Official Review: Judas Priest by Eric Stephen Booth
Posted: 05 Mar 2020, 19:56
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Judas Priest" by Eric Stephen Booth.]
In the year 2052, the ongoing war between Earth inhabitants and Mars colonies has intensified. When retribution is sought between warring factions of hermaphrodites, androids, and humanistic hybrid species, violent outbursts ensue. Judas Priest is a sci-fi short story inspired by several of the author’s previous works. Written by Eric Stephen Booth, this eclectic tale is but a small offshoot of an ongoing storyline. While it is a standalone grouping of scenes, the complete backstory of characters, motives, previous battles, and relationships can be found throughout other books in Booth’s Nemesis Horizon Project series.
Near the end of WWII, genetic experiments were secretly done on U.S. Army POWs. A reptilian virus was injected into these prisoners. It successfully produced a human/reptile hybrid. One of the genetically modified, mutant offspring was sent to colonize Mars with an army of Reptilian androids. Some of the other mutant offspring were trained by humans to fight in the futuristic wars against those very same Reptilians. The character of Judas Priest, a recently deceased rebel from the Pleb’s colony on Phobos, recently met his end at the hand of assassins. This story thrusts the reader into the revenge riots in the aftermath of that killing.
In a red spandex suit, there is a hermaphrodite named Ira – a towering ebony man with a forked tongue that can detect pheromones. His on-page nemesis is Parker – a tall, but incredibly slim, ivory CPU-powered woman who has the ability to spit green slime secretions that eat through flesh. They both loved Judas, but Parker gave him a “mercy killing” to allegedly save him from assured torture and humiliation. These two find themselves face to face in the Shanty Town section of Hauptstadt, at the graffiti-covered memorial wall where he was slain.
Hauptstadt citizens are protected by enforcers, who are described as being seven-foot-tall, muscular, fish-skinned, furry people. Gravity pulsator vehicles and hologram communicator devices are at their disposal, and city dwellers of Hauptstadt can enter a domed biosphere that allows them recreation outside of their cave-like conditions. Readers will also envision “consciousness” springing forth from crude nervous systems fashioned from fiber optic wires.
The grammatical errors are numerous, so this short story would benefit greatly from another round of thorough editing. Homophone errors, plurality mistakes, capitalization inconsistencies, missing words and letters, and some issues with verb tenses appear. There are a few minor references to things like “Die Sonne” that are challenging to fully grasp true comprehension and clarity of, without having read the previous novels. These are the only aspects I disliked. Including the one-page prologue, the entire story is 12 pages long. I did enjoy the descriptive prose, intentional character development, and otherworldly sci-fi setting. This tale would effectively entice interested readers into actively seeking out the other books in the related series.
I award Judas Priest a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I feel this book would be appropriate for most mature audiences, as the scenes depicting violence and murder can be a bit graphic. There are themes of betrayal, sacrifice, organ harvest, humiliation, and love, but there are also bio-electromagnetic fields, proton rays, and anti-gravity cycles. This is the author’s 5th published work.
******
Judas Priest
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In the year 2052, the ongoing war between Earth inhabitants and Mars colonies has intensified. When retribution is sought between warring factions of hermaphrodites, androids, and humanistic hybrid species, violent outbursts ensue. Judas Priest is a sci-fi short story inspired by several of the author’s previous works. Written by Eric Stephen Booth, this eclectic tale is but a small offshoot of an ongoing storyline. While it is a standalone grouping of scenes, the complete backstory of characters, motives, previous battles, and relationships can be found throughout other books in Booth’s Nemesis Horizon Project series.
Near the end of WWII, genetic experiments were secretly done on U.S. Army POWs. A reptilian virus was injected into these prisoners. It successfully produced a human/reptile hybrid. One of the genetically modified, mutant offspring was sent to colonize Mars with an army of Reptilian androids. Some of the other mutant offspring were trained by humans to fight in the futuristic wars against those very same Reptilians. The character of Judas Priest, a recently deceased rebel from the Pleb’s colony on Phobos, recently met his end at the hand of assassins. This story thrusts the reader into the revenge riots in the aftermath of that killing.
In a red spandex suit, there is a hermaphrodite named Ira – a towering ebony man with a forked tongue that can detect pheromones. His on-page nemesis is Parker – a tall, but incredibly slim, ivory CPU-powered woman who has the ability to spit green slime secretions that eat through flesh. They both loved Judas, but Parker gave him a “mercy killing” to allegedly save him from assured torture and humiliation. These two find themselves face to face in the Shanty Town section of Hauptstadt, at the graffiti-covered memorial wall where he was slain.
Hauptstadt citizens are protected by enforcers, who are described as being seven-foot-tall, muscular, fish-skinned, furry people. Gravity pulsator vehicles and hologram communicator devices are at their disposal, and city dwellers of Hauptstadt can enter a domed biosphere that allows them recreation outside of their cave-like conditions. Readers will also envision “consciousness” springing forth from crude nervous systems fashioned from fiber optic wires.
The grammatical errors are numerous, so this short story would benefit greatly from another round of thorough editing. Homophone errors, plurality mistakes, capitalization inconsistencies, missing words and letters, and some issues with verb tenses appear. There are a few minor references to things like “Die Sonne” that are challenging to fully grasp true comprehension and clarity of, without having read the previous novels. These are the only aspects I disliked. Including the one-page prologue, the entire story is 12 pages long. I did enjoy the descriptive prose, intentional character development, and otherworldly sci-fi setting. This tale would effectively entice interested readers into actively seeking out the other books in the related series.
I award Judas Priest a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I feel this book would be appropriate for most mature audiences, as the scenes depicting violence and murder can be a bit graphic. There are themes of betrayal, sacrifice, organ harvest, humiliation, and love, but there are also bio-electromagnetic fields, proton rays, and anti-gravity cycles. This is the author’s 5th published work.
******
Judas Priest
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
