Connor Ewing

The way the book was pitched to me was: If you want a book about the battle between "angels" and "fallen angels," mythology coming alive in the modern world, and the story unfurling as a role-playing action shooter video game in the form of a book ... then this is for you. The relevance to current media, references to pop culture and a semi-grounded protagonist, made the story work for me. I am a longtime fan of high fantasy, and sci-fi and Arise: Alpha beautifully blends the best of both worlds. It felt akin to Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy, but inverted. I loved every moment of it. I experienced some mild paranoia that certain characters weren't all that they seemed, and was pleasantly surprised around every bend.