Review of New City Chronicles - Book I - Catching a Spider

[Michael Jerry_]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "New City Chronicles - Book I - Catching a Spider" by E.L. Hendrix.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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E.L. Hendrix is the author of New City Chronicles - Book I - Catching a Spider. He is an indie writer from Atlanta, Georgia. Hendrix worked as an accounting professional for several years, and after he retired, he decided to focus on his career as a writer. New City Chronicles - Book I - Catching a Spider is his first trilogy, and I believe he did a fantastic job.

Most of the book is set in New City, where the Archon reigns supreme. He monitors the activities of the citizens of New City through a highly sophisticated surveillance system called LEOH. With LEOH, the government hears everyone’s conversations, tracks their movement, and can trace ancestral ties. The Archon uses LEOH to hunt for dissidents and to maintain control over New City. We don’t know what the Archon is. However, some say he’s an alien, and others think he’s a vampire or the devil, but we know for sure that he is a dictator with ill intentions towards humanity. Zach, Mark, Ari, and Tabitha know that the worst is yet to come, so they must find a way to free humanity from the grip of the Archon and his kind. But do they have what it takes to put an end to a dictatorship that has lasted for centuries? Can they bring down such a powerful being on their own? Fortunately, this is the first book in this trilogy, so you can read about how things unfold without missing the fun parts.

Hendrix is a bold writer. He writes straightforwardly, without digressing or over-explaining things. He knows how to use his words to take the readers from where they are to where he wants them to be. The characters I met in this book were dynamic and full of life, especially Tabitha, who I admire for her intelligence and quick thinking. She figured out what Mark did when the ministry was clueless and even came up with a plan to rescue some prisoners. She is my favorite character. I liked how the author introduced us to each of the main characters and how he put the flat characters to good use rather than leave them to be lost in the plot. This book is also filled with suspense, and a great example is when Mark was being searched and interrogated by the ministry.

At first, this book was a bit confusing to me. It had a slow pace, and the author used some unconventional names that were hard to recall. He also threw in a lot of acronyms that described things like scientific terms or names of agencies in New City. I would read an acronym and not know what the author was referring to. Fortunately, he included a glossary of terms and acronyms that I used to remind myself of what some acronyms meant. There was nothing about this book that made me hate it enough to make me remove a star because the more I read the book, the more I liked it. I got used to the slew of unconventional names and acronyms that the author used throughout the book, and I grew eager to see what was next for our protagonists.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because it has everything that makes a book appealing to me. I didn’t rate it lower because the few things I disliked about this book did not affect my reading experience negatively, and I believe that this book received exceptional editing from a professional. Furthermore, I recommend this book to adults over the age of 18 who would love to be tossed into a futuristic world. Lovers of science fiction, magic, and adventure will also enjoy this book. Teenagers can equally pick this book up to keep themselves preoccupied.

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New City Chronicles - Book I - Catching a Spider
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[Kingsley Emodi]

Science fiction isn't my favorite genre, but I'm sure lovers of the genre will enjoy this book. Great review.

[marta baglioni]

This seems like an interesting book. I wanna know what the Archon is! Thank you for the great review

[Ekezie1998]

Quite an intriguing plot we have here. Would definitely love to have this book on my shelf. Great review here.

[NetMassimo]

Mass surveillance is a hot issue today, so a dystopic future based on such a premise is more than ever developed in literature. This novel seems to offer an intriguing depiction of such a future. Thank you for your great review!