REviews for siren song
Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 by Ian T. King is a compelling story with great dimensions, a story that captures a spiritual event, a revolution taking place more within the soul of the reader than in physical events taking place in his world. It is a story about the war on terror, featuring very compelling and powerful characters, including the US president thrust into a dilemma, those who practice piety and who do so in the most radical, nonsensical kind of way, and the young irresistibly manipulated into very dangerous steps. It could be the advent of Armageddon and how did the world come to this point?
Ian T King writes with confidence and the narrative voice comes across irresistibly in this original work. It's a story told like no other and the author isn't afraid to address the reader directly, what some literary professionals would frown at, but which feels right in this writing. So, there are shifts from the first to the second and third person narratives, and the author's transition between the different voices is neat and skillfully done. There is a lot of action going on and there is a lot of musing too. The setting is well developed and readers are introduced to time and place right off the bat; the setting feels real, with colorful and concrete images to go with it. Readers will easily picture "the tree-shrouded gravel pathway" and "the quiet Christmas" atmosphere, as well as many other images that come along in the narrative. Some of Ian T King's passages are emotionally charged and arresting, catching the reader and pulling them into a tidal wave of consciousness that provokes thought and reflection. Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 is phenomenal, a cleverly written story that reflects contemporary reality and warns readers about the dangers this world faces.
Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
Ian T King writes with confidence and the narrative voice comes across irresistibly in this original work. It's a story told like no other and the author isn't afraid to address the reader directly, what some literary professionals would frown at, but which feels right in this writing. So, there are shifts from the first to the second and third person narratives, and the author's transition between the different voices is neat and skillfully done. There is a lot of action going on and there is a lot of musing too. The setting is well developed and readers are introduced to time and place right off the bat; the setting feels real, with colorful and concrete images to go with it. Readers will easily picture "the tree-shrouded gravel pathway" and "the quiet Christmas" atmosphere, as well as many other images that come along in the narrative. Some of Ian T King's passages are emotionally charged and arresting, catching the reader and pulling them into a tidal wave of consciousness that provokes thought and reflection. Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 is phenomenal, a cleverly written story that reflects contemporary reality and warns readers about the dangers this world faces.
Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 by Ian T King is the story about how war can change people's lives and how your humanity and your obligations change under such crucial and testing times. The novel is set in a time when the war on terror is at its peak and this war shows no mercy. Anyone that gets in the way, be they children or older people, they all die. Simple as that! In such trying and testing times, the characters in the novel are learning new things about themselves. Some are conflicted about their obligations, while others are learning the truth about life and deciding their next step. The President of the USA is stuck; he wants to help people, but he is conflicted because his first duty is to his own people who depend on him to protect them. The there is Ayaan who becomes a victim by the use of the internet; Mo, a young man who has strong faith, led astray by his leader who is in prison; and there is Jillie who is stuck in revenge even when she is in captivity.
These are just some of the characters that stood out for me and called to me. Where I am from, the war on terror is very real and this novel struck home with me. The characters are well-rounded and well-developed, the story is taken through highs and lows brilliantly, and the descriptions of everything were spot on. I loved the way Ian T King described emotions because I could feel each and every one of them. The story was intense and this is what was required of it. Crisp, complicated and well-written, Siren Song is simply brilliant.
Rabia Tanveer for Readers'Favorite
These are just some of the characters that stood out for me and called to me. Where I am from, the war on terror is very real and this novel struck home with me. The characters are well-rounded and well-developed, the story is taken through highs and lows brilliantly, and the descriptions of everything were spot on. I loved the way Ian T King described emotions because I could feel each and every one of them. The story was intense and this is what was required of it. Crisp, complicated and well-written, Siren Song is simply brilliant.
Rabia Tanveer for Readers'Favorite
Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 by Ian T King is a novel that examines worldwide pessimism as the war on terror takes on a whole new dimension. It's a book with very interesting and well-developed characters, including a stoic imam, Khalifa, whose motives of piety are very questionable, a young prisoner who is seduced by the teachings of the religious man, and a president who finds himself in a fix, torn between his personal values and his constitutional duty. As the drama teeters towards a catastrophic end, the players must ask: whither humanity? Will everyone be swept away in the tidal wave of Armageddon? This is a brilliantly written work with a unique take on end of times apocalyptic themes.
Ian T King has composed a story that reads lyrically and that transports the reader to an exciting setting. The conflict is huge, phenomenal, and it one of the elements that creates the balance in character, plot, and setting. I was hooked from the start of the story by the author's powerful prose and the clear, compelling narrative voice. The very first line introduces an interesting conversation and one couldn't help but notice the humorous way one of the characters, Private Dixon, is presented: "'All Quiet on the Western Front, my Captain!'" Private Dixon guffawed as usual, and grinning like the inane idiot that he was. From then on, I knew I was in for a ride, and I wasn't disappointed. Readers will enjoy the masterful way in which the author captures radical ideologies and how he makes them clash in this masterpiece. Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 is an exciting read.
Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Ian T King has composed a story that reads lyrically and that transports the reader to an exciting setting. The conflict is huge, phenomenal, and it one of the elements that creates the balance in character, plot, and setting. I was hooked from the start of the story by the author's powerful prose and the clear, compelling narrative voice. The very first line introduces an interesting conversation and one couldn't help but notice the humorous way one of the characters, Private Dixon, is presented: "'All Quiet on the Western Front, my Captain!'" Private Dixon guffawed as usual, and grinning like the inane idiot that he was. From then on, I knew I was in for a ride, and I wasn't disappointed. Readers will enjoy the masterful way in which the author captures radical ideologies and how he makes them clash in this masterpiece. Siren Song: Har Megiddo 2.0 is an exciting read.
Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
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Jamal Shirani stands sweating before a suspicious Heathrow customs officer, having just arrived from a jihadi training camp in Pakistan. John Buchanan “Jo-Buck” Brown bids farewell to friends and family on the eve of his departure for Parris Island and a tour in the war-torn Middle East as a newly minted United States Marine. And, somewhere deep in the subterranean confines of a rat-infested cellar, a kidnapped woman awaits a chance to escape repeated rape by any means possible.
What do these three characters, in far-flung corners of the world, have in common? They're all fascinating players in the intricate, tightly woven plot of author Ian King's superb new global thriller Siren Song. We've all witnessed the violent results of a terrorist attack in the name of jihadi revenge against the West. But this book offers a wholly new, insightful glimpse into the hearts and minds of the zealots who conspire daily in places far and wide to carry out these willful, deadly assaults in the name of Allah. The book's characters come vividly to life under the author's skillful hand to trace the often painful beginnings and misguided motivations behind the participants in the long War on Terror. Indeed, the narrative is often driven more by relentless and intense character study than by events. Jamal survives his encounter with the authorities at the London airport and goes on to cultivate a dangerous cell of bomb-making jihadists of his own. A deeply disillusioned Jo-Buck draws black Xs on a calendar in the desert, counting the days until he goes home. And the unfortunate woman in the dank cellar finally achieves release from her physical confines; but is never completely free of its life-shattering impact. It’s not a happy story, this fascinating literary mosaic of loosely connected vignettes. But it is an important one that takes the reader on the veritable emotional roller coaster often talked about in other books, but fully realized in this one. Love it or hate it, like a particularly controversial work of art, this well-crafted saga will leave its mark on your consciousness. One chillingly bold act in particular will sear the date 12/25 in your mind for a long, long time. One other unique aspect to this remarkable book is an occasional acerbic observation offered up by a disembodied, omnipotent deity, commenting on the relative absurdity of the goings-on far below Him. Some of His comments, while decidedly irreligious, are truly priceless. Five-plus stars to Siren Song. It stands far above the current gamut of stereotypical Middle Eastern terrorist plot potboilers, and makes for an outstanding summertime -- or anytime -- read. Don Sloan--Publishers Daily |
Reviews for the last eucharist
The Last Eucharist is an epic thrill ride that hurls the reader from the cultural abyss of Jackrabbit, Arizona, Mexican drug dens, to Vietnam’s rice paddies and concrete jungles, to Southern California’s mountains, and finally heaven’s very own Pearly Gates. A psychological thriller wrestling with the Vietnam War, its aftermath, and the quagmires of memory and religious belief, The Last Eucharist is told with a voice that is both compassionate and political. The novel’s protagonist, Sally Graham, is a woman on a quest to find the source of a desiccated piece of human skin and to discover the unknowable amputee soldier, Thomas. A liar straight out of a Nathanael West story, Thomas is a man whose cynicism and doubt burn like a tire fire. The Last Eucharist is an elegy for the physically, psychologically, and emotionally maimed victims of war, and how they manage, by hook or crook, to endure. Ian King has created a novel that is as funny as it is smart, as brash as it is tender, and as chaotic as it is measured. The big surprise here is that this is King’s first novel. Let’s hope it’s not his last.
-Tyrone Jaeger, author, The Runaway Note.
-Tyrone Jaeger, author, The Runaway Note.
The Last Eucharist: A True War Story by Ian T. King is quite an engaging story that revolves around Thomas, who is old and crippled, and his meeting with pretty young thing, Sally Graham. It is a story that will strike a chord within the hearts of maimed soldiers, physically and psychologically, and will give them hope to survive. This psychological thriller spans many countries and throws profound wisdom on the enigma of our existence. Sally Graham meeting the amputee soldier, Thomas, or the characters of Bao, Tomaso or Billy Smith, Thomas's childhood friend; everything points toward a compelling story line that is interesting and unusual.
I found the story original. The blending of reality and illusion takes readers to another realm. Thomas is the main character in the story. Readers will sympathize with him. The focus in the book shifts between many characters. None of the characters are balanced and the story has a bit of humor and tragedy, reality and illusion woven into it. Sally Graham, who enters as Thomas's savior, takes the story to Vietnam and then back to the Arizona desert. The story has originality, a mysticism that makes readers ponder about humanity and its very existence, giving it another exciting dimension. On the whole, the book has interesting characters that make it come alive and some wonderful imagery as it spans continents. A very original plot that has many layers to it and will keep readers entertained.
—Mamta Madhavan, Reader's Favorite
I found the story original. The blending of reality and illusion takes readers to another realm. Thomas is the main character in the story. Readers will sympathize with him. The focus in the book shifts between many characters. None of the characters are balanced and the story has a bit of humor and tragedy, reality and illusion woven into it. Sally Graham, who enters as Thomas's savior, takes the story to Vietnam and then back to the Arizona desert. The story has originality, a mysticism that makes readers ponder about humanity and its very existence, giving it another exciting dimension. On the whole, the book has interesting characters that make it come alive and some wonderful imagery as it spans continents. A very original plot that has many layers to it and will keep readers entertained.
—Mamta Madhavan, Reader's Favorite
The Last Eucharist by Ian King unfolds outside the Palais de Théâtre in Jackrabbit, Arizona, where an amputee performs a bizarre headstand, like a legless clown, to earn a living. Thomas, a Vietnam War veteran, finds a five dollar bill thrown to him by a sympathetic spectator after his performance. He treats himself to a double cheeseburger, French fries, and a large Dr. Pepper and is completely surprised when a young woman engages him in a conversation. Sally is a pastor’s daughter from Topeka who is drawn to Thomas in a strange way. As the story continues, reality and fantasy mixes together and Sally finds herself in Vietnam in her quest to unravel the mysteries in the life of a man that changed her life forever. As Thomas performs his last act in the form of a peculiar religious ritual, Sally’s journey is just starting.
The most unforgettable characteristics of The Last Eucharist by Ian King are its originality in writing style and the author’s brand of sarcasm that reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s ironical wit. With main protagonists Thomas and Sally shifting between reality and delusion in The Last Eucharist, one wonders if both of them are completely insane. It is in their perspectives that the reader is forced to view the world and this is a viewpoint which is sometimes funny and most times tragic. I will not be surprised if Ian King’s readers will feel pity, empathy, and at the same time exasperation and abhorrence for his characters. The plot, however, is not that simple as Sally, Thomas’ self-proclaimed savior, goes to Vietnam, ends up in Hesperia, California, and finally goes to heaven. This is a novel that will make you view the world in a way that is both funny and tragic!
—Maria Beltran, Reader's Favorite
The most unforgettable characteristics of The Last Eucharist by Ian King are its originality in writing style and the author’s brand of sarcasm that reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s ironical wit. With main protagonists Thomas and Sally shifting between reality and delusion in The Last Eucharist, one wonders if both of them are completely insane. It is in their perspectives that the reader is forced to view the world and this is a viewpoint which is sometimes funny and most times tragic. I will not be surprised if Ian King’s readers will feel pity, empathy, and at the same time exasperation and abhorrence for his characters. The plot, however, is not that simple as Sally, Thomas’ self-proclaimed savior, goes to Vietnam, ends up in Hesperia, California, and finally goes to heaven. This is a novel that will make you view the world in a way that is both funny and tragic!
—Maria Beltran, Reader's Favorite
In The Last Eucharist: A True War Story by Ian T. King, Thomas is a double amputee and makes a living by standing on his head for the money tourists leave for him. There were very few people around that afternoon. There was very little food left in his refrigerator so he decided to go to McDonald's for a burger and Dr. Pepper. That was where he met her. She took him by surprise because people usually ignored him. Her name was Sally. Her father, a minister, had sent her to Jackrabbit, Arizona, on a mission trip. What her father didn’t know was that she considered herself almost an atheist. Sally was captivated by Thomas and became his self-appointed savior.
In The Last Eucharist: A True War Story we meet Thomas and Sally and experience life through their point of view. At times, the reader will question whether both are insane for the tale moves between reality and hallucinations. Author Ian T. King leads readers through a gamut of emotions. One cannot help but feel sympathy and empathy for Thomas as he struggles each day to eke out enough money to survive on by doing handstands in front of the Palais de Théâtre. At the same time, there is humor in this tale. This is an intricate plot; it is like an onion with multiple layers that the reader must peel off one at a time. Author Ian King has a unique writing style. He is a master at description and characterization. This book will appeal to veterans and the disabled for Ian King understands their plight.
—Anne Boling, Reader's Favorite
In The Last Eucharist: A True War Story we meet Thomas and Sally and experience life through their point of view. At times, the reader will question whether both are insane for the tale moves between reality and hallucinations. Author Ian T. King leads readers through a gamut of emotions. One cannot help but feel sympathy and empathy for Thomas as he struggles each day to eke out enough money to survive on by doing handstands in front of the Palais de Théâtre. At the same time, there is humor in this tale. This is an intricate plot; it is like an onion with multiple layers that the reader must peel off one at a time. Author Ian King has a unique writing style. He is a master at description and characterization. This book will appeal to veterans and the disabled for Ian King understands their plight.
—Anne Boling, Reader's Favorite
The Last Eucharist: A True War Story by Ian T. King highlights human shortcomings through the eyes of its equally eccentric characters, which are shaped by the Vietnam War and its repercussions. Thomas, an amputee soldier, greets readers with his unsympathetic persona and views of the world. His pessimism will both irritate and entertain you. His negativity is understandable though, and I do have my sympathy for this character and even share some of his depressing opinions. However, the gorgeous Sally Graham thinks there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the weathered and bitter war veteran. She considers Thomas as an enigmatic person, but to me she herself has an unfathomable quality that I could not quite figure out. A preacher’s daughter from Topeka, Kansas, Sally described herself as “pretty much an atheist”, aridly doing her missionary work in Jackrabbit, Arizona.
The story also takes readers to Saigon, Vietnam, where you meet street urchin Tomaso and his ‘elder brother’ Bao, an ex-Vietcong. Despite his military background, Bao cares about Tomaso and treasures their brotherly relationship. In terms of plot, it is not about the twists and turns, but how King cleverly injects the sardonic element into his writing, moving his novel into the world of political turmoil, psychological challenges, as well as idealistic statements about human nature. King effortlessly tackles a few of life’s larger moral questions through an intriguing story. He also created characters that are engagingly humans – easy for readers to relate to. Simply put, a great novel.
—Lit Amri, Reader's Favorite
The story also takes readers to Saigon, Vietnam, where you meet street urchin Tomaso and his ‘elder brother’ Bao, an ex-Vietcong. Despite his military background, Bao cares about Tomaso and treasures their brotherly relationship. In terms of plot, it is not about the twists and turns, but how King cleverly injects the sardonic element into his writing, moving his novel into the world of political turmoil, psychological challenges, as well as idealistic statements about human nature. King effortlessly tackles a few of life’s larger moral questions through an intriguing story. He also created characters that are engagingly humans – easy for readers to relate to. Simply put, a great novel.
—Lit Amri, Reader's Favorite
The Last Eucharist: A True War Story, set in the quotidian town of Jackrabbit, Arizona, features an amputee Vietnam veteran, Thomas, who earns his meager living doing headstands for the sneering common masses outside of a theatre. While Thomas spends his earnings from these "atrocity exhibitions" upon McDonald's flatulence- inducing fast food, he encounters Sally, a beautiful blond female, who seems intent to befriend him and be his savior despite his repulsive appearance, foul bowel odors and violent temper. Ian King's Eucharist travels with chronological and geographical disjunction through Thomas's psycho-traumatic Vietnam war memories to connect these to Sally's serendipitous discoveries in Vietnam's postwar destitution amidst an orphanage of crippled children and a thieving Amerasian invalid. Intrinsic within these Tarantinoesque random events is a brief glimpse into the elusive, beauteous connectedness of life when not followed soon after by the inevitable disruption of meaninglessness to our bittersweet fantasies of existence.
As a secularist, my initial response to The Last Eucharist was one of disinterest. But, in the words of Dr. Frank-n-Furter, one should not "judge a book by its cover" (nor its title). And indeed, I was infinitely rewarded by my adherence to that worn-out adage. Although The Last Eucharist is Ian King's first novel, its finely-turned phrases of acerbic wit and sardonic, fun-poking insight into humanity's gloomy brutality merits superiority over the vast majority of other indie novels and even deserves acclaim amongst the echelons of best-selling fiction. For, in the midst of reader-coddling authors, King writes a no-holds-barred depiction of life's loathsome dirtiness and utter meaninglessness with an ending which underscores that message with refined dark humor. Certainly, this novel will not be for all, as it requires, like the narrator, a well-developed cynicism as well as a keen perspicacity to laugh at a joke superbly told.
—Alysha Allen, Reader's Favorite
As a secularist, my initial response to The Last Eucharist was one of disinterest. But, in the words of Dr. Frank-n-Furter, one should not "judge a book by its cover" (nor its title). And indeed, I was infinitely rewarded by my adherence to that worn-out adage. Although The Last Eucharist is Ian King's first novel, its finely-turned phrases of acerbic wit and sardonic, fun-poking insight into humanity's gloomy brutality merits superiority over the vast majority of other indie novels and even deserves acclaim amongst the echelons of best-selling fiction. For, in the midst of reader-coddling authors, King writes a no-holds-barred depiction of life's loathsome dirtiness and utter meaninglessness with an ending which underscores that message with refined dark humor. Certainly, this novel will not be for all, as it requires, like the narrator, a well-developed cynicism as well as a keen perspicacity to laugh at a joke superbly told.
—Alysha Allen, Reader's Favorite
Reviews for Leaves In The Wind
Leaves in the Wind: A Novel of the Dirty Wars by Ian T. King unravels in Latin America on the momentous day of January 1, 1959, when revolutionary leader Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba. On the same day in Latin America, Julia Medrano is born under humble circumstances, as her father ominously dies in an accident. She grows up in the care of her loving mother, to become a determined young woman with a heart for the poor and the oppressed. As a teenager, she is attracted to Angelo but the relationship ends on a sad note. At the same time, Manuel Contreras, a loveless orphan suffering from autism, is transferred from an orphanage to a psychiatric unit in the capital city. Their paths will one day cross in the midst of the so called Dirty Wars of Latin America.
In the historical fiction novel Leaves in the Wind: A Novel of the Dirty Wars, one of the main protagonists is Julia Medrano, an idealistic woman who becomes a victim of her country's politics, and Manuel Contreras, a crazed young man, is her main antagonist. There are, however, many characters in this novel and all of them are well developed and three dimensional. In developing his characters, author Ian T. King displays a creative writing style that is both imaginative and profound and this is one of the elements of the novel that makes it hard to put down. This is not all, however, because as one turns the over seven hundred pages, the plot takes several twists and finally converges in a way that is hard to predict. Set in the turbulent time of the Dirty Wars in Latin America, when hundreds of people simply disappeared from the face of the earth, this novel has all the ingredients of a best seller.
---Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
In the historical fiction novel Leaves in the Wind: A Novel of the Dirty Wars, one of the main protagonists is Julia Medrano, an idealistic woman who becomes a victim of her country's politics, and Manuel Contreras, a crazed young man, is her main antagonist. There are, however, many characters in this novel and all of them are well developed and three dimensional. In developing his characters, author Ian T. King displays a creative writing style that is both imaginative and profound and this is one of the elements of the novel that makes it hard to put down. This is not all, however, because as one turns the over seven hundred pages, the plot takes several twists and finally converges in a way that is hard to predict. Set in the turbulent time of the Dirty Wars in Latin America, when hundreds of people simply disappeared from the face of the earth, this novel has all the ingredients of a best seller.
---Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
This is a gripping story with characters that will also grip you. It is a mother's worst nightmare when a child goes missing. I can only imagine how Helena felt when she heard her daughter was gone - a possible casualty in the dirty war. To me this book also sends a message of hope because Helena will not give up; she even recruits her former lover Angelo to help her - she does not want to take no or dead ends for an answer. You can tell that author Ian T. King put a lot of love and work into this book because it comes out in the pages. This book was an entertaining read and I enjoyed every page. If you want a book that will draw you in, is well edited and has a flow that is just right, this is a great book. I would recommend this book to any avid reader.
---Kathryn Bennett for Readers' Favorite
---Kathryn Bennett for Readers' Favorite
Wow! is all I can say to that. Leaves in the Wind: A Novel of the Dirty Wars was a real eye opener into the real dirty wars in Latin America. Mr. King has done his research here, as the novel is a mix of fiction and historically accurate information. It's hard to believe that this sort of thing went on under our very noses and, indeed, still does to this day. To say it was gripping would be an understatement; a white-knuckle ride from start to finish would be more accