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San Angeles #3
The Rebel
The third and final installment in the San Angeles trilogy, a thrilling near-future cyberpunk sci-fi series
Kris Merrill has lost everything. Her family when she was thirteen, her identity when she joined the anti-corporate movement, and now the man she loved. Living in a small room the resistance gave her, she feels alone. Abandoned.
A year ago, Kris's life was torn apart when a delivery went wrong. The last year spent training with the anti-corporate movement had been the closest she'd ever gotten to normal.
Now, war has broken out between the corporations, and the lower levels of San Angeles are paying the price. Water and food are rationed. People are being ripped from their families in massive sweeps, drafted to fight. Those remaining live in a wasteland. The insurgents are trying to help, but Kris is being left out, given menial tasks instead of doing what she was trained for.
She is torn between working with the insurgents as they become more like the corporations they are fighting, and helping the people of the lower levels.
Caught in one of SoCal's draft sweeps and being hunted by an enemy who will stop at nothing to have revenge are just the tip of the iceberg. Kris is pregnant, and she might have to choose between bringing down the corporations that destroyed her family or saving the life of her unborn son.
Kris Merrill has lost everything. Her family when she was thirteen, her identity when she joined the anti-corporate movement, and now the man she loved. Living in a small room the resistance gave her, she feels alone. Abandoned.
A year ago, Kris's life was torn apart when a delivery went wrong. The last year spent training with the anti-corporate movement had been the closest she'd ever gotten to normal.
Now, war has broken out between the corporations, and the lower levels of San Angeles are paying the price. Water and food are rationed. People are being ripped from their families in massive sweeps, drafted to fight. Those remaining live in a wasteland. The insurgents are trying to help, but Kris is being left out, given menial tasks instead of doing what she was trained for.
She is torn between working with the insurgents as they become more like the corporations they are fighting, and helping the people of the lower levels.
Caught in one of SoCal's draft sweeps and being hunted by an enemy who will stop at nothing to have revenge are just the tip of the iceberg. Kris is pregnant, and she might have to choose between bringing down the corporations that destroyed her family or saving the life of her unborn son.
326 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published November 27, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 16, 2017
*Source* NetGalley
*Genre* Cyberpunk, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.5
*Thoughts*
The Rebel is the third and final installment in author Gerald Brandt's San Angeles trilogy. Set in the year 2141, The Rebel is a cyberpunk, science fiction, action adventure novel with plenty of unexpected twists. Brandt has created a world where large corporations (SoCal, Kadokawa, and IBC) control most of the world's resources and production. Kris Merrill is a resident of the sprawling West Coast megapolis known as San Angeles. She's former motorcycle courier who found herself unexpectedly entangled in a deadly web of corporate politics, assassins, and underground rebellions.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
*Genre* Cyberpunk, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.5
*Thoughts*
The Rebel is the third and final installment in author Gerald Brandt's San Angeles trilogy. Set in the year 2141, The Rebel is a cyberpunk, science fiction, action adventure novel with plenty of unexpected twists. Brandt has created a world where large corporations (SoCal, Kadokawa, and IBC) control most of the world's resources and production. Kris Merrill is a resident of the sprawling West Coast megapolis known as San Angeles. She's former motorcycle courier who found herself unexpectedly entangled in a deadly web of corporate politics, assassins, and underground rebellions.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
December 18, 2017
Exciting and moving conclusion to a great trilogy.
September 1, 2020
Really more on the 2.5 end
If you've been following my reviews on these books then you know I wasn't really into the second installment. But I figured since there is only one more book in the series and I own it, I may as well finish it off. It's not that reading Brandt's writing is a slog, his writing and books is fast paced, I just started to lose interest in his characters and "The Rebel" was no exception to this.
At this point I was pretty done with the main character Kris' story. In "The Rebel" I felt like Brandt shifted to write more of a stereotypical Young Adult bratty teen into this book. This was a far cry tough as nails operative he had set Kris' character up to be. He does keep up that plot point of "everything is tragic," which just got more annoying as Kris' bratty decisions against the adults put her in more and more tragic scenarios. Seriously, she wouldn't go back and sleep in her own room, because she had argued with the guy in charge. This book reads more like a petulant teens story rather than some covert op to take down the big corporations... which is what it should have been. I'm surprised to say there is no more overly tragic death scenes, but the hurt and hardships experienced by Kris and those around her are often of her own making, because she can't follow orders. Again... this is after a years worth of military styled training.
