Reaching Angelica by Peter Riva

Title: Reaching Angelica

Series: Tag #2

Author: Peter Riva

Source: For Review

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RATING: 5 STARS!

In a massive spaceship destined for Alpha Centauri B, with a genesis crew including Zip the telepathic dog, his old friendly nemesis Cramer, and a computer being name Ra (now inhabiting a human form and calling herself Aten), Simon Bank emerges from a hundred-year coma and is hailed as an awakened hero. Stuck with unwanted responsibility, he is forced to try and solve the entire enigma of the universe—a small undertaking—before the spaceship, his friends, and all life on Earth are swatted out of existence by super beings he has accidentally awakened.

Simon’s only hope is to plunge into other dimensions with his mind—into the secrets of the universe’s pan-dimensions—as only he knows how. The fate of all life hangs in the balance as he struggles to prove himself worthy of the Path and the absolute trust his friends place in him. Simon knows all too well that if he fails there is no hope—none at all—for anyone and that includes his best friend, an artificial intelligence computer called Apollo, which he sadly left behind. Besides, Zip would not be pleased, either.

For fans of cyberpunk and classic science fiction, Reaching Angelica is the second book in Peter Riva’s Tag series, the comic, thrilling, and continuing saga of Simon Bank—ex–master system computer wrangler and very unlikely savior of the universe.

~ MY THOUGHTS ~

Peter Riva has done it again. I have completely fallen in love with yet another one of his books! I think, after this one, I only have one more of his to read that is out, and I am both excited and saddened by this prospect. Because I have grown to love the characters and stories and worlds this author creates. 

Reaching Angelica is the sequel to The Path, and it again follows Simon, who is just the most unique character that I have been given the opportunity to get to know! And I love the premise of this one, where Simon has just awoken from a coma, one that has lasted a hundred years, and has to save Earth. He is accompanied by Zip, who is a dog...a telepathic dog, Cramer, and Ra/Aten. All of these characters are lovely and just add to the wonderful dynamic that this book creates. Peter Riva is able to blend personalities together to make a group of characters you won't soon forget. 

I greatly enjoyed the concept of using the mind as the tool to save humanity. And won't go into all the details of the hows and stuff, but it just added a layer to the story that made me want to keep going. There is all sorts of added plot points that keep this story on the fast track to amazing. 

The fun doesn't stop there. This book is packed full of twists and turns, and has a serious case of bind bending awesome writing. I couldn't believe how quickly I was able to lose myself into this book and Simon's newest adventure. Because I tend to suffer from Sequel Syndrome, in which I hardly like to touch a sequel with a ten foot pole. I don't know what it is, because it isn't a lack of wanting to know what happened, but more of a worry that the next book won't be as good as the first, and then I am disappointed, and yeah. But I am going to assume, from here on out, that all Peter Riva's books, sequels or first in a series or stand-alones or the directions to his microwave, will be great and a must read. Because after reading this, I now have a better appreciation for the urge to read an author's complete backlist and futures list. 

If you like science type books with killer character development and quirky awesome side characters, great story, and all the awesome you can imagine in one story, then this series is for you. I don't want to go to much into the plot, as it's a sequel, and I hate accidentally reading spoilers in reviews/blurbs of books. But I will say that this book is a must read if cyberpunk books are your thing! Read the first one The Path, and then quickly have this one ready as you will want to read it right away. 

**I did receive this book for review as part of a blog tour. All opinions are my own, and have in no way been altered based on the acquisition of the book**

I received this book for iRead Tours

Murder on Safari by Peter Riva

Title: Murder on Safari

Author: Peter Riva

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy the book (really, I'm doing you a favor by putting these links so easily accessible :)     Amazon    Barnes & Noble     Chapters/Indigo

Only a reality TV producer and an expert safari guide can stop a terrorist attack.

Every adventure starts at the fringes of civilization. For expert safari guide Mbuno and wildlife television producer Pero Baltazar, filming in the wild of East Africa should have been a return to the adventure they always loved. This time they’d be filming soaring vultures in northern Kenya and giant sea crocodiles in Tanzania with Mary, the daughter of the world’s top television evangelist, the very reverend Jimmy Threte.

