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vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
10/2/20 Notes:
- Audiobook re-read was great.
- Adding to Favorites
- Cersei is pretty cool & still sad about Grace.
- Sallie is a wanker & awesome. =)
- Audiobook re-read was great.
- Adding to Favorites
- Cersei is pretty cool & still sad about Grace.
- Sallie is a wanker & awesome. =)
finalgirlreads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
3.5
Already a great budding sense of mystery and the shock at another national tragedy with the reader having already an idea of who is behind it.
Story does a pretty good job of briefly catching you up on events that happened in short stories that take place within the Joe Ledger universe. I've not yet read them but at least now I have a bit of an idea of things that happened.
This novel has a lot going on even relatively early. We see some returning characters with some tie ins from the previous two books in the Joe Ledger series and a lot of people playing a part in some sort of massive takedown
Getting some backstory that pertains to the events leading up to what kick started this book. Sort of a behind the scenes peak that I really like. So much mystery and fear in this book that is just mind boggling.
Story does a pretty good job of briefly catching you up on events that happened in short stories that take place within the Joe Ledger universe. I've not yet read them but at least now I have a bit of an idea of things that happened.
This novel has a lot going on even relatively early. We see some returning characters with some tie ins from the previous two books in the Joe Ledger series and a lot of people playing a part in some sort of massive takedown
Getting some backstory that pertains to the events leading up to what kick started this book. Sort of a behind the scenes peak that I really like. So much mystery and fear in this book that is just mind boggling.
monty_reads's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Three volumes in, and Jonathan Maberry's action/horror series continues to be the high-water mark for this kind of thing. This time around, Joe Ledger and his team in the Department of Military Sciences face off (in best James Bond fashion) against a global cabal called the Seven Kings, a collection of prominent world figures set on unleashing the Ten Biblical Plagues on the world. It's preposterous in the best sense of the word, and it's to Maberry's credit that even though disbelief often has to be suspended by an increasingly complicated series of ropes and pulleys, it never teeters over into silliness.
Part of the reason why Maberry's work succeeds as well as it does is that the author frequently taps into the here and now, most importantly a sense of post-9/11 paranoia. Bombings, ebola, military sabotage – nothing is off the table for the Seven Kings, and their seeming invisibility and omnipresence lends a frantic sense of urgency to Ledger's hunt. Maberry leavens the tension with a welcome sense of gallows humor, and this uneasy – but wholly successful – high-wire act is the very definition of a page-turner.
Half a star removed for a "secret" plot twist that gets telegraphed early and often and whose reveal is still treated as a major revelation, and a weird conversation Ledger has with U2's Bono in the closing pages. Because why not.
Part of the reason why Maberry's work succeeds as well as it does is that the author frequently taps into the here and now, most importantly a sense of post-9/11 paranoia. Bombings, ebola, military sabotage – nothing is off the table for the Seven Kings, and their seeming invisibility and omnipresence lends a frantic sense of urgency to Ledger's hunt. Maberry leavens the tension with a welcome sense of gallows humor, and this uneasy – but wholly successful – high-wire act is the very definition of a page-turner.
Half a star removed for a "secret" plot twist that gets telegraphed early and often and whose reveal is still treated as a major revelation, and a weird conversation Ledger has with U2's Bono in the closing pages. Because why not.
authormichaelkelso's review against another edition
5.0
Joe Ledger is back and he brought his smartass sense of humor with him this time. The last book had a little bit of a departure from his sense of humor. This book brings it back with a vengeance. I especially loved when he first gets introduced to Aunt Sally. That scene is classic. I listened to it over and over again, laughing each time.
This book also features the less than triumphant return of Gault and Toys. Their relationship makes these characters more interesting than just the stock bad guys. The reader is never sure how their relationship is going.
Also with Joe we find him returning to the DMS, given glimpses of a side story of what he was doing while he was away. Once again he is thrown into the fire and is already behind as they find out that there is a plot to destroy the world.
I like the way Jonathan Maberry has been handling these characters, especially Joe and Church. He metes out a small amount of insight at a time as to who they are, what they want, and why they do what they do. Joe especially is a very human character with faults and frailties instead of just being an emotionless badass. I find that this adds amazing depth to the character. The internal conflict that the reader sees him go through on a regular basis makes him very accessible through his doubts and fears.
