3 out of 4 stars
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Cures for AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer's, the ability to teleport nearly anywhere on Earth, a simple drink that not only lengthens life but partially reverses the effects of aging... These are all epic accomplishments that could change the world for the better, surely they're worth one accidental experiment gone horribly wrong: in a quiet, secluded area in the mountains of New Mexico theres a half-human, half-alien monster on the loose, and he has to be stopped!
Jay and John, two friends out on a vacation of camping and horse riding come across an Elk that's been horribly mutilated. Jay, the main character, whose first person account makes up most of the book, has felt like he's being watched since the beginning and now he starts having nightmares, nightmares that play an interesting juxtaposition to his carefree, relaxed days. The next day they get to a mine, and upon inspecting it and the surrounding area discover there were scientists here tracking UFOs and the mine seems like they were keeping something inside that busted out. They quickly decide they should notify a sherif, but overnight Jay has another dream where he attacks the horses and is suddenly woken up by John - something is attacking the horses! When they go out to investigate the damage looks similar to his dream.
Trylon Trilogy: The Enemy, while only the first book in the trilogy, really feels like two distinct books. The first is a horror story; Charles, the half-alien, half-human is an unstoppable killer with a wicked history that Jay and John stumble upon. The scientists here had been reaching out to aliens - successfully even! - and when the aliens land and communicate they promise to return to the scientists with numerous books, books that would explain how to solve nearly every issue humanity faces. They also ask to artificially inseminate the female scientists with their own sperm, and to take the male scientist's sperm for their own females. They agree, and the aliens say they'll return 9 months later for the birth. Unfortunately, complications arise and only one baby makes it, a boy named Charles. It looks like the aliens - despite coming several months early he's already double the size and weight of a normal baby and with the ability to read minds. The alien is also extremely strong, resilient and grows incredibly fast. Feeding on humanity's urges for violence and without having grown to understand and control emotion, it eventually murders them all. Charles is vicious and violent, happily ripping and shredding anyone or anything he comes across to pieces, feeding on humans or animals alike, and raping every woman to death he comes across. The challenges he poses to Jay and John, as well as others that come while they're trapped there, make up this first potion of the book, and while anyone squeamish or triggered by rape should stay away, it pulls off the action and tenseness masterfully.
The second portion of the book, over half of it, is about what happens with the books they've received. As the scientists are dead, the returning aliens entrust the books to Jay, and because the books threaten to change the world so drastically - including ending the need for fossil fuels and most disease research - they realize it won't be as easy as just handing the books to anyone. Trylon Inc is formed (named after the aliens who come from Trylon) and churns out cures like crazy. Despite being a small crew - Jay, John, two folks from earlier who I won't spoil, a brilliant man hired in named Norman and a small unnamed team - they're able to churn out cures and inventions like crazy! The government, of course, has suspicions that they're using books with alien knowledge, so the small group must be cautious!
As I said, the first half is tense as can be, it's frightening and gory and no one is safe. While the characters are trying to survive and find out how to escape or take Charles down, they're also discovering this awesome, mysterious story of how he came to be and what happened. The second half, however, is more like a series of accomplishments with far too little conflict of any sort. I honestly don't have a clue how R. J. Mountain could've done it any better, as the story is what leads up to the revelation at the end of the book and sets up the next book rather well, but it just felt like setting up Trylon Inc. and all dragged on longer than it should have. That's not to say this half isn't any good - it has some decent plot and there are times that the inventions, especially their spaceship, really feel exciting and cool.
Aside from the often-lackluster second half, the only flaws with the book were a handful of grammatical errors and the fact that the chapter names often either entirely give away the main thing happening that chapter or at least strongly elude to it. Luckily the chapters are listed only as "Chapter One", "Chapter Two" etc. in the table of contents, but seeing what's most likely going to happen right before reading the chapter ruins some of the surprise. Finally, despite the characters being decent, they don't really have strong personalities of their own - if you threw quotes at me from them, there's no way I'd distinguish who said it without some context.
Trylon Trilogy: The Enemy, was overall an enjoyable read. My best measurement for whether a book in a series is good is whether I want to read the rest of the series, and I absolutely do. There's also a lot of underlying commentary here on the human race, violence, the government and politics. Charles, the insane alien killing machine, deserves a spot among the best horror villains - he has so many strengths but isn't perfect, he is impossible not to hate and want to kill, but deep down he's not even one year old and largely has the same emotional instabilities (I promise I'm not just a fan because we have the same name!). Overall, I'd absolutely suggest the book to anyone that enjoys sci-fi, mystery or horror who isn't squeamish and can read (very brief, only a paragraph or so each) rape scenes. As such, I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars, and I'm looking forward to book two!
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Trylon Trilogy : The Enemy
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