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Barcode: Legend of Apollo (Barcode #1)

by Kashif Ross (Goodreads Author)

3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 · rating details · 20 ratings · 7 reviews

Spencer Colt must return to his last year of Colt Academy—the academic institute for gladiators. The school and arena are run by his father, a wealthy businessman too occupied to remember his son's 19th birthday. Spencer couldn't care less. He's a sarcastic jerk that wants to finish his final year without another person mentioning his destiny, to reunite America.

On his fir...more

Kindle Edition, 337 pages

Published February 4th 2012 (first published February 2nd 2012)

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Mar 27, 2012 Katrina (Kindred Dreamheart) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, blog-review, e-reader

......................I was shocked mute for a moment there.

The verdict is still out on this novel; and I have a feeling I will be revising this review repeatedly. I mean that in a good way…I’m torn between Epic, 5, and 4.5 hearts! After an interview with the author, I was thrilled to hear he was an Anime fan and drew inspiration from a popular show when writing this novel. My household watches Anime religiously via Anime Network, Adult Swim and online. No, I take that back.... there are certain...more ......................I was shocked mute for a moment there.

The verdict is still out on this novel; and I have a feeling I will be revising this review repeatedly. I mean that in a good way…I’m torn between Epic, 5, and 4.5 hearts! After an interview with the author, I was thrilled to hear he was an Anime fan and drew inspiration from a popular show when writing this novel. My household watches Anime religiously via Anime Network, Adult Swim and online. No, I take that back.... there are certain shows we watch. Any who, I expected to see some paying homage to Bleach. I definitely saw a little of InuYasha similarities in the initial portrayal of Michelle and Spencer’s relationship. One thing that was definitely original was the Greek Mythology intertwined with futuristic technology.

My husband believes the author should transfer this into a graphic novel. I have to agree…I would love to reread this in comic form!
I’m so temped to go on my usual tangent of rambling, but I’m afraid I may say too much, so I’m trying terribly hard to restrain myself.
Whatever you do, don’t read the synopsis and take it at face value. Whoever wrote that needs a serious beat down. This story was so much more then that….OMG! I am so swoon emotional right now when I think of my dear Spencer….

*clearing my throat*

What that hell am I saying. Spencer was very sarcastic and kind of a jerk...so why did I still find him charming? Excellent writing skills I guess! This story has a way of drawing you in and wooing the reader into submission.

There was romance in this story, if you want to call it that. More like some high school guys wet dream, that will never come to fruitation. Yes! I’m a hater! I know! But I found it so hard to believe Spencer was getting the lady’s with his less then charming personality in spite of some chemical reaction. I hated him…I loved him..and it went back and forth like that throughout my reading this. There was one mysterious character however that I never liked…then it’s like he’s thrown at you like he’s Luke ?!?!?! I don’t think so Dark Vader!

I’m sure I’ve terribly confused you by now, but give me time to sort through my emotions and I’ll get back on track.

Umm, the gladiator style fight scenes in this book were off the chain. Seriously, the battles were epic. I could visually imagine each play by play. I found myself having many excited spasms startling people on the train. (Good thing I have no qualms about looking like a crazy person…lol…JK!) Oh and there was drama as well. With the way this book ended, I may result to stalking to be the first to see the next installment. I recommend this book to Anime Fans, science fiction and action lovers.
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Feb 05, 2013 Angie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I finished this book last night and have thought over it and I'm still not entirely sure what it was about. Something with barcodes on people that give them powers of gods, and some evil that Spencer is suppose to fight. That is about all I gleamed from it. I don't even feel like I can give a synopsis of the book.

The romance was some weird love triangle, that really didn't make much sense. Spencer only really ever spent his time with one of the girls but claimed to love both of them when he knew...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Spencer Colt carries the barcode of the god Apollo, making him one of the most powerful Gladiators in the world. But such power comes with a price – in particular a destiny to face off against Helios, the tyrant of the east coast.

In this future America, the country has been split by devastating war. A war so destructive that the gods themselves acted to end the conflict. Now wars are fought between gladiators – beings enhanced by the gods and demigods – but not everyone plays by the rules and He...more Spencer Colt carries the barcode of the god Apollo, making him one of the most powerful Gladiators in the world. But such power comes with a price – in particular a destiny to face off against Helios, the tyrant of the east coast.

