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badseedgirl's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up because Goodreads kept saying that "People who like the Joe Ledger Series also like this. I am feeling much "Ledger Withdrawals" at the moment and so in desperation decided to give this one a go.
Ok, it is Military fiction with a supernatural twist, but to be honest that is where the similarities end. Seal Team 666 fights actual demons whereas the DMS fights mad scientist. There is no doubt that Joe Ledger is the DMS in that series. every story is told in Joe's voice and from Joe's perspective. Although Jack Walker is supposed to be the main character, the perspectives jump from character to character. Neither is bad, but it definitely changes the tone of the book.
Plus, there are some very violent deaths in this book which are described in a cold manner. There is also a missing sense of smart-alecky tone to Seal Team 666.
Is this book a replacement for Joe Ledger? No it is not, but I will give it a shake and try another book in the series.
Ok, it is Military fiction with a supernatural twist, but to be honest that is where the similarities end. Seal Team 666 fights actual demons whereas the DMS fights mad scientist. There is no doubt that Joe Ledger is the DMS in that series. every story is told in Joe's voice and from Joe's perspective. Although Jack Walker is supposed to be the main character, the perspectives jump from character to character. Neither is bad, but it definitely changes the tone of the book.
Plus, there are some very violent deaths in this book which are described in a cold manner. There is also a missing sense of smart-alecky tone to Seal Team 666.
Is this book a replacement for Joe Ledger? No it is not, but I will give it a shake and try another book in the series.
papidoc's review against another edition
3.0
Urban fantasy with a military twist. Entertaining, reads like an action movie or comic book in written form. Lots of action, creative idea, reasonably well-written with decent characterization. The author has left an opening for a sequel, and if he follows it up, I hope he does a better job of developing the main characters. There were some holes and questions left unanswered, perhaps intentionally. It put me in mind of books by Larry Correia. Pretty good treadmill reading.
mferrante83's review against another edition
3.0
Weston Ochese’s American Golem was one of my favorite stories from the Operation Arcana collection and as a result I was excited to give Seal Team 666 a shot. Unfortunately, I wanted to like Seal Team 666 far more than I actually did. The novel opens up with Cadet Jack Walker, nearing completion of SEAL training, suddenly yanked out of said training and attached to titular Seal Team 666 for a covert mission. Walker, finds himself suddenly part of a strange new world where everything that goes bump in the night is real. The novel’s primary threat centers on a cult being led by a man possessed by an ancient spirit and the efforts of Seal Team 666 to bring him down.
My primary problem with Seal Team 666 has to do with a logical inconsistency. We are informed in the novel that the group has been in existence, at least in one form or another, since the beginning of our country. The very existence of the team acknowledges that magic, demons, and monsters are very real things. They can be killed or otherwise disposed of, with great difficulty, using conventional weapons. However, it is never adequately explained (at least that I recall) how a 200-year-old covert ops group hasn’t yet found a way to fight fire with fire. There aren’t any magicians on staff that we see and the team’s intelligence seems to come from conventional means. This just feels weird to me. This element was a thorn in my side the whole time I was reading the novel. My strong reaction to this could be that I’ve just been reading too much fantasy and science fiction of late and Ochese is more concerned with a world where the supernatural is a corrupting force that usually results in messy ends. Seal Team 666’s action sequences certainly bear this theory out I just wish it had been more firmly established over the course of the novel itself.
Ochese has a strong sense of action throughout the novel. He keeps the horrors fresh and the pace moving throughout which makes for a quick read. Moments of horror are leavened a bit by dashes of humor either with the joking between members of the team or with the slap-stick, blood spattered humor familiar to fans of horror movies; a particular scene involving a fight with tiny homunculi reminded me of Ash’s fight with his own severed hand from Evil Dead 2, or the mini-Ash army from Army of Darkness. Characterization is slow with Walker’s past slowly helping to define the shape of his personality and his drive to become a SEAL. Ochese is slow to build up the other members of the team and the characterization of the team and the supporting cast never goes deeper than surface level.
Seal Team 666 leans a bit heavily towards the action over horror. While there are horrific creatures who commit horrific acts scattered throughout the novel it never quite manages to fully capture the atmosphere of dread and fear that marks the best horror fiction. Neither does the novel capture the sense of wonder present in many fantasy novels. The best horror section of the novel comes in the flashbacks to Walker’s past, the subject of which I won’t spoil, but I would love to read a longer bit of fiction focused on Walker’s horrific childhood experience. Fans of military fiction and thrillers who aren’t afraid of blood and violence should enjoy Seal Team 666 and it’s easy to see why the film rights were optioned. While it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it to be Seal Team 666 is an entertaining, exciting read and is definitely a series I’ll be returning to in the future.
