Review by Bhuvana Subramanyam -- The Hand Bringer

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 25 May 2020, 05:57

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

4 out of 4 stars

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The first thing I want to mention is that, as soon as I started reading, hours just flew like seconds. I couldn’t stop myself until I finished reading the whole book. The Hand Bringer by Christopher J. Penington is a science fiction presenting Peter Hadrian and Luke McElroy as main characters. As we delve deeper we encounter several other characters carrying prominence. Peter is a handsome, courageous, and fierce man whereas Luke is kind, intelligent, and a loyal friend. They consider themselves as brothers and would risk their own lives to save another from harm.

At the beginning of the story, Peter is a grieving father and a widower. Every day he grieves for his son's loss; remember every aspect of the day when he found his son's bloodied clothes along with his wife's dead body. He never knew if his son was alive and never found his body.

One day, during his routine police patrol, Peter gets called in to check on a house break-in. As he entered the house, he saw a burglar perched in the roof and waiting to attack him. The burglar was unbelievably fast and attacked Peter with lightning speed. He somehow kills the burglar even though he was mortally wounded. Luke immediately responds to aid peter. Mysteriously, the FBI intervenes and transports them into a secret underground facility where Peter and Luke become refugees of ASA.

ASA or Apocalypse Suppression Administration is a secret branch of the government. They explain that the burglar was a vampire and also that, vampirism spreads through a virus. Peter survives the antidote trial and becomes resistant to the virus. ASA, as part of their mission to save the world, genetically modifies Peter into a superhuman. ASA convinces them to join their mission in eradicating vampirism from its source, which they believed was Vlad Dracula, ruler of Wallachia. They send Peter, Luke and a few others to travel back in time to Medieval Roman periods to assassinate Vlad Dracula, The impaler!

I rate the book, four out of four. The book is elegantly composed and nicely edited. I liked two things most about the book. First, is the author’s description of characters and illustration of the surroundings and nature. For example, “Speckled among the evergreens were other trees: oak and beech, naked with their fallen leaves strewn along the path, all under a thin layer of snow from a previous flurry. Dusk was upon them, but the last light of day was fading at a snail’s pace." I loved the characters of Theodoric and Bat and I thoroughly enjoyed the humor they brought into the story.

The second thing I liked most is the closure. The author gave a fitting closure to every prominent character and the story.

The book contains few erotic descriptions and ambiguous sentences. I rate the erotic descriptions, three out of five. I also observed mild to strong profanity. More than a few times the writing illustrates violence, battle scenarios, and human and animal mutilations. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend this book to young readers and others who don’t like violence.

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The Hand Bringer
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Stalantilaz · Post by **Stalantilaz** » 31 May 2020, 18:53

I also enjoyed Reading the book and agree with your views. You have gone into greater detail to give a brief description of the book and I think that's beautiful. Nice review

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 07 Jun 2020, 13:23

Stalantilaz wrote: ↑31 May 2020, 18:53 I also enjoyed Reading the book and agree with your views. You have gone into greater detail to give a brief description of the book and I think that's beautiful. Nice review

Thankyou

bookreviewmi1111 · Post by **bookreviewmi1111** » 19 Jun 2020, 00:08

I enjoyed the book, the characters were built so well to me and they had my interest. Thanks for the nice review!

Tonika632 · Post by **Tonika632** » 19 Jun 2020, 03:21

I agree with you review. It is a nice book to read. Great review!

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 20 Jun 2020, 02:39

bookreviewmi1111 wrote: ↑19 Jun 2020, 00:08 I enjoyed the book, the characters were built so well to me and they had my interest. Thanks for the nice review!

Thank you. Your comment means a lot!

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 20 Jun 2020, 02:45

Tonika632 wrote: ↑19 Jun 2020, 03:21 I agree with you review. It is a nice book to read. Great review!

Yes, it's a great book. Thank you for the comment!

Standor5865 · Post by **Standor5865** » 20 Jun 2020, 04:20

Stories about vampires are usually interesting but also very common. I'm interested in knowing what makes this book stand out.

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 22 Jun 2020, 10:14

The author connected vampirism to a virus! I have never seen such descriptions elsewhere. I think this point makes the book stand out from others. Thank you for your comment. Let me know what you think is different after reading the book. Happy reading!

BookBoyP · Post by **BookBoyP** » 22 Jun 2020, 10:21

Books about vampires aren't usuallyy type, but this one seems to have a well developed plot. I'll consider reading it.

Bhuvana Subramanyam · Post by **Bhuvana Subramanyam** » 05 Jul 2020, 07:53

BookBoyP wrote: ↑22 Jun 2020, 10:21 Books about vampires aren't usuallyy type, but this one seems to have a well developed plot. I'll consider reading it.

Yes, this one is quite interesting. Thank you for the comment!