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katherineep's review
4.0
In an action oriented book I normally find that character development is one of the things that gets left out. The characters tend to be one dimensional, the good guys can't be beaten and the bad guys are villainous-ly evil. One of the things I loved most about this book was that this is the exception to that rule. Eytan is kind of awesome. He's this giant man who was basically designed to be a killing machine yet he lives by his code of ethics. He lets compassion for the innocent drive him instead of hatred for the enemy. He's funny, charismatic, watches Kung Fu movies in his free time but when he has too he can also kill 3 heavily armed soldiers in seconds. While Elena is less likable I did begin to empathize with her. The good guys were profiting from discoveries made in the most inhumane ways possible, the bad guys had some good intentions, The plot kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next and what would become of Elena and Eytan.
Cons: There was a lot of jumping around both in terms of location and timeline. While the change in locations was fun the changes in timelines made it feel a little disjointed. While all the flashbacks were helpful to character development, it always took me a page or two to get re-involved in the story.
Overall: While this wasn't perfect I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller. The characters were what really made this book enjoyable for me which I find unusual for this genre. This is the second book in the series but I had no problems jumping into the story. I didn't feel like not reading the first book impacted my enjoyment.
Edit review: http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-shiro-project-blog-tour-review.html
Cons: There was a lot of jumping around both in terms of location and timeline. While the change in locations was fun the changes in timelines made it feel a little disjointed. While all the flashbacks were helpful to character development, it always took me a page or two to get re-involved in the story.
Overall: While this wasn't perfect I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller. The characters were what really made this book enjoyable for me which I find unusual for this genre. This is the second book in the series but I had no problems jumping into the story. I didn't feel like not reading the first book impacted my enjoyment.
Edit review: http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-shiro-project-blog-tour-review.html
canada_matt's review
3.0
In Khara's second Consortium Thriller novel, the reader learns much more about Eytan Morg,after the stunning revelations revealed in the latter chapters of the opening book. With the facilities of the Bleiberg Project destroyed, those who run the Consortium are left scrambling to assert themselves on the world scene. Their target remains Eytan, whose super strength and inability to age could come in handy, should they be able to turn him, even temporarily.By kidnapping a man close to Eytan, the Ubermensch agrees to work with his nemesis and for the Consortium to complete a single mission. Eyton must explore the occurrences in a small Czech town where all its citizen are mysteriously killed and burned alive. Eyton discovers that it is some form of biological weapon with ties back to wartime-Japan, controlled by a group who make the Consortium seem tame. Eyton rushes from the Czech Republic to Japan to piece it all together, Khara takes the reader on another historical ride to see how scientific experimentation by the Axis powers could be more deplorable than first thought possible. An interesting second instalment in the series that may entertain the reader curious in passing a little free time.
While it might be the translation or simply the premise, the story is not as thrilling as the opening novel, though the potential remains. Khara does a decent job depicting Eytan in this struggle to find himself after being a Nazi experiment in his Warsaw ghetto. As Eyton plays a central role in the story and offers the reader more insight into his backstory, the pace of the novel was somewhat subdued and did not have the same propelled action as I would have hoped or expected. The reader is offered some horrific historical glimpses into the Japanese atrocities inflicted during the War and can only speculate as to the sadistic nature of the experiments undertaken in the name of science. Khara has surely done his research in that domain.
Kudos, M. Khara for another interesting instalment of the series. I hope the next novel has more action and stamina, to return the series to its thrilling status.
Like/hate this review? An ever-growing collection of reviews can be found at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
While it might be the translation or simply the premise, the story is not as thrilling as the opening novel, though the potential remains. Khara does a decent job depicting Eytan in this struggle to find himself after being a Nazi experiment in his Warsaw ghetto. As Eyton plays a central role in the story and offers the reader more insight into his backstory, the pace of the novel was somewhat subdued and did not have the same propelled action as I would have hoped or expected. The reader is offered some horrific historical glimpses into the Japanese atrocities inflicted during the War and can only speculate as to the sadistic nature of the experiments undertaken in the name of science. Khara has surely done his research in that domain.
Kudos, M. Khara for another interesting instalment of the series. I hope the next novel has more action and stamina, to return the series to its thrilling status.
Like/hate this review? An ever-growing collection of reviews can be found at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
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