Review by JaimeAlfonzo -- The Hand Bringer

JaimeAlfonzo · Post by **JaimeAlfonzo** » 16 Apr 2020, 20:24

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Hand Bringer" by Christopher J. Penington.]

4 out of 4 stars

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The Hand Bringer by Christopher Penington is a science fiction mixture of time travel to Europe Dark Age with a vampire outbreak. I read the book in a few hours, I was captivated by the story. The protagonist is Peter Hadrian, a police officer, ex-ranger, of Romanian ascendance, who is tormented by the loss of his five years old child. Other qualities of Hadrian are that he is smart and well-educated.

Unfortunately, Peter has attacked by a vampire and the Apocalypse Suppression Administration or the ASA makes its entry in the plot, the ASA’s scientific Dr. Kolemis tries to stop the conversion of Peter in a vampire. Kolemis finds that Hadrian is immune to the virus-bacteria that causes vampirism named seenjite. The microbial strain of Peter Hadrian gives him super-human strength, nocturnal vision, enhance healing capacities, but without the extreme longevity and the sensibility to the sun.

There is also Luke McElroy, the best friend of Peter, Luke is another police officer; former marine, former college professor; he will be the right hand of Peter. Luke McElroy will always express his opinion; that several time is in opposition to Peter's point of view. The character of Luke McElroy is presented as a loyal but fairly independent collaborator, sometimes despised as an antihero.

Any Tristan needs an Isolde, then the existence of Elisabeth Boni and Boriana, I appreciate the fact that all the female characters are described as intelligent and independent human beings. First, Elisabeth is an intelligence agent with a Romanian passport, her participation all long the story is enigmatic, even erratic. In the case of Boriana, I have the idea that it is the most detailed character in the book. Boriana is described as some kind of Alter Ego of Peter; she suffers for the loss of her newborn girl and an unhappy marriage; her relationship with Hadrian is at least described as unstable.

The principal plot of The Hand Bringer is the vampire apocalypses, due to the high rate of contagiousness of the sickness, it is described that in the present the vampires will overtake the entire world in a few months. The Apocalypse Suppression Administration decides to send five people to Romania in the XV century to stop the beginning of the vampire thread associated with Vlad The Impaler best known as Dracula.

Nothing goes as planned, the heroes found themselves without the expected participants, in a chaotic political situation; the invasion from the Ottoman Empire, Romania is still an ideal. Medieval Romania was divided into three regions Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. All these regions were under the influence of Hungary. It is the Middle Ages, with a plague of undead blood craving vampires.

There are only two minor details that I did not like in the book, the first one is that initially, the book uses virus and microbe almost at the same time to refer to the microscopic agent that causes the vampirism, a few pages later it was explained that there is not one microscopic agent, but two: one virus and one bacteria. I would rather prefer that Penington put this information first. Secondly, one of the characteristics that I loved about the story is the scientific explanation of vampirism, nevertheless, suddenly a religious part made its apparition. From my point of view that was uncalled and unnecessary.

I give this book four stars out of four stars, is truly addictive. The fact that I was able to read the entire book in a few hours speaks about how I liked the story. I believe that The Hand Bringer will be appreciated by young adult science fiction readers. I did not find any typos or grammar errors in the book, It is a well-edited and engaging book.

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The Hand Bringer
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