The other addition that I really liked in this book was Joe’s German Shepherd, Ghost. At first, Ghost seems like a prop, but as the story goes along, Ghost begins to show his own personality. It is definitely a sidekick role but as the story progresses we see the relationship between Joe and Ghost which is deeper than a trained dog and his handler.
The storyline was interesting. It wasn’t immediately a doomsday plot and Mr. Maberry did a great job of milking the mythology of secret groups and adding his own slant to it while making it seem plausible instead of cliched, which it easily could’ve become.
Once again there was a great amount of tension as we watch the villains systematically execute their plot and watch the DMS struggle to catch up. As the story continues and Joe discovers what is happening piece by piece, the seeming infallibility of the group is chipped away.
One of the other new characters is Santoro, a devoted madman whose character definitely evokes strong emotions. I felt myself wanting to harm this person at several points for the things that he had done. The villains were done quite well not only in Santoro but also the Seven Kings who were the group behind the scenes, driving the whole nefarious plot.
The plot itself was less supernatural this time and more about a group who wanted to profit from mass destruction, however, their web of deception was so well done and so well written that I found myself more interested in this story than the first two.
The only real supernatural component was the character Nicodemus, who was creepy and very interesting, and I could easily see being a continuing thorn in Joe’s side throughout other books.
If anything, this book had more of an emotional impact than the other two, with the exception of a certain scene in The Dragon Factory, because it really showed the depths an individual can be coerced to do to save those they love. It was emotional because Santoro took good people, caring people, who were absolutely devoted to the people they love and turn that against them and use them for unconscionable acts of evil.
I listened to this book on Audible, and once again Ray Porter’s narration was excellent. Again his narration involved me in the story in a way that the book would not be able to.
Another new character that I liked was Sercie. When she started out she was a very dry character until she introduced herself to Joe. That scene in itself was completely hysterical, and I really liked that they brought her in as a former friend of Grace’s.
Another thing I liked about this book was the plot. In Patient Zero and The Dragon Factory, I guessed a majority of the ending about halfway through the book. With this book, I had no idea what was coming until the very end. I was happy with a plot that kept me guessing and at the same time was brilliant in its own simplicity. I enjoyed not guessing the ending halfway through the book.
Overall, another very interesting and involving book that continues to grow the main characters. I look forward to the next.
This book also features the less than triumphant return of Gault and Toys. Their relationship makes these characters more interesting than just the stock bad guys. The reader is never sure how their relationship is going.
Also with Joe we find him returning to the DMS, given glimpses of a side story of what he was doing while he was away. Once again he is thrown into the fire and is already behind as they find out that there is a plot to destroy the world.
I like the way Jonathan Maberry has been handling these characters, especially Joe and Church. He metes out a small amount of insight at a time as to who they are, what they want, and why they do what they do. Joe especially is a very human character with faults and frailties instead of just being an emotionless badass. I find that this adds amazing depth to the character. The internal conflict that the reader sees him go through on a regular basis makes him very accessible through his doubts and fears.
The other addition that I really liked in this book was Joe’s German Shepherd, Ghost. At first, Ghost seems like a prop, but as the story goes along, Ghost begins to show his own personality. It is definitely a sidekick role but as the story progresses we see the relationship between Joe and Ghost which is deeper than a trained dog and his handler.
The storyline was interesting. It wasn’t immediately a doomsday plot and Mr. Maberry did a great job of milking the mythology of secret groups and adding his own slant to it while making it seem plausible instead of cliched, which it easily could’ve become.
Once again there was a great amount of tension as we watch the villains systematically execute their plot and watch the DMS struggle to catch up. As the story continues and Joe discovers what is happening piece by piece, the seeming infallibility of the group is chipped away.
One of the other new characters is Santoro, a devoted madman whose character definitely evokes strong emotions. I felt myself wanting to harm this person at several points for the things that he had done. The villains were done quite well not only in Santoro but also the Seven Kings who were the group behind the scenes, driving the whole nefarious plot.
The plot itself was less supernatural this time and more about a group who wanted to profit from mass destruction, however, their web of deception was so well done and so well written that I found myself more interested in this story than the first two.
The only real supernatural component was the character Nicodemus, who was creepy and very interesting, and I could easily see being a continuing thorn in Joe’s side throughout other books.
If anything, this book had more of an emotional impact than the other two, with the exception of a certain scene in The Dragon Factory, because it really showed the depths an individual can be coerced to do to save those they love. It was emotional because Santoro took good people, caring people, who were absolutely devoted to the people they love and turn that against them and use them for unconscionable acts of evil.
