Eclipsing the Tide by C.G. Jaquish
Supervillain Excels at Everything
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 Stars
Raised in
a bend-over-backwards, uber-strict manner to foster martial prowess &
especially consciencelessness, Eclipse nonetheless discovers scruples along
the way. By completing impossible trials,
earning the rank of general for her battalion & annihilating the paranoid king’s
enemies singlehandedly, she unwittingly crosses a threshold from indispensable
to dangerous, becoming the throne’s number one threat.
This is
the first book in an eight-part series.
My initiation to the saga was book two, the unforgettable Eclipsing the
Flames. An unlikely benefit to
circumstantially starting after the beginning for me was connecting to the
older, wiser Joey character without experiencing both sides of his story. This foolish, spiteful unevolved version is a
total jerk who I justifiably disliked, all nostalgia aside.
So, the Asylum
realm’s thoroughly amazing, from science/magic technology & cool wild
animals to interesting strategy/intrigue & comical clerical errors, but I
loved the characters best. Eclipse rocks
& adapts, never giving up despite rigged contests & sub-zilch odds. Somehow, maybe unconsciously, she understands
how slaughtering all the civilians of a defeated nation is wrong. Even though she obeys her father & does
just that, it’s not a solo job but she shoulders that burden herself anyway, thereby
sparing her soldiers from executing women & children. Acre cares about Eclipse but the question is:
What’s his agenda? Who gave Eclipse the letter revealing top
secret projects? As Victor plots to
conquer the whole world, someone actually schemes against him. Although Eclipse isn’t involved, she’s not
politically savvy. Can she avoid
unwarranted suspicions & capital punishment?
Other
fantastic takeaways: Witty dialogue,
vivid descriptions & ironic explanations (“That in no way constitutes the
future as factual information.”). How well
Eclipse wears the unemotional, Terminator-inspired persona (“She was a
machine. A weapon.”) she’ll partially
outgrow. Eclipse quipping about a dagger
like John Rambo & his “hunting” knife.
And a little Romeo & Juliette tragedy among strangers goes a long
way in contrasting even an illusion of a faint hope versus the finality of
suicide.
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