But when a terrorist cell places them in the crosshairs, there is suddenly no escape and they must put their filming aside and combine all their talents to thwart an all-out al-Shabaab terrorist attack on Jimmy Threte’s Christian gathering of hundreds of thousands in Nairobi, Kenya.

The problem is, Pero has a secret—he's been working as a clandestine courier for the US State Department for years. If anyone finds out, it may get them all killed. Exciting and expertly plotted, Murder on Safari is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller set in the great wide-open plains of East Africa.

~ MY THOUGHTS! ~

Have you ever had an author that you knew you would enjoy every book they ever wrote, no matter how different each book was from the other? I have found that author. Because I absolutely loved Murder on Safari, which is completely different than the previous book that I had read by this author, The Path. It doesn't pertain to this particular book, but I do suggest reading that one as well. It was such a great book, and completely took me by surprise at how much I was completely enamored by that book! 

But we are here for Murder on Safari, so without further ado, here are my thoughts.

This book started off at full speed.  I have been known to read a book or two that kind of just jumped into the "deep end" so to speak, and wasn't able to pull it off. But Mr. Peter Riva was able to do so masterfully. I was worried that with the action happening so early on, I wouldn't be connected to the characters that it was happening to. But I was wrong. It was like an instant switch was flipped when I started reading this book with the characters. I loved them all, and thought they were all well written and well-rounded characters. Even the ones that didn't get much playing time in the book, I still could remember them and distinctly point them out in my head as I was reading the book. 

With that said, I had a particular attachment to Mbuno. I don't know why, and am not particularly sure if Riva wrote him that way on purpose or if it's just me. I thought he was an interesting character to get to know, as well as watch things unfold around. He was meant to be a main character, that is for sure. But I am certain most people will connect with Pero more, but not me. And I am excited to know that there is another story containing Mbuno, so I will be picking that up very, very soon. I didn't read much of what it was about, because quite frankly Peter Riva is now an auto-need all his books author. But I do think it has to do with some story that is kind of eluded to in this book, so I am looking forward to learning more about that, hopefully. But whatever it is about, I'm sure it will be great, because it has my favorite safari guide in it!

The action in this book was spot on. I am not one to usually be driven by a lot of action, as I can read slower books and still enjoy them equally as much. But I have to admit, that I was forced to sit up a little straighter while reading bits of this book. I guess the phrase "at the edge of your seat" would pertain quite accurately to this book. I felt that it was paced just right to keep you needing to read more. It started off almost immediately with one Pero's crew me members being murdered, and that isn't really a spoiler as it's on the back of the book. This kind of explains my earlier statement of how it kind of just jumps into the plot straight off, because this happens day one of the filming. And once that happens, it's kind of all downhill from there, with a lot of stuff happening all over the place. 

I will briefly touch on the setting of this book, as many people before me have better written about it. I loved that this book took place in areas of Africa that I have never read about. And Peter Riva was able to capture the setting of each new place just so that I was able to picture them perfectly in my mind, with little to no knowledge of most of the places. The setting came to life, and that is hard to do for a reader that hasn't experienced any of those places much, even in school. 

All in all, this book was great. I feel that if you are a reader of thrillers, you will get great enjoyment out of this book, with added bonuses all throughout with the descriptions of the animals and places, and the added filming aspect (which I thought was a great bonus to this plot of this story, and extremely interesting to read about...even though I am just now touching on it). And if  you aren't a reader of thrillers, but just like really well written books with awesome characters and a drivable plot line...this is also the book for you. So glad I was able to be a part of this tour, as I had received an email about the sequel and wanted to join, but hadn't read this one yet. So, thank you Mr. Riva for sending me this book and the sequel for review, I look forward to picking up your next book and all the future ones you write! 

Signed,

A lifelong reader! :)

Author's Bio:

Peter Riva has spent many months over 30 years travelling throughout Africa and Europe. Much of this time was spent with the legendary guides for East African hunters and adventurers. He created a TV series in 1995 called Wild Things for Paramount. Passing on the fables, true tales, and insider knowledge of these last reserves of true wildlife is his passion. Nonetheless, his job for over forty years has been working as a literary agent. In his spare time, Riva writes science fiction and African adventure books. He lives in Gila, New Mexico.

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The Path by Peter Riva

Title: The Path

Series: Tag Series #1

Author: Peter Riva

Genre: Science Fiction-Cyberpunk

Source: Given for review for an honest review

Buy the book:     Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Indigo/Chapters

RATING: 4 STARS!!! 

All life on earth is about to be terminated by an entity as old as the galaxy itself. To make matters worse, Simon has broken everything already.

In a future world that is run by computer systems and that is without want, how can a man find his role? Then, if the very computers he works on to try to make them more human suddenly try to kill him, revealing a secret so vast that it affects every living soul on the planet, can that man be a hero?

These are the questions that face the stumbling, comic, and certainly flawed Simon Bank. His job is to work with the System’s artificial intelligence, making it fit more perfectly into human society so that it can keep the country running smoothly. But when the System threatens the peaceful world he knows, Simon suddenly must rush to save his own life, as well as the life of everyone on earth. Forced to reassess everything that he thought he knew, he is caught within circumstances way beyond his control.

Simon’s only hope is to rely on intellect and instincts he didn’t know he had, and on new friends, not all of them human, to change himself and all humanity. And he doesn’t have much time.

~MY THOUGHTS~

Going into this book, I was a bit skeptical. I had never read anything in the "cyberpunk" genre, and I'm fairly new to sci-fi in general, so I'm just starting to get a feel for that genre and what to expect. So, with this being new territory for me on already unfamiliar ground, I was worried. But I had no reason to be. The Path grabbed my attention from the beginning and didn't let go until I was finished.

This story was an unconventional like for me. The narrator of the story, Simon, had a unique way of telling this story. And at first I was a bit on the fence. I had seen other reviewers say how hard it was to get into the story because of the narrator and sometimes choppy way the story flowed, but after a few pages, literally maybe two tops, I loved the narrative and the way Simon was showing me. It almost made the experience more real. I'm not sure if it can be classified as 'stream of consciousness' or not because I am not well read on that type of writing style, but based on the definition and what I have heard people describe it as, this almost seemed to be like that. Simon would jump from one thought to another, sometimes with connectivity, sometimes the thoughts having nothing to do with one another. And I loved it. And like I said in the beginning of this long winded paragraph, it is kind of strange for me to like this type of style, me needing a lot of structure while reading. So props to Peter Riva for making this book so damn enjoyable that I was able to adapt my reading to fit the narrator and the story!

I loved the different aspects of the System. We learn in the first chapter or so the different changes that America has gone through since the Purge. And it's fascinating. I think that was my favorite part of the story, the different new aspects of America. One of the most interesting is how the Government works. It's all about what the citizens want. And that goest for every aspect of this world, not just the Government. The citizens essentially control the weather, when and how much they work, what they do, kids, everything. And that part of the story was my main draw.


On the flip side to that, the "technical" talk kind of went over my head. I still thoroughly enjoyed the story and the plot and had to know what was happening at all times. It just took me a bit to grasp different parts of this world because of that. Thank goodness for the glossary at the back of the book. It helped explain a lot of the different parts that weren't explained in the book.

Another kind of negative I found was the lack of remorse in the beginning. I kind of felt like the "weather abnormalities" and what happened because of it was kind of just barely talked about. And Simon didn't really seem all that bothered. Maybe a little rattled, but not enough not to go to work directly after getting off the NuEl...maybe that's just me. But I did find myself thinking about those first few pages a lot throughout the book and tying the emotions together.

I enjoyed the aspect of a computer turning on the narrator. And that isn't a spoiler, it's essentially on the back cover/blurb. What isn't on there is the awesome ride this story takes you on to get to the end. And I won't divulge secrets, but seriously do yourself a favor and read this.

This book is packed full of twists and an interesting world. I enjoyed finding out what was going to happen almost as much as I enjoyed learning about this new America. I felt like this book stood well on it's own, but at the same time I am thrilled to continue on with the series!

Author's Bio:

Peter Riva has worked for more than thirty years with the leaders in aerospace and space exploration. His daytime job for more than forty years has been as a literary agent. He resides in New York City.

Connect with the author:   Website     Twitter     Facebook

**I received this book by iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest opinion**