In this future America, the country has been split by devastating war. A war so destructive that the gods themselves acted to end the conflict. Now wars are fought between gladiators – beings enhanced by the gods and demigods – but not everyone plays by the rules and Helios is plotting to expand his empire by any means necessary

While leaves Spencer with a hard destiny to live up to, complete with a father with high expectations but no time for him and woefully inadequate training and a complicate love triangle between himself, Hannah who he’s always loved, Michelle who he’s often fought and Angie who everyone thinks he should be with due to prophecy.

And then there’s Kode – empowered by the mask of Tartarus and caught in numerous, horrendous acts – is he an enemy or an ally?

The further we go, the more the plots and secrets are unveiled – and the greater the stakes become.

For a long time in this book, I’m flailing without really knowing what’s going on. There isn’t enough world building or character background for me to truly grasp what is happening and why. Even after the 70% mark, when there’s a huge amount of information dumped in there, I’m still guessing and extrapolating more than anything. I’m not sure how the barcodes (which appear to be tattoos and they appear to be born with) give them powers or how much power or what power they give. I’m not sure if there’s a difference based on which god you’re imbued with or whether 2 people imbued with the same god have the same powers. I’m not sure of the power difference between gods and demigods since we see 2 demigods who are more feared and powerful than most gods.

I’m not sure about the writer. Not sure of the relevance of the position of the tattoos. I don’t know why Spencer’s tattoos were bound not sure why the arena and gladiator system exists – I have a vague idea, but I’m not sure. I think it was an alternative to war – but then we go and have a war anyway. Not sure where liminal beings come in at all or where they fit, not sure what dropping into Hades even means – and I’m not especially sure as to the technology and their acronyms that are thrown around a lot to my growing confusion.

And it’s the same with the character interactions. We start the book with a huge rift between Spencer and his dad – but I never quite got why that’s there. Or the relation between Spencer and Michelle and Hannah. We also have Spencer being the moodiest, arsiest angst monster we’ve ever seen – and again I’m not sure why this is. Without a good reason why for the surly teenager act, I was left with Spencer feeling pretty unlikeable to say the least.

There are also a huge number of characters that, despite the large amount of character interaction for the beginning of the book, I had real trouble keeping track of – which was especially hard when one was imperilled. The only characters that felt significant to me were Spencer, Michelle and Kode – so when, for example, Kode’s brother showed up or Spencer’s grandfather, I had to stop to double check who this person actually was. The problem is, menace and even death to some of these people were supposed to be a source of tension in the plot (or at least a source of angst for Spencer) and I didn’t know enough about them to care about their fate.

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Kashif Ross Thank you so much for reading!!! I can tell you pressed through pretty far, though it wasn't your cup of tea. I really appreciate the review. Below, I...more
updated Sep 04, 2012 11:00pm

Jul 12, 2012 Masquerade Crew rated it 4 of 5 stars

BEC'S REVIEW

From the start of this book I felt like I was missing some important information and struggling to catch up, a feeling that continued the whole book. There was little background information about the Barcodes or how they worked or even why the Gods powers were channelled in this way, rather the story seemed to expect you to know all this and while some bits were later explained these explanations were not enough to make up for the lost feeling that continued throughout the book. A fe...more BEC'S REVIEW

From the start of this book I felt like I was missing some important information and struggling to catch up, a feeling that continued the whole book. There was little background information about the Barcodes or how they worked or even why the Gods powers were channelled in this way, rather the story seemed to expect you to know all this and while some bits were later explained these explanations were not enough to make up for the lost feeling that continued throughout the book. A few paragraphs in the introductory chapter would have been enough to stop me from feeling like I was playing catch up.

However even if the necessary background information about this future version of our world had been included there would still have been times when I felt as if I was missing something important. The book was fast paced and while I enjoyed reading it and always wanted to know what would happen yet, and while it captured my interest I kept feeling like I was missing something important. Sometimes there would be words or events referred to that would cause me to wonder if I missed a scene. Quite a few of the action scenes had me confused as to what exactly was happening, making me wish there was a film of this book simply so that I could visually see what the words seemed to struggle to adequately portray to me.

Then of course there is the controversial switch between perspectives later on. Without spoiling the story I will simply say that it starts in the first person from one character, who you grow quite attached to and then at the end switches to the first person perspective of another, a move which is quite shocking and took some time to adjust to.

