The Traiteur's Ring by Jeffrey Wilson
Traiteur's Ring is a tightly woven blend of military fiction and paranormal horror. The story starts off in the jungles of Africa with lead protagonist Ben Morvant and his SEAL mates in Viper team. The action is tightly packed and Wilson's military background is evident as the depiction of the SEAL mission in Africa comes off as very true to life. Ben and his team are hunting down some Al Qaeda baddies, only to see a village get decimated by the terrorists. This is the turning point in the novel as Ben begins the long discovery process that he has powers he had never dreamed of. The action scenes in Africa are thoroughly enjoyable and set the pace for the rest of the novel.
After the completion of the mission, Ben returns to the US and to his girlfriend and soon to be wife Christy. The pace of the story slows at this point and it begins to meander a bit. I thought the back and forth between Ben and his girlfriend could have been handled better and got a little tedious. The story picks up when Ben goes back to his Louisiana roots and ends with a thrilling conclusion as he returns back to Africa for some unfinished business.
The depiction of Ben and Christy's relationship aside, Wilson shows that he is more than just a competent writer as he deftly works between action and horror scenes in a well-crafted blend of genres. Although the story was thoroughly enjoyable, I thought it lost a little tension because Ben comes across as almost too powerful. It never seems that he is any real jeopardy until the very end of the story. In addition, the ultimate bad guy is never revealed until the very end of the story. I thought the novel could have benefited from fully knowing what was at stake in Ben's battle with his opposite. It was hinted that if Ben didn't win, things would go bad, but it was hard to tell without ever seeing his opponent, just what this entailed. In all a really cool story that is worth reading. I especially enjoyed the realistic fighting scenes and the behind the scenes life of the SEALs.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity
After the completion of the mission, Ben returns to the US and to his girlfriend and soon to be wife Christy. The pace of the story slows at this point and it begins to meander a bit. I thought the back and forth between Ben and his girlfriend could have been handled better and got a little tedious. The story picks up when Ben goes back to his Louisiana roots and ends with a thrilling conclusion as he returns back to Africa for some unfinished business.
The depiction of Ben and Christy's relationship aside, Wilson shows that he is more than just a competent writer as he deftly works between action and horror scenes in a well-crafted blend of genres. Although the story was thoroughly enjoyable, I thought it lost a little tension because Ben comes across as almost too powerful. It never seems that he is any real jeopardy until the very end of the story. In addition, the ultimate bad guy is never revealed until the very end of the story. I thought the novel could have benefited from fully knowing what was at stake in Ben's battle with his opposite. It was hinted that if Ben didn't win, things would go bad, but it was hard to tell without ever seeing his opponent, just what this entailed. In all a really cool story that is worth reading. I especially enjoyed the realistic fighting scenes and the behind the scenes life of the SEALs.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity
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