Outre War: Book One
by
After a series of dreams where he relives a female espionage agent's 1972 missions, slightly overweight, slightly narcoleptic, slightly middle-aged, chronically single and gay James is shocked to learn the shadowy events really occurred. When operatives with dream-related powers show up in his life looking for him, he needs to find someone who can teach him to use his bloodline's supernatural abilities. His strange dreams lead him to unlikely help - a young reaper who fancies herself a Valkyrie. Halldora's a closeted gamer-chick who grew up in the half-hidden world of the Outré. She'll show him how to survive if she can get over her own baggage. With a little luck, and a lot of help, James might just figure everything out. Right after he gets these Sandman agents off his tail.
I’m a woman this time. That’s a first. She’s a young adult, and I can feel that she’s good at what she does… which is to say I think she sleeps with men to gather information for her… what? Her Country? Her Company? Her Family? The context of “for whom” is muddled in this particular dream.
READ MOREThe car, I’m pretty sure it’s hers, is rocketing along. I suddenly know she’s going to meet with the head of her agency… family… whatever. She checks her makeup in the mirror. It’s perfect. She’s going for the right combination of professional woman and groovy go-go dancer. She tilts the mirror to double-check that her blouse is unbuttoned just enough to show the upper curve of cleavage. Satisfied, she looks back at the mirror. Looking directly into her own brown eyes, she says, “Remember,” and pushes an emotional spike of energy out with the word. In that instant, everything comes sharply into focus, colors brighten, and any vestige of dream fuzziness vanishes completely. Satisfied again, she returns her attention to the road. She is leaving the city, though I can’t tell which one. Traffic is moderate, but moving normally. About twenty minutes later, she has her sapphire Chevelle on the open highway. She kicks off the toe-pinching heels and pushes down on the accelerator, thrilled at the feeling of the engine’s vibration on her bare foot through the silky nylons.
Somewhere in the country, she turns at a gold and red barn and shoots down an unmarked country road. Snaking between several copses of trees, she comes upon a gate with a guardhouse. Within the context of this dream, she brings to mind one of her own recent dreams and mentally pushes it at the guard...
COLLAPSEWendy Stone on Amazon.com wrote:I love being able to give 5-stars to books. Especially when I wish I could them 6-stars. Slumberscythe is an amazing story with a MC that we can all relate to. The story is impressive and the writing is top notch. James the MC is your basic average guy who happens to learn he is anything but average or basic. The idea of people able to come into your dreams or see when you’re about to die is terrifying and fascinating. I enjoyed following James on his journey and learning just as he was, what is a state and where he came from.
The mix of characters as nice and I never felt like anything was being fake or being pushed on us. I enjoyed bouncing from past to present and the way the author handled this was spot on.
I hope the next book comes out soon because I really want to see what happens to James and the rest of the Outré who he has met.
Lady Jaguar on Amazon.com wrote:Ok, first let me just say that Sci-fi is a genre that’s a little bit outside my comfort zone. I’m always afraid that I won’t “get” what the story is about or what the author is saying and then it will just be a trip down the rabbit hole and I would be hopelessly lost. That was absolutely NOT the case with this story. It is a very complex world and there’s a TON of stuff going on, but it’s so well thought out and written so well that I was able to stay right with it through the entire book. His world building was flawless IMO.
I was able to connect with all of the characters. They are warm and feel very real. I love that James is written as a smart enough character that he’s able to piece together a few things so he wasn’t completely taken by surprise to discover that the world he lives in isn’t quite all that he knew it to be. I also love that he’s ready as a mature (and what he thinks of himself as average) adult to take this adventure. Seems that most of the Sci-fi that I’ve read has young people who are just starting out in the world. And in Vance Bastian’s world, things are so closely woven into what we see everyday that it made me step back and think a couple of times. I had to remind myself that it was only a book, that’s just how wonderfully written this story is. The Sandmen and Reapers were amazing. The action fast paced and LOTS of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat.
If you like Sci-fi I can’t recommend this book highly enough, it’s brilliant!
First, a heads up. In the present day, James, an otherwise normal young man begins to relive the life of a female espionage agent, circa 1972. She extracts information and power from the dreams of others and through his dreams, teaches him that he has supernatural abilities of his own.
Whilst awake, he begins to experiment and as a result attracts the unhealthy attention of a shadowy organisation who have been trying to find him since he was born, in order to experiment on him.
As he is pursued by sinister men in black suits, he is joined by an aggressive gamer-chick whose motives seem suspect, and his Aunt Margaret, easily the most engaging character in the book after James, who is rather sweet and wide-eyed and hapless as he figures out what the hell is going on.
I loved Vance Bastian’s writing style. From the jaw-dropping first line to the glorious, gory description of what happens one when evil bastard’s dreams are infiltrated, I loved the sense of humour. The observations he makes about American life are, especially to an outsider who has experienced some of it, are hilarious, especially the Wal-Mart chapter. “No-one leaves Wal-Mart unscathed” is comic genius.
The story is pretty complex, and for a first in a series, there was a lot to set up and explain. For the most part, this was something I could follow but not all the time. I found myself thinking, “right, I get it” when actually I SO didn’t. There is an enormous cast of characters, all of whom had a relevant role to play, but that made it quite a lot to take in. You couldn’t read this book with TV on in the background. There’s too much to concentrate on.
But in the end, that was why I loved it. It was an immersive experience, a book to lose yourself in. I rarely say that about a story. Because of the complexity of the plot, it was not a book to be easily put down and left for a couple of days.
If I had one criticism, it would be that James seemed to bumble through these extraordinary events, kind of taking it in his stride a little too easily. I would be, like, “aaahhhhh!!!” and trying to read peoples’ auras all over the place, dipping in and out of dreams and being insufferable about it but he’s just, “it’s so cool,” and that is it. When things get difficult, all he has to do is dream and his mom would give him the answer. Also, I didn’t feel the chemistry between them as mother and son, but conversely, I loved the way she “edited out” parts of her life that he really wouldn’t want to know about (the night she and Jame’s father created him, being one example.)
The book was very well-written, with an evenly-paced plot, sharp dialogue and observations. I loved the cover and the title (which is explained in the book). All in all, it was a pretty damned classy affair. I can't wait for the next one.