I listened to this book on Audible, and once again Ray Porter’s narration was excellent. Again his narration involved me in the story in a way that the book would not be able to.
Another new character that I liked was Sercie. When she started out she was a very dry character until she introduced herself to Joe. That scene in itself was completely hysterical, and I really liked that they brought her in as a former friend of Grace’s.
Another thing I liked about this book was the plot. In Patient Zero and The Dragon Factory, I guessed a majority of the ending about halfway through the book. With this book, I had no idea what was coming until the very end. I was happy with a plot that kept me guessing and at the same time was brilliant in its own simplicity. I enjoyed not guessing the ending halfway through the book.
Overall, another very interesting and involving book that continues to grow the main characters. I look forward to the next.
booksonthebrain20's review against another edition
4.0
I cannot believe I almost got rid of this book. I did a massive unhaul last year, and I almost got rid of this book, and that was ridiculous. I love this book. It's so incredibly good. Jonathan Maberry is such a good writer.
Let's start with Joe Ledger. Joe is a smart ass, confident, a little arrogant, He's very good at his job, which is to lead Echo Team, a group of elite men and women who fight all the strange stuff the world puts out. What I love about Joe is that he's deeply vulnerable, not afraid to admit when he's scared or upset or, in this book, grieving. He's a very real character and I couldn't love him more.
The Seven Kings organization is terrifying. We're brought into it through Sebastian Gault, one of the villains in the first novel, Patient Zero. Here, Gault is damaged, bruised, and reeling and oh so very ready to take revenge on the world. He's quickly drawn into the mystique of the Seven Kings and falls into adoring worship of the Goddess, a woman named Eris.
And then there's my favorite character, Toys. Toys is Gault's assistant, the power behind the throne, which is a trope I love. He's ruthless and heartless, but inconveniently starts growing something like a conscious during this book and becomes conflicted. He alone can see that the Goddess is just an aging woman who wants to destroy for destruction sake, but he can't break the bonds he has with Gault.
The book is a very fast read. Maberry writes incredibly short chapters that entice you to keep reading, and I tore through it in a couple of days. I thought that right now this book would be too heavy, but it turns out to be just what I needed: an action packed, suspenseful thriller with great characters and a twisting plot that kept me reading.
Let's start with Joe Ledger. Joe is a smart ass, confident, a little arrogant, He's very good at his job, which is to lead Echo Team, a group of elite men and women who fight all the strange stuff the world puts out. What I love about Joe is that he's deeply vulnerable, not afraid to admit when he's scared or upset or, in this book, grieving. He's a very real character and I couldn't love him more.
The Seven Kings organization is terrifying. We're brought into it through Sebastian Gault, one of the villains in the first novel, Patient Zero. Here, Gault is damaged, bruised, and reeling and oh so very ready to take revenge on the world. He's quickly drawn into the mystique of the Seven Kings and falls into adoring worship of the Goddess, a woman named Eris.
And then there's my favorite character, Toys. Toys is Gault's assistant, the power behind the throne, which is a trope I love. He's ruthless and heartless, but inconveniently starts growing something like a conscious during this book and becomes conflicted. He alone can see that the Goddess is just an aging woman who wants to destroy for destruction sake, but he can't break the bonds he has with Gault.
The book is a very fast read. Maberry writes incredibly short chapters that entice you to keep reading, and I tore through it in a couple of days. I thought that right now this book would be too heavy, but it turns out to be just what I needed: an action packed, suspenseful thriller with great characters and a twisting plot that kept me reading.
toastx2's review against another edition
4.0
Due to risk of wanting to shout out plot details, I am going to step away from the keyboard pretty quickly.
Buy all three of these books and let me know what you think of them.
They are worth the time, and are an excellent mixture of thriller/horror/military fiction.
Often times, the sequel in a series of novels is difficult to get through. You are left thinking, “This was not as good as the first” or “this is not how I thought the characters would grow”. You get to the third in a series and hit the same road block, often times worse, and are left with an “Okay, but not great” feeling. King of Plagues is the third in Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, and it (as well as Dragon Factory) does not fall into this trap. They are friggin’ awesome.
In a nutshell, The Department of Military Sciences (DMS) tracks is a black book organization in the United States that acts as the last line of defense on key/critical counter-terrorism issues. There are things that the public just doesn’t need to know. There are situations and people in the world that the mere existence of could cause a lifetime of insomnia. The DMS exists to ensure that the people who dream up and carry out these plots are put in the ground and pissed on, twice.