My primary problem with Seal Team 666 has to do with a logical inconsistency. We are informed in the novel that the group has been in existence, at least in one form or another, since the beginning of our country. The very existence of the team acknowledges that magic, demons, and monsters are very real things. They can be killed or otherwise disposed of, with great difficulty, using conventional weapons. However, it is never adequately explained (at least that I recall) how a 200-year-old covert ops group hasn’t yet found a way to fight fire with fire. There aren’t any magicians on staff that we see and the team’s intelligence seems to come from conventional means. This just feels weird to me. This element was a thorn in my side the whole time I was reading the novel. My strong reaction to this could be that I’ve just been reading too much fantasy and science fiction of late and Ochese is more concerned with a world where the supernatural is a corrupting force that usually results in messy ends. Seal Team 666’s action sequences certainly bear this theory out I just wish it had been more firmly established over the course of the novel itself.
Ochese has a strong sense of action throughout the novel. He keeps the horrors fresh and the pace moving throughout which makes for a quick read. Moments of horror are leavened a bit by dashes of humor either with the joking between members of the team or with the slap-stick, blood spattered humor familiar to fans of horror movies; a particular scene involving a fight with tiny homunculi reminded me of Ash’s fight with his own severed hand from Evil Dead 2, or the mini-Ash army from Army of Darkness. Characterization is slow with Walker’s past slowly helping to define the shape of his personality and his drive to become a SEAL. Ochese is slow to build up the other members of the team and the characterization of the team and the supporting cast never goes deeper than surface level.
Seal Team 666 leans a bit heavily towards the action over horror. While there are horrific creatures who commit horrific acts scattered throughout the novel it never quite manages to fully capture the atmosphere of dread and fear that marks the best horror fiction. Neither does the novel capture the sense of wonder present in many fantasy novels. The best horror section of the novel comes in the flashbacks to Walker’s past, the subject of which I won’t spoil, but I would love to read a longer bit of fiction focused on Walker’s horrific childhood experience. Fans of military fiction and thrillers who aren’t afraid of blood and violence should enjoy Seal Team 666 and it’s easy to see why the film rights were optioned. While it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it to be Seal Team 666 is an entertaining, exciting read and is definitely a series I’ll be returning to in the future.
jefffrane's review against another edition
3.0
One of the blurbs mentioned Tom Clancy, which is totally wrong. This is more like a combination of Dick Marcinko and Big Trouble in Little China. Kind of. If you write a Seal Team story, you will fill it with lots of explanations of acronyms, equipment, training ad infinitum. Ochse does a respectable job of incorporating the tech talk without slowing down the story for lectures -- they happen, but in digestible lumps. In essence, this is just fun. I'm looking forward to #2.
david_agranoff's review against another edition
4.0
I was over due to read a book by Weston Ochse who I have met briefly twice (World Horror in Portland) and the Midian Unmade signing here in San Diego. I wanted to read this book first even though I had his first Bram Stoker award winning novel Scarecrow Gods on the TBR. The author himself a vet and a retired military intelligence officer, who also is a horror writer was one person probably on planet earth who could write this novel and that is enough to get my interest. I believe some of this series was written in country but I could be wrong about that.
I admit the first time I saw this title I rolled my eyes a little. This title either works for you or it, not unlike the guitar player in Mad Max Fury Road. Are you going to go with it or not? This is a novel about a unit of Navy SEALS who travel the world taking care of supernatural threats, so come on you have suspend disbelief a bit. If you like military science fiction or horror you can't go wrong. Ochse could be accused of a little to much focus on the military nitty-gritty but fuck that. That realism is what makes this book stand out.
Anybody can write monsters and mythology but only one person can combine it all. As much detail is given to the tactical stuff, the history and mythology of the monsters is always there and explored with care.
The story of Jack Walker who is drafted in to SEAL team 666 a month before his graduation was clearly on the team's radar. He has a military background and a supernatural one. Walker is a great character, and Oshse handles the introduction and characterization of the team with skill. He clearly loves the genre but you get the sense that he knows a few of these characters.
Of course I love that the team is based here in San Diego, across the bay in Coronado island. There is also a cool moment with a cave under imperial beach. The Seal TEAM chases monsters across the globe, and I wondered if sometimes it wasn't a bit much. It worked for me, but hopefully the future books take on one monster at a time.
I am hooked, and really, really want to read Ochse's military sci-fi novels now. Now the word is that The Rock AKA Dwayne Johnson is attached to film project based on this novel, and they have done several screenplays. Fingers crossed as great of novel as it is -I could in the right hands make a badass movie.
I admit the first time I saw this title I rolled my eyes a little. This title either works for you or it, not unlike the guitar player in Mad Max Fury Road. Are you going to go with it or not? This is a novel about a unit of Navy SEALS who travel the world taking care of supernatural threats, so come on you have suspend disbelief a bit. If you like military science fiction or horror you can't go wrong. Ochse could be accused of a little to much focus on the military nitty-gritty but fuck that. That realism is what makes this book stand out.
