

Fourth Star: Pace

Sorry for the meme. I’m immature, okay? Anyway, do you ever feel like Mr. Squarepants here when you’re reading a book that’s fast-paced in a bad way? I read slowly enough without having to go back every few pages to make sure I know what’s going on. That possibility never looms larger for me than when I’m reading science fiction, which is why I generally avoid it. The good news for anyone who shares this predilection with me? Revelations hits its stride soon, but not too soon; and it maintains a readable, engaging pace right to the end with delightful sprints sprinkled throughout. If you need action like I do, you’ll get it, and you won’t get steamrolled by it.

Fifth Star: Prose

I wish I’d kept a running list of the expressions that made me think, “Damn, that’s good shit.” It’s just as well I didn’t since I’m not sure you could appreciate them out of context. As AI writing gains a foothold and starts bastardizing every aspect of human creativity, you’re going to salivate for writing like this like the characters in Revelations salivate for whatever the hell a “protein wedge” is.

As of this writing, Revelations has two reviews on Amazon and two ratings on Goodreads. That’s it! Please go guy it, read it, and leave a review to support this very talented writer.

– AK