Friday, June 20, 2014
I am here to sing the praises of an amazing book series that is fairly unknown to many people in the world today. This series has everything: sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, romance, and every other thing someone could look for in a book. I am, of course, talking about the Jack Blank series. I will admit, this name isn't all that exciting; I assure you, it is.
So, there are a few things in this series that I value over others. First and foremost, I absolutely ADORE the choice of the main villains in this series. Throughout, the main foe of our heroes are the Rüstov which are basically freaking ROBO-ZOMBIES. Not exactly, like there are things that would probably say otherwise, but that's the simplest way I can describe them. Now, I know not everyone loves robots or zombies as much as I do, but dude. Together?! At once?! How can you NOT love that?!
I mean, they're villains, so I hate them, but I love the idea of them! Zombies are basically humans, but with no brain functions other than EAT. They get an arm ripped off, they keep going because they want meat. They can rip through another person like paper. THAT'S AWESOME. And they're also freaking robots: emotionless, hard to destroy, killing machines! If there's a robot after you and its specific function is to kill, it's unlikely you'll survive.
the Rüstov have several abilities, like, if they lose a limb or something, they can take someone else's limb and attach it to their body to be their own! And they can also transfer from body to body. One single Rüstov can go from one gross decaying body to another healthy practically fresh body. That's kind of how the Rüstov hierarchy works. The fresher whatever host body you were using was, the higher up you were because it meant you just had endless bodies to switch between.
In the books, I like how they had this whole group of villains, enough to fill thousands of pages, and there were still other enemies. There were other struggles ou heroes had to overcome than just fighting robo-zombies.
I would just like to make that, while this series has romance,it isn't a driving force behind the book. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of books that are amazing and are driven pretty largely by romance,and there are plenty of opportunities for it to happen in this series, but it doesn't happen because it would take away from the main plot. One of my personal ships sailed at the end of the book, but it was so unimportant to the main action that it wasn't even addressed until the end and everything was good. I think this was a good choice because it would've distracted from the important action. And when it happened after the fact, it was so much better because you knew that they would actually get to be together!And I was so much happier because of it
The majority of the series happens in a place called The Imagine Nation. Yes. That's the name. This place, as stated in the book, can only be found when you're not looking for it. And in this place lives literally every being that has ever been imagined.
The Imagine Nation is separated into different sections: The Vargog, a 'place of the past' (it's like medieval times with queens, knights, wizards, etc.); Machina, a 'place of the future' (full of robots and androids. They don't get along with Vargog all that much); Cognito, a 'place for hiding' (Cognito is a very mysterious place. If you don't know exactly where to be and when to be there, you'll get lost easily and often); Hightown, home of the world's tallest skyscrapers and the HQ of SmartCorp (a company that you will develop a distaste for, much as I have); Karateka, a fusion of ancient and modern China (it's the home to many martial arts masters and ninjas); Galaxis, a space port(it's full of different aliens and creatures from all over the universe); Seasonstill Park, where each section of the park is permanently stuck in a certain season; and Hero Square, a monumentous plaza that is frequently visited by citizens of Empire City. It is also the meeting place of The Inner Circle, which is a group of people who defend The Imagine Nation.
All in all, the Jack Blank series written by Matt Myklusch is a MASTERPIECE. It's a phenomenal trilogy, and I think it deserves way more recognition than it gets. Read it! See ya later, Danielle