Captain Joe Ledger joined the DMS approximately half a year back (book time). He has been key in stopping multiple high level terrorist acts which would impact not only the US, but the welfare of humanity in general. These are Nasty, Nasty things like biological warfare with 100% airborne communicability, genetic modification/manipulation on a global scale..
Taking a break from what has to be one of the highest stress jobs on the planet, Joe is wandering Europe with his dog Ghost. He receives a call from Church, the mysterious figurehead of the DMS, and is brought into a situation in London where 4000+ people have died in a hospital explosion. Working with Barrier (the UK equiv of the DMS), Joe is immediately consumed with the task of fighting nightmares.
Interestingly enough, fighting intangible nightmares might be easier. You can just wake up and put a nightmare behind you. The shit that is hitting the fan in waking life is amorphous and impossible to track down.
Fans of the series may find this book a bit hard to follow compared to the previous novels. The chapters are laid out in a way that carries the current plot line in conjunction with perspective from the baddies over four months prior to current.After getting used to it, this format works really well. So if it deters you at first, power through it and I am sure you will be loving it.
Not to give any kind of spoiler, but the Ledger series was supposed to be a trilogy. The end of this novel leaves a lot of room for Maberry to expand if he decides to. Honestly, I hope he does. it is not common for me to sit raptly waiting for a book installment, but I would be willing to do so.
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
Buy all three of these books and let me know what you think of them.
They are worth the time, and are an excellent mixture of thriller/horror/military fiction.
Often times, the sequel in a series of novels is difficult to get through. You are left thinking, “This was not as good as the first” or “this is not how I thought the characters would grow”. You get to the third in a series and hit the same road block, often times worse, and are left with an “Okay, but not great” feeling. King of Plagues is the third in Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, and it (as well as Dragon Factory) does not fall into this trap. They are friggin’ awesome.
In a nutshell, The Department of Military Sciences (DMS) tracks is a black book organization in the United States that acts as the last line of defense on key/critical counter-terrorism issues. There are things that the public just doesn’t need to know. There are situations and people in the world that the mere existence of could cause a lifetime of insomnia. The DMS exists to ensure that the people who dream up and carry out these plots are put in the ground and pissed on, twice.
Captain Joe Ledger joined the DMS approximately half a year back (book time). He has been key in stopping multiple high level terrorist acts which would impact not only the US, but the welfare of humanity in general. These are Nasty, Nasty things like biological warfare with 100% airborne communicability, genetic modification/manipulation on a global scale..
Taking a break from what has to be one of the highest stress jobs on the planet, Joe is wandering Europe with his dog Ghost. He receives a call from Church, the mysterious figurehead of the DMS, and is brought into a situation in London where 4000+ people have died in a hospital explosion. Working with Barrier (the UK equiv of the DMS), Joe is immediately consumed with the task of fighting nightmares.
Interestingly enough, fighting intangible nightmares might be easier. You can just wake up and put a nightmare behind you. The shit that is hitting the fan in waking life is amorphous and impossible to track down.
Fans of the series may find this book a bit hard to follow compared to the previous novels. The chapters are laid out in a way that carries the current plot line in conjunction with perspective from the baddies over four months prior to current.After getting used to it, this format works really well. So if it deters you at first, power through it and I am sure you will be loving it.
Not to give any kind of spoiler, but the Ledger series was supposed to be a trilogy. The end of this novel leaves a lot of room for Maberry to expand if he decides to. Honestly, I hope he does. it is not common for me to sit raptly waiting for a book installment, but I would be willing to do so.
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
cbonnici's review against another edition
4.0
Another great story in the Ledger series. Number of distracting typos in the book and a character reveal early on that I'm wondering whether it was intentional or another editing goof. Looking forward to more stories, perhaps less Avril Lavigne.
arielkirst's review against another edition
2.0
This one was okay. I liked the idea of it, liked the plague part, but it didn't get to the plagues fast enough, and it was a lot of shoot shoot, bang bang for my taste.
shanbitt's review against another edition
3.0
The King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry. This is the third installment in the Joe Ledger series. I listened to the audio version narrated by Ray Porter who is amazing! I have no idea how that guy can have a different voice for all the characters involved. And when he does a woman's voice it sounds like a woman instead of an exaggeration.
