Unique world build, interesting characters, fighting, social interaction and more!

I took a chance on this (at the time) unrated book and loved it. The author's writing is a bit like Charles Dickens - why use one word when three will do. However, once you're used to it, the book goes by *fast*, and it's not tiresome. The writing fits the character's personality VERY well and is realistic.

The world itself is a unique one - with all my years of D & D, reading dungeon delves and now RPG-lit, this is the first I've come across anything like in this book. There's no magic, just unknown technology from the Ancients and people equivalent to those who lived during Europe's Middle Ages.

The price was very fair considering the length of the book and the quality of author's writing. I do hope he writes a sequel, if not many more. It was a good, fun read and am looking forward to reading more.

Eighty years after the citizens of Shore, Rellios, and their entire world awoke to a world of ancient technological ruins and society wide amnesia, Actaeon hits the scene. Everyone has made the best of life, implementing what tech was easy enough to figure out and simply lining a pre-industrial life. Actaeon however, loves the possibilities that the scientific method employs and fancies himself an engineer. This is the story Actaeon finding his place in the world and taking on projects to make it a better place.

There is also a love story! The author’s prologue reveals that this novel is somehow a dramatized version of he and his wife meeting while playing a game called Redemption. I’m no gamer, but who doesn’t love that idea? Not that the book gets too mushy. Sure, parts would make my tween son cringe, but that is where I would giggle and tell him he’ll understand soon enough! Actaeon may come off as inexperienced with women, but it seems to me like he’s perfectly in his element with this courtship.

It’s not all hugging and doe eyes. There is some gnarly combat! Mostly against monsters that remind me of my middle school Saturday nights spend huddled around the table playing Dungeons and Dragons. It’s so much more fun to root for Wave and Trench (Actaeon’s bodyguards and confidants) to slay when it’s just a scary man eating beastie on the other end of the poker.

The engineer is word-porn for readers who love world building! What better way to discover a fantasy world than to meet the guy who is trying to rebuild it? Actaeon demonstrates various engineering skills like focusing light to make a powerful beam, similar to a laser. I hang around engineers and help them solve problems for a living, so it’s cool to see some shop talk in fantasy!

Handshaw contributed this title for a book listing project I’m working on called My Kinda Geek and when I learned some of the interesting things he included in the story, I had to give it a read! I loved obligation free, no strings attached copy he gifted me and chose to review it all by myself, with my big boy pants on, because I want to. Trench is not lurking in the shadows, waiting for me to upload before he returns my Paperwhite. It’s not like that. I just love talking about good books. I’m happy to add this one to my new domain dedicated to the endeavor! Check out sciencefantasyhub(dot)com for more.

There is a bit of speculation about the race of ancients as well. At one point, Actaeon ponders if the race who inhabited the planet before the society of amnesiacs showed up simply became the unintelligent and uneducated descendants of really smart people. Mike Judge’s film Idiocracy has had me living in fear of such a scenario for years now. Can you make a computer? Didn’t think so!