Anybody can write monsters and mythology but only one person can combine it all. As much detail is given to the tactical stuff, the history and mythology of the monsters is always there and explored with care.
The story of Jack Walker who is drafted in to SEAL team 666 a month before his graduation was clearly on the team's radar. He has a military background and a supernatural one. Walker is a great character, and Oshse handles the introduction and characterization of the team with skill. He clearly loves the genre but you get the sense that he knows a few of these characters.
Of course I love that the team is based here in San Diego, across the bay in Coronado island. There is also a cool moment with a cave under imperial beach. The Seal TEAM chases monsters across the globe, and I wondered if sometimes it wasn't a bit much. It worked for me, but hopefully the future books take on one monster at a time.
I am hooked, and really, really want to read Ochse's military sci-fi novels now. Now the word is that The Rock AKA Dwayne Johnson is attached to film project based on this novel, and they have done several screenplays. Fingers crossed as great of novel as it is -I could in the right hands make a badass movie.
jgolomb's review against another edition
4.0
The Seal team bursts into a high security compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. After reaching the second floor, they find their target: "It stepped forward. Glowing eyes. Taloned hands. Dark skin stretched tightly over elongated bones. Demon." And that's just on page 4.
Weston Ochse starts what should be an amazingly creative, well-thought-through and multi-layered action/horror series with his "Seal Team 666". It's a simple concept: Seal Team battles the supernatural. It's Men In Black, but the Men wear body armor and fatigues and battle demons instead of aliens.
SEAL Team 666 is a secret unit of the Navy SEALs. The team's sniper is killed during the raid in Pakistan, and a rookie SEAL, Jack Walker, is assigned to replace the fallen soldier. Walker is at the heart of Ochse novel, and he deftly uses Walker's introduction to the team as the reader's introduction to the concept of badass warriors deployed across the world to take out supernatural baddies.
Ochse has a military background and his in depth knowledge of weapons and operations is on full display. I'm not, by any means, an experienced reader of military fiction, and Ochse's detailed descriptions of weapons and use of military terminology tethers the supernatural to the realism and believability of the novel.
Ochse does a terrific job writing the characters with a subtle introduction of their back-stories and personality traits interspersed within the narrative, providing context and motivation for their actions. He doesn't hammer you over the head with clichéd characterizations and language. What clichés do exist fit well within the military theme and work well with the overall plot.
I don't actually know if this is a planned series, but it could be. The book works as a stand-alone while also setting up opportunities for ongoing missions, and long lasting feuds with international and demonic foes.
There's plenty of action as Walker and his well-written teammates deploy to several smaller and mid-size missions, which build the plot towards an inevitable large-scale and potentially apocalyptic showdown.
I was a little anxious about the book, which, in lesser-skilled hands could come across as trite or hokey. Ochse, though, has written a believable and thoroughly enjoyable horror-military novel.
I received this book through the Amazon Vine program.
Weston Ochse starts what should be an amazingly creative, well-thought-through and multi-layered action/horror series with his "Seal Team 666". It's a simple concept: Seal Team battles the supernatural. It's Men In Black, but the Men wear body armor and fatigues and battle demons instead of aliens.
SEAL Team 666 is a secret unit of the Navy SEALs. The team's sniper is killed during the raid in Pakistan, and a rookie SEAL, Jack Walker, is assigned to replace the fallen soldier. Walker is at the heart of Ochse novel, and he deftly uses Walker's introduction to the team as the reader's introduction to the concept of badass warriors deployed across the world to take out supernatural baddies.
Ochse has a military background and his in depth knowledge of weapons and operations is on full display. I'm not, by any means, an experienced reader of military fiction, and Ochse's detailed descriptions of weapons and use of military terminology tethers the supernatural to the realism and believability of the novel.
Ochse does a terrific job writing the characters with a subtle introduction of their back-stories and personality traits interspersed within the narrative, providing context and motivation for their actions. He doesn't hammer you over the head with clichéd characterizations and language. What clichés do exist fit well within the military theme and work well with the overall plot.
I don't actually know if this is a planned series, but it could be. The book works as a stand-alone while also setting up opportunities for ongoing missions, and long lasting feuds with international and demonic foes.
There's plenty of action as Walker and his well-written teammates deploy to several smaller and mid-size missions, which build the plot towards an inevitable large-scale and potentially apocalyptic showdown.
I was a little anxious about the book, which, in lesser-skilled hands could come across as trite or hokey. Ochse, though, has written a believable and thoroughly enjoyable horror-military novel.
I received this book through the Amazon Vine program.
vailynst's review against another edition
3.0
Note:
Good narration but the story failed to keep my interest. 2.5 Stars round up to 3 Stars due to narration. I don't think I would have finished the book if I tried to read this vs listening to an audiobook.
Good narration but the story failed to keep my interest. 2.5 Stars round up to 3 Stars due to narration. I don't think I would have finished the book if I tried to read this vs listening to an audiobook.