The Joe Ledger novels aren't the typical book I'm into with all the black-op special forces and crime solving, but Maberry adds that touch of sci-fi into his novels that I love. The things his villians come up with couldn't exactly happen, but there's enough truth there to make it seem credible. I read the first novel Patient Zero because it had Joe Ledger going up against zombies. I won't review that one here, but maybe later. Basically, a money hungry man funded a mad scientist to create zombies to create pandomonium which would make him rich. Well, money hungry and now completely crazy dude actually shows back up in this installment as... you guessed it- the King of Plagues.
Joe is a cop who was recruited into a secret government group called the Department of Military Sciences or DMS. In this adventure, Joe is in England when a hospital blows up and he is asked to help out the British version of the DMS. There is a secret society of which the King of Plagues is a part, plagues of course (and they use Ebola- my fav exotic disease in as far as it is completely awful), and we get to meet Aunt Sally after hearing so much about her. The author describes her as looking exactly like Whoopi Goldberg, but my version of Aunt Sally is not so much this:
Whoopi Goldberg
but this:
Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder) from Warehouse 13
I guess I just can't reconcile the image of Whoopi Goldberg being this super secret agent that everyone is afraid of, but Mrs. Frederic from Warehouse 13 she is scary. Aunt Sally and Mrs. Frederic could even be the same person. If you haven't seen Warehouse 13 you should, it's great. Awesome characters, comedy, ancient artifacts, what more could you need?
I didn't like The King of Plagues as much as the previous two books. Could be I was a little burnt out on Joe after listening back to back for three books in a row or it could be it took me awhile to get through it due to the holidays. I get kind of tired of Joe's being better than everyone and having to be so macho and antagonistic to every new person he meets. First he gets into a confrontation with a terrorism expert and then with Aunt Sally that could have both been totally avoided. I understand he is the best of the best, but no need to act like a terd about it.
The ebola scenario was pretty exciting and I loved meeting Aunt Sally for the first time. Overall, it was okay. A lot like the other two books. Disaster is imminent, we have no idea what is going on, in the final hour we piece everything together, Joe and his team save the world. I'm looking forward to the next one though. We'll see what cutting edge science Maberry uses this time for a terrorist attack and I've heard there are vampires.
See my full review at: http://zombiephilicbookaholic.blogspot.com/
The Joe Ledger novels aren't the typical book I'm into with all the black-op special forces and crime solving, but Maberry adds that touch of sci-fi into his novels that I love. The things his villians come up with couldn't exactly happen, but there's enough truth there to make it seem credible. I read the first novel Patient Zero because it had Joe Ledger going up against zombies. I won't review that one here, but maybe later. Basically, a money hungry man funded a mad scientist to create zombies to create pandomonium which would make him rich. Well, money hungry and now completely crazy dude actually shows back up in this installment as... you guessed it- the King of Plagues.
Joe is a cop who was recruited into a secret government group called the Department of Military Sciences or DMS. In this adventure, Joe is in England when a hospital blows up and he is asked to help out the British version of the DMS. There is a secret society of which the King of Plagues is a part, plagues of course (and they use Ebola- my fav exotic disease in as far as it is completely awful), and we get to meet Aunt Sally after hearing so much about her. The author describes her as looking exactly like Whoopi Goldberg, but my version of Aunt Sally is not so much this:
Whoopi Goldberg
but this:
Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder) from Warehouse 13
I guess I just can't reconcile the image of Whoopi Goldberg being this super secret agent that everyone is afraid of, but Mrs. Frederic from Warehouse 13 she is scary. Aunt Sally and Mrs. Frederic could even be the same person. If you haven't seen Warehouse 13 you should, it's great. Awesome characters, comedy, ancient artifacts, what more could you need?
I didn't like The King of Plagues as much as the previous two books. Could be I was a little burnt out on Joe after listening back to back for three books in a row or it could be it took me awhile to get through it due to the holidays. I get kind of tired of Joe's being better than everyone and having to be so macho and antagonistic to every new person he meets. First he gets into a confrontation with a terrorism expert and then with Aunt Sally that could have both been totally avoided. I understand he is the best of the best, but no need to act like a terd about it.
The ebola scenario was pretty exciting and I loved meeting Aunt Sally for the first time. Overall, it was okay. A lot like the other two books. Disaster is imminent, we have no idea what is going on, in the final hour we piece everything together, Joe and his team save the world. I'm looking forward to the next one though. We'll see what cutting edge science Maberry uses this time for a terrorist attack and I've heard there are vampires.
See my full review at: http://zombiephilicbookaholic.blogspot.com/