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Out of This World SFF is delighted to be one of the many blogs participating in Alexander Darwin's "Step Into the Circle" Blog Tour featuring his book - THE COMBAT CODES! This tour is being co-hosted by Orbit Books as well as my good friend Mihir over at the wonderful Fantasy Book Critic. A past SPFBO Finalist, this novel began as a self-published title until recently being picked up by major publisher Orbit. The revised and slightly revamped edition, complete with an absolutely stunning new cover, is scheduled to officially release in less than a week on June 13th! I'd like to extend a special thank you to Orbit for kindly providing me with an advance copy for review.
So let's get going with my stop on the tour, shall we! First I want to give you a brief description of THE COMBAT CODES, followed by my full review as well as some further information with regard to where you can connect online with author Alexander Darwin and his books. I'll also be letting you know how you can continue to follow this tour with the various other amazing blogs participating.
Back Cover Blurb
In a world long ago ravaged by war, the nations have sworn an armistice never to use weapons of mass destruction again. Instead, highly-skilled warriors known as Grievar Knights represent their nations' interests in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Murray Pearson was once a famed Knight until he suffered a loss that crippled his homeland - but now he's on the hunt to discover the next champion.
In underground and ruthless combat rings, an orphaned boy called Cego is making a name for himself. Murray believes Cego has what it takes to thrive in the world's most prestigious combat academy - but first, Cego must prove himself in the vicious arenas of the underworld. And survival isn't guaranteed.
Review
This book is an action-fest of fighting and quite a lot of fun to be honest. There aren't a lot of lulls in THE COMBAT CODES, which I also enjoyed. The main character Cego is a young boy who is quite adept at this fighting thing, so much so that he falls onto the radar of a former Grievar legend named Murray. Cego has utilized his fighting skills for his entire childhood as a way to potentially crawl out of the streets from whence he came. That golden ticket could just come by way of Murray's invitation to train Cego at the Lyceum, a school for those who are gifted like Cego. But is there also a hidden motivation behind Murray's sudden interest in the boy, or is it all simply to gain a talented recruit? Therein lies the first mystery of this entertaining story, with many more to follow.
I had such a fun time reading this book. There were a number of instances where I was reminded of movies and other books that are heavily influenced by martial arts techniques and philosophy. So it hit me right in the feels in that particular area for sure. The action as I mentioned earlier is aplenty and I was totally intrigued by the multi-dimensional main character Cego. We get introduced to him early and not a lot is known about him at first, but as the story progresses Darwin begins to shed more and more light on his background and just what makes him special.
The technical aspects and descriptions of the hand to hand combat was unlike much of what I have read in the fantasy genre up until now. The only book that I might be able to even remotely compare it to is Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover. Both novels really go all out when it comes to making you feel as if you are actually there in the fight itself, feeling every blow and bone shatter. I especially liked the fight scenes and really applaud Darwin for his vivid narrative.
In the end I came away feeling that THE COMBAT CODES was a very solid SFF read that had many an entertaining and heart-pounding moment. It should appeal to a lot of readers who appreciate something outside of the usual formulaic genre trappings.
Rating:
You can preorder THE COMBAT CODES right now on Amazon.
About the Author
Alexander Darwin is an author living near Boston with his wife and three daughters. Outside of writing, he teaches and trains martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). He's inspired by old-school Hong Kong action flicks, JRPGs, underdog stories and bibimbap bowls.
Outside of writing fiction, Alexander has written for publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine and SF Signal. His latest piece - "The Lost Diary of Anthony Bourdain" - was a featured piece in Rolling Stone's January 2022 issue.
And with that, my stop on The Combat Codes blog tour is at an end! I would like to extend a sincere thank you to author Alexander Darwin, publisher Orbit Books, and blogger extraordinaire Mihir Wanchoo for giving me the opportunity to take part. Please be sure to follow the entire tour using the schedule below:
June 6th - Queen's Book Asylum
June 7th - Space and Sorcery
June 8th - Me
June 9th - Bookwyrms Den
June 10th - Under the Radar SFF Books
June 11th - Grimdark Magazine & FanFiAddict
June 12th - Fantasy Book Critic
June 13th - WeatherWax Report & Jessie Mae Books
Thanks so much for visiting and supporting the blog. As always it is greatly appreciated and means a lot to this humble little blogger. Happy Reading!
-Nick
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