Let's hone in on that for just a moment. Kris' whole newness and training is painfully incongruous to the world Brandt has set her in. It's practically absurd in it's entirety. This makes me wish even MORE that he had kept Ian alive, because then with them working together MAYBE some of this would have made any sense at all. Case in point. A character brought up in the second book, Janice appears in this book. Janice is built around being a double agent, which we know after the second book. Brandt makes it a point to say she had already been trained by the Meridian corporation, so she was only pretending to be "new" when she trained with Kris. That's fine, but then Janice gets beaten up by Kris at one point. Okay, first time around, I'll allow it. Then SoCal captures Janice and now she'll work for SoCal. SoCal sends her with one of their best agents to go monitor Kris. While doing this Janice and this best operative get into a fight and Janice wins. You heard that right, Janice wins against the best Socal has to offer. Okay... bet then in the next few scenes Janice gets the drop on Kris and then Kris wins. This happens again for a total of THREE times. Give me a break. There's no way a barely trained 17 year old pregnant girl is taking these people on and winning. Brandt goes so far as to infiltrate a Satellite city and has Kris taking down full on top tier military soldiers, not all of whom she gets the drop on and they are not fighting her one at a time. This book just got stupid fast.
So why does this have such a high rating. The background story about a new character named Andrew Ito who took over the Meridian station is AWESOME. Seriously Brandt should have just written about this stuff. The underlying political machinations and the characters surrounding the moves the corporations make in warfare were great. The whole sci-fi element with new technology surrounding Bryson Searls was awesome! The whole part about him being capture by a corporation and trying to reproduce his test results was SO good. Brandt has the ability to write cool stories, he clearly does. He just decided to tell a story about the people on the ground with people on the ground who were just annoying and unrealistic.
In the end Kris' story is getting a solid 1.5 from me. The whole Kadokawa vs. SoCal corporation content with them vying over new technology, that's a 3.5. This could have been a killer series, but it just tanked fast with Brandt's obsession with trying to write the most tragic story on earth as a cover for not writing something exciting. I think he's trying to make it "edge of your seat" with all the mishaps, but his characters don't fit into this design very well with what he has them do. If he didn't set this up to try and be so realistic, maybe I could have given a bunch of the nonsense a pass... but turning Kris into an argumentative teen "who knows everything that's best for her" post military training... sorry I can't get beyond that.
If you've been following my reviews on these books then you know I wasn't really into the second installment. But I figured since there is only one more book in the series and I own it, I may as well finish it off. It's not that reading Brandt's writing is a slog, his writing and books is fast paced, I just started to lose interest in his characters and "The Rebel" was no exception to this.
At this point I was pretty done with the main character Kris' story. In "The Rebel" I felt like Brandt shifted to write more of a stereotypical Young Adult bratty teen into this book. This was a far cry tough as nails operative he had set Kris' character up to be. He does keep up that plot point of "everything is tragic," which just got more annoying as Kris' bratty decisions against the adults put her in more and more tragic scenarios. Seriously, she wouldn't go back and sleep in her own room, because she had argued with the guy in charge. This book reads more like a petulant teens story rather than some covert op to take down the big corporations... which is what it should have been. I'm surprised to say there is no more overly tragic death scenes, but the hurt and hardships experienced by Kris and those around her are often of her own making, because she can't follow orders. Again... this is after a years worth of military styled training.
Let's hone in on that for just a moment. Kris' whole newness and training is painfully incongruous to the world Brandt has set her in. It's practically absurd in it's entirety. This makes me wish even MORE that he had kept Ian alive, because then with them working together MAYBE some of this would have made any sense at all. Case in point. A character brought up in the second book, Janice appears in this book. Janice is built around being a double agent, which we know after the second book. Brandt makes it a point to say she had already been trained by the Meridian corporation, so she was only pretending to be "new" when she trained with Kris. That's fine, but then Janice gets beaten up by Kris at one point. Okay, first time around, I'll allow it. Then SoCal captures Janice and now she'll work for SoCal. SoCal sends her with one of their best agents to go monitor Kris. While doing this Janice and this best operative get into a fight and Janice wins. You heard that right, Janice wins against the best Socal has to offer. Okay... bet then in the next few scenes Janice gets the drop on Kris and then Kris wins. This happens again for a total of THREE times. Give me a break. There's no way a barely trained 17 year old pregnant girl is taking these people on and winning. Brandt goes so far as to infiltrate a Satellite city and has Kris taking down full on top tier military soldiers, not all of whom she gets the drop on and they are not fighting her one at a time. This book just got stupid fast.
