Fall of Icarus

Brink of Distinction #2

by Jon Messenger

The Terran Empire has broken the Taisa Accord and invaded Alliance space in this exciting second novel in the Brink of Distinction series. Survivors of the Empire's first assault, Yen Xiao and Adam Decker swore vengeance against the Terrans. Joining forces with the enigmatic Keryn Riddell, the three warriors must find a way to destroy the Terran fleet. But the Terrans have a secret weapon: a biological agent sold to them by an renegade smuggler. Now it's a race against the clock to capture the smuggler before the Terrans decimate the Alliance homeworlds. When everything they do proves to be not enough to stop the Empire's violent invasion, the Alliance takes the fight directly to the Empire by invading Earth! But Earth may not be the biggest threat to the safety of the Alliance. The biggest danger may be one of their own.

Genres: Science Fiction

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 2011

About the author

Jon Messenger (Born 1979 in London, England) serves as an United States Army Major in the Medical Service Corps. Since graduating from the University of Southern California in 2002, writing Science Fiction has remained his passion, a passion that has continued through multiple combat and humanitarian deployments. Jon wrote the "Brink of Distinction" trilogy, of which "Burden of Sisyphus" is the first book, while serving a 16-month deployment in Baghdad, Iraq.

Reviews

[Magen McMinimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to take a break between reading Burden of Sisyphus and picking up Fall of Icarus. Burden of Sisyphus was a totally tear jerker for me and put me through a gauntlet of emotions and honestly I wasn’t sure I could handle this book right away. However it probably wasn’t necessary.

This book showed a different side of Messengers’ writing. This book was amazing and I dare say I might have actually liked it better then the first. Though I’m not sure they can be compared.

This book focused mostly on Yen and Keryn for the first half of the book and to be honest while I like Keryn’s character I called her a few names throughout the book… Yen deserved better then how she treated him.

I was surprised to find a romantic element to this book and from what I’ve read of Messengers’ writing he doesn’t normally write “romantic” novels, yet he did a good job writing this relationship in a more YA style (not overly descriptive in the sheets :D)

This book remains true to the first book and true to who I’ve come to find Messenger as a writer. The action wasn’t missing in this book and the sad truths of what war reaps are put out there on the pages with no apologies which has made me love this series and Burden of Sisyphus even if I was heartbroken by the end. Fall of Icarus is no exception.

I found Adam to be a great main character and I found myself loving Yen. While we don’t get to know Keryn’s team all that well they were well written characters.

The ending of this book is a bit of a shocker and definitely has me anxious to pick up the next book so I can find out what the heck is going to happen now!

[Michele Skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book and the first book in exchange for reviews. If you love military or syfy books, you are going to love this series. I am not a fan of it but it was well written and I am sure there are plenty of people who have enjoyed this book. I am giving it 4 stars since it is well written, just not something I enjoyed.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I did review this back in June.

I loved the first book a lot.

However, I had a hard time caring to finish this book. There were a lot of good parts to kept my interest. I just felt like those good parts were scattered and hard to come across.

I also felt like some parts were either rushed or confusing. There was not much of a flow throughout the book. I was in no hurry to pick up the third book after I was done with this one.

You did not really feel like you were connecting with any of the characters. The last book was better with character development and world building. It just felt like something was missing in this book.

[David Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was even better than the first one in the series. The battle between the Alliance and the Empire heats up really fast, as well as some of the relationships that are going on. A dark secret is revealed at the end of the book that sets up for what I hope will be a really great final book. These books need to be read in order.

[Liquid Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this after reading the first in the series - good reading.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful SciFi thriller. Full of action, futuristic technology, romance, conflict, all revolving around well-developed characters. I look forward to reading book 3 of the series.