I don’t usually read series that are all rolled into one book. But, this came to me at a very special price so I took the opportunity. After reading the first book in Jan ’16, I figured I’d get around to reading more later. So now I have read book two and the series is pretty good although I have to warn everyone, these books are very gruesome.
There this Special Ops Team that has been formed some time in the ’60 and the gotten better through the years since the US Government finally admitted there were parahumans among us. Parahumans are those people that have some kind of almost magical power(s) which set them apart from normal humans. A lot of these people can control their power for good and do so on a regular basis. Then again, a lot don’t want to control their power and put it to evil or criminal use. I won’t explain how we came to have parahumans, just say it’s in our genes and mostly evolved way back prior to Noah and the flood. The trait or traits have either evolved and become strong or the person has very little power so their “special” talent can’t be used much.
Colonel Mark Kenslir is the Commander of Section 1039, “The Black Sabers”, He was first killed in 1962, and has been killed, I believe seven times since then. Yes, I said killed. You see, Colonel Kenslir is or was the first “Stone Soldier”, a man who was once turned to stone only to be revived in the Fountain of Youth. I’m not going to explain all the background, you have to read book one to get all that. Let’s just say that Col Kenslir cannot be killed in any normal way. He can’t be hurt either, by anything. Magic has not effect on him and neither do other parahuman abilities. He recruits a group of soldiers, the Stone Soldiers, who have died by one means or another, but have been revived in the Fountain of Youth so they can fight with Col. Kenslir. Read the first book.
Now they are after a shapeshifter. He was thought to have been killed in the first book, but managed to get away from his capture situation and now is looking for his brothers. Both of these brothers are pre-flood giants who now have the ability to change shapes to anything they want. That is anything who’s heart they have eaten! Now obviously, this is the gruesome part. There is a lot of people in the book getting their hearts ripped out with these shapeshifter then eating those beating hearts. They also will consume the whole human body if hungry enough. Through this process, they absorb the essence of the person, his or her memories and life-force. They can now become that person if they want to escape or to surprise other unsuspecting humans.
So, Kenslir and his team must track down this shapeshifter and prevent him from finding his brother. One of these is enough to cause a lot of problems; two might be too much for anybody to defeat. The writing is good, if not gross! A some other times, I might have passed on these books due to all the bloody scenes, but they’ve become so common now that I’m kind of numb to those episodes. Now I just want to see this monsters torn to shreds.
On to book three. By the way, there is another Omnibus Vol. 2. I think I’ll read it, but with something mild in-between!