Official Review: Empathy and the Birth of the White Army

[Iggy_86]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Empathy and the Birth of the White Army" by Michael Kantor.]

---

Share This Review

---

Empathy and the Birth of the White Army is the story of James Arsenic who awakes and is suddenly thrust into a world of apocalyptic destruction without a single memory about where he is, how he got there, or about whom he himself truly is. The all-powerful White Army has spread its reach all across Japan and is extending itself all over the world spurring James into the decision that he has to do something to stop the devastating bloodshed and annihilation that is taking place. The reader is taken on a journey through different timelines as we follow James’ fight against Empathy, the supposed leader behind the White Army, and James’ own struggles with inner demons and memories that slowly reappear as the story moves along. James’ journey takes him across the whole world where he meets all kinds of different allies (some honest, some treacherous) while he at the same time gains more and more knowledge about his own supernatural powers fighting the demonic minions that have joined forces with the White Army.

It took me a couple of chapters to start to get a feel for the book, but once I got it, it was easy and entertaining to follow James on his travels and escapades trying to save the world. A constant sensation of not really knowing what was going on hovered above me reading the book which only made me empathize even more with how the main character himself must have felt. The whole book had a strange and unique vibe that I myself can only compare to a Jason Bourne movie (or Christopher Nolan’s Memento) set in a fantasy/sci-fi setting; a strange mystique of not quite being sure about anything.

Even though the book had major action elements that recurred throughout all chapters, it was not the action itself that made the book entertaining. Personally I actually felt that the action scenes were a bit repetitive and that the dialogues during the action were a bit cliché. Nevertheless this never actually put me off because the story itself was the main attraction in this book. Constantly moving along and giving away more and more information but never enough to make me fully satisfied, the storyline always made me reach for more. I was left wondering and craving for new explanations about what was going on and about what James’ true identity was. The book is, to put it as one of the characters in the story says when talking about James “… such a tease…”

I will withhold from giving away anything more, and I will just say this: I would recommend this as a good read to any reader interested in books in the fantasy/sci-fi genre or to anybody else who just loves reading a unique, suspenseful story that will throw you out of your normal everyday thinking. I have some minor quips with some slight misspellings, missing words and punctuations that appear every other chapter. Personally I am not a reader that is disturbed too much about this, but I do know that some people are.

My final judgment and grade of the book is 3 out of 4 stars. With some tighter dialogue writing during the actions scenes, and some more read-through’s I might have given it a higher grade. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable and unique book to read, well worth the time for people who are already familiar with the genre and are keen on seeing a different spin to the quite familiar story of “man setting out to save the world”.

***
Buy "Empathy and the Birth of the White Army" on Amazon