However despite all these problems I did enjoy Barcode, The Legend of Apollo. While I constantly felt like there was some information I was missing, this didn’t stop me from devouring page after page and wanting to find out what would happen next. The story draws you in in a way that makes you want to keep reading despite the confusion. Overall this is a good read if you don’t mind a little confusion. Should it find a way to provide the necessary background information about the Barcodes, and to remove the feeling of missing information from the rest of the book then one day this book may even be worthy of 5 stars. For now I can only give it 4.(less)

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Jun 18, 2012 Sally rated it 3 of 5 stars

Barcode: Legend of Apollo is a futuristic tale involving Greek Gods, Demigods and mortals in the backdrop of California. It is difficult to describe this book as there is so much going on and a lot of colourful characters that make up this urban fantasy fiction.

People have been given special powers to make them stronger and are symbolised with barcodes. They become gladiators and each character has a different story to tell in terms of where they have come from and how they have got to be part o...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Arlena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-stars, ebooks, fantasy, my-reviews, thriller

Author: Kashif Ross
Published By: K.R.
Age Recommend: Adult(Language)
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Raven Rating: 4
Blog Review For: GMTA
Review:

"Barcode: The Legend of Appollo" by Kashif Ross was a really thrilling read especially if you like Gods, demigods and mortals. These 'Barcodes' have been established to stop the war and to regulate the population...thus giving these gladiators a much stronger power. This story is set in the future from California. You must be ready for this read (I wasn't) because...more Author: Kashif Ross
Published By: K.R.
Age Recommend: Adult(Language)
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Raven Rating: 4
Blog Review For: GMTA
Review:

"Barcode: The Legend of Appollo" by Kashif Ross was a really thrilling read especially if you like Gods, demigods and mortals. These 'Barcodes' have been established to stop the war and to regulate the population...thus giving these gladiators a much stronger power. This story is set in the future from California. You must be ready for this read (I wasn't) because it is very violent and gory(bloody) novel.... A lots of fighting (Demigods fighting gods). I guess I should have picked that up from the book cover.

Now, after saying all that I did find the novel grabbing in how the the author was able to keep my attention of just what was going on at that time. I found myself wanting to keep reading. There are many twist and turns but if you are able to stick with it you will find it a pretty good read. "Barcode" will keep you on the edge of your seat due to the fact that there was so much going on.

Now for the characters....I find them really different in that each had their own story that seemed to be twisted and frustrating. To name some of the characters.... and there are many.....Michelle, Spence, Moreno, Vincent, Angie, Kode, Selena, Payne, Arnold, Hannah, Dennis, Monte, Hayley, Blake, Patrick, Professor Gonzales, Arnold, Kwan, Talib, Arnold, Pastor Gordon, Eli, Casey, Eve, Helios and the list still goes on. The author did well with all these characters.... how he was able to use some many of them was really something! I don't want to give anything away so you will have to read "Barcode" for yourself. However, a few characters I will say really made the novel very interesting... there is Spencer who is not a nice person at times ... I am still not sure just how I felt about him. Then there is Kode(dreadlocks) who wears the Tartarus mask... for he could hold your attention because you never knew what he was going to do next....and later he kills.... Michelle was a demigoddess ... a no none sense person...well enough said ... and then their was Hannah... who was a full goddess...All I will say is that she can work your nerves. ...... Was there love between Spencer, Michelle and Hannah? I will just say it gets very interesting at this point. Weren't Michelle and Hannah friends?

"Barcode" is full of imagination with lots of details and explanations ...with the gladiator fights that made it seem that you were actually there. I don't think you will find one plot because there seens to be several of them.

I believe the author did a splendid job with "Barcode"..and what about that ending? You will have to simply pick up this thrilling read to find out just how this novel ends. WoW! I would definitely recommend this book if you are in for a fantastic read.

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...(less)

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Jul 09, 2012 Lord Nouda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, reviewed, indie

3 Stars.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author to read. It has had minimal impact on my feelings for it, but yes, I am somewhat emotionally influenced by that fact. Full disclosure here. Stop reading now if you have problems with that.

First of all, I'm going to say that this story had a great concept and was unique, at least in my book.

The first issue I had with the book was the numerous errors that I found (without actually looking for them) in the first 15% of the book. The first...more

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About Kashif Ross

For the past three years, Kashif Ross has been mainly known as a teacher. Yet, he's managed to pick up very random titles along the way. Previous jobs include Student Molecular Oncology Researcher, Camp Counselor, CGI Animator, Character Designer, and Professional Geek.

Now he's an author living in California's Bay Area. You can find posts about his random thoughts and adventures on his blog.

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