113… Is that a lucky number??? Because that’s the number of chapters in Milazzo’s quickly plotted superhero thrill-ride, The Faith Machine. Short and action-packed, they hit you hard and fast… and give the book a hair-trigger tone. Just read a couple lines from the last paragraphs of some of the early chapters:
- “Oh yes. People are going to die. People are dying right now.”
- “Because when we find The Baptist, things are going to get bloody.”
Oh, it gets dangerous and fun early!
The book starts with the formation of a crew… at first I was thinking, ok, here come the misfits. But these characters definitely kick it up a notch: 6 agents ‘cursed with subtle, specialized, and sometimes sloppy psychic powers (called Cards)’ are pulled into a mission to retrieve a valuable device. The Soviets built The Faith Machine to twist people’s prayers into a powerful and dangerous resource. Yet, that first mission fails, and the humiliated crew travels back to the US to encounter a new villainy that promises to destroy their own faith in each other.
What did I like about this book:
- Grabs you from the start… and keeps hold of your white knuckles for the entire ride.
- New superheroes… I’ve read my fair share of comics and to be honest, it seems it’s getting tougher and tougher for creatives to come up with new super powers for their characters. But hats off to Milazzo for getting my eye brows to raise and letting out a couple, “Oh(s)!”
- The author describes the book as a X-Men meets the X-Files. Lottsa of subtle mutant abilities, a bit of government bureaucracy, and some frenemy relationships that will keep you guessing.
Pick up The Faith Machine to gain entrance into Milazzo’s ESPionage world… a place where assumptions are smashed by the psychic waves of a misfit crew.
Thank you to Storytellers on Tour and the author for allowing me to participate in this book tour.
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