Carole Reviews: Tap - JK Brown

Author: JK Brown

Title: TAP - The All Powerful

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, action, & adventure 

Pages: ebook

First Published: September 2014

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher)

Jason Wyton is a young, high-class soldier, fighting for Alya in the Great War of Valanor. With enough combat experience to retire after his next deployment, his superiors, a 3-star Commander and a mysterious mercenary, plot to get around Alya's laws and keep Jason fighting, permanently. 

After the strange disappearance of the prototype Horizon Rifle, Jason finds himself and a couple colleagues framed for treason. He flees, suspecting his two former leaders are behind it all. The Divisionists, Alya's prime enemy for decades, fight using supernatural powers rather than technology, and don't trust Jason thanks to his relationship with the mercenary. 

Jason's mentor, Brace, gives him a choice: to hide and retire until the war ends, or to fight against those who have wronged him.

What an interesting book with such an interesting world! I was totally drawn into the world from page one. I wish there was more world building at the beginning, so I could understand what was happening more, but I could totally be biased, because I did like the world and I wanted to understand more about what was happening. 

I loved the whole technology vs supernatural powers (elemental); it was cool. The two worlds are completely different, but they share some similarities as well. Honestly, I think I would want to be in the elemental world myself. They each have super major flaws and issues of their own like Scarletta's being enslaved by a fellow elemental. That guy had some issues and he deserved a punch in the face! A good side bad guy. I liked Scarletta....I felt bad for her tho. :/ 

Poor Jason. A good warrior and a decent guy. All he wanted to do was retire and be done with war. Even tho he sometimes wouldn't admit it too himself that he was over the whole thing...warrior mentality you know...they have mixed feelings about retiring.

Why was everyone so young in this world? Geezer and Brace were considered super old and they were in their 30s and 40s! Was it because of the war that everyone died young, so they had to reproduce young? Perhaps. I couldn't help but chuckle when an "old" person came into the picture and Jason and everyone was like "He's/She's sooooo old!" I thought it was funny and a nice twist to the story! 

Now the ending was good! It left me wanting more, but it wasn't overly cliff-hanger-ish, so I was happy. It doesn't make you feel bad to not continue, but it leaves you wanting to continue. Awesome.

There was one point where there was a possession of one of the characters. That said character attacked the group and tried to kill the group. They managed to restrain them without killing the character. They met up with Geezer and asked what happened. He said that said character must have been possessed by some animal. It wasn't ever really solved on how and why and by whom. It happened and then they never really talked about it again. I really wanted to know who, why, and how! Unless I missed it? IDK. 

This would make an amazing TV show or movie! I honestly would vote for a TV show, because I don't want anything left out! I loved the group of people on the adventure! They were well written out with awesome personalities. The all seemed nicely formed and 3D. At first I was worried about Josh and Jacquie...because they did seem 2D at first, but as the story went on their characters became more complete. 

BTW - I love the title and the cover.

In the end, I totally recommend this for those that like fantasy/sci-fi books. This was a cool world with a cool concept and interesting characters. If there is a second book, I would totally read it! Out of five stars, I stamp this with 4 stars. 

Favorite Character(s): Scarletta, Jason, Jacquie, and Josh

Not-so Favorite Character(s): Scarletta's owner & the main baddie