So why does this have such a high rating. The background story about a new character named Andrew Ito who took over the Meridian station is AWESOME. Seriously Brandt should have just written about this stuff. The underlying political machinations and the characters surrounding the moves the corporations make in warfare were great. The whole sci-fi element with new technology surrounding Bryson Searls was awesome! The whole part about him being capture by a corporation and trying to reproduce his test results was SO good. Brandt has the ability to write cool stories, he clearly does. He just decided to tell a story about the people on the ground with people on the ground who were just annoying and unrealistic.
In the end Kris' story is getting a solid 1.5 from me. The whole Kadokawa vs. SoCal corporation content with them vying over new technology, that's a 3.5. This could have been a killer series, but it just tanked fast with Brandt's obsession with trying to write the most tragic story on earth as a cover for not writing something exciting. I think he's trying to make it "edge of your seat" with all the mishaps, but his characters don't fit into this design very well with what he has them do. If he didn't set this up to try and be so realistic, maybe I could have given a bunch of the nonsense a pass... but turning Kris into an argumentative teen "who knows everything that's best for her" post military training... sorry I can't get beyond that.
May 6, 2018
Chris Merrill is still trying to break the corporation's hold on San Angles even after suffering massive losses. This series has some very interesting world building and back story. Chris is facing overwhelming odds as she tries to reach her goals. The tension and danger just keeps building. I enjoyed hearing Chris's story and really liked the ending. Chris is a survivor who works for a better life for everyone. A nice conclusion to the series.
November 2, 2020
When avenging loved ones pits heroine Kris against both the enemy and her allies, the stakes get so high it makes her dizzy and doubt herself as her past and her future collide in this high-paced, dystopian thriller. The girl without a family learns what it is to once again love and belong, only to have the world-controlling, corrupt, war-mongering corporations get even more determined to tear her world apart.
August 8, 2018
Okay, this final story is grander and Kris is more rebel. Writing was a bit uneven - so some sections drag, others ones move too fast.
However, we still have a crazy person obsessed with killing her. Plus somehow Kris so easily sneaks up to a secure satellite-city on a shuttle, then breaks into a prison by the winging it. I suppose if James Bond can do it, so can Kris. :-)
However, we still have a crazy person obsessed with killing her. Plus somehow Kris so easily sneaks up to a secure satellite-city on a shuttle, then breaks into a prison by the winging it. I suppose if James Bond can do it, so can Kris. :-)
March 19, 2019
Conclusion to the trilogy that started with The Courier. Short scenes and lots of intercuts between characters kept the pace moving well. Book two was hard on Kris so she starts off at a low place and gradually gains some hard-won peace. I liked how competent she has become after three books.
Quibble: Andrew's plotline, while vital to the conclusion, was a bit dull.
Quibble: Andrew's plotline, while vital to the conclusion, was a bit dull.
August 24, 2020
Book 3 of the San Angeles Series. This time Kris makes it to space. Well low Earth Orbit at least. This third instalment manages to keep the action going while managing to be as engaging to read as the previous 2 novels in the series. This is a definite must read series.
Thank you sir may we have another?
Thank you sir may we have another?
November 21, 2019
The entire series has been awesome--I love action and adventure, and this world is gritty and full of danger. Kris is a sympathetic and believable character, and this book takes her to even deeper jeopardy. Loved it!
October 29, 2019
4.5 stars. I overall enjoyed the series. Feel like there could be a 4th.
November 11, 2019
Wow, great finish
Mr. Brandt wrote a great ending to this trilogy. It wraps things up beautifully and in way that makes it seem even more real life.
Mr. Brandt wrote a great ending to this trilogy. It wraps things up beautifully and in way that makes it seem even more real life.
May 16, 2020
Excellent end to the trilogy -- unfortunately for me, my reading was interrupted by school starting.
Might try re-reading all three books back-to-back-to-back one day!
Might try re-reading all three books back-to-back-to-back one day!
September 12, 2023
super delivery girl 3
January 15, 2024
I read the other two of this series a while ago so it took me a moment to get back into this world. I really enjoyed the first book and the second was a good follow up, but this one really lacked a lot of the depth the others had. The author did more description of things that didn’t need deep descriptions and glossed over things that should have been clearer. I also really didn’t feel connection or sympathy with the main character anymore. Not sure where the pizazz went but it wasn’t in here though it should have been.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews