Review by Steven Samuel -- The Hand Bringer

[Steven Samuel]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Hand Bringer" by Christopher J. Penington.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Peter Hadrian, a cop, was sitting in his car reminiscing about his dead son and wife both of whom were murdered. Peter receives a call from dispatch about a disturbance. On getting to the scene, he encounters a creature that had killed two officers and is intent on killing Peter too. After a brutal battle, which leaves Peter fatally injured, Peter learns that the creature that attacked him was a vampire and that these creatures were soon going to launch a large scale attack on the world except Peter goes back in time and stop vampirism from existing. Accompanied by his close friend, Luke, Peter journeys back in time to embark on a dire and suicidal quest with armed only with the bleak hope of getting the opportunity to save his son.

The Hand Bringer by Christopher J. Penington is a fast-paced novel featuring vampirism, time travel, action-packed medieval battles and many more. The author's descriptions and narrative were detailed and concise. The author did a wonderful job on the time travel paradigm. Not everyone truly understands the premise and consequence of time travel ( in theory) but the author, Christopher J. Penington, has shown in-depth knowledge of these in this book.

The book does have a couple of downside to it though. There were a few typographical errors in the book, nothing major. I would advise another round of editing and proofreading to be done to correct these errors. The book's plot, though interesting, was a bit predictable. Whenever Peter or his friends were in trouble, they easily got out of it. There was suspense in the book but, in my opinion, it was too brief.

The book's pace was also a bit too fast for the emotions the author was creating through his characters to be truly felt. The book isn't all bad, there were good sides. The battle scenes were quite entertaining, engaging and vivid. The author's characters were also well developed and substantial. For example, Peter portrayed an analytic, logical and alpha male personality while his close friend, Luke, portrayed a humourous and sarcastic individual.

I would award this book a 3 out of 4 stars. I didn't give it a 4 star because though it was entertaining, and despite other shortcomings, the author failed to clearly explain to the readers what the title of the 'Hand Bringer' truly meant, only a vague meaning was given, and I wouldn't rate it lower because it's a nice book which I could easily recommend to any sci-fi novel lover. Lovers of paranormal novels would also find this book to b interesting. The book's setting was based in ancient Romania as such prospective readers should expect it to be a bit religious, more of Christianity.

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The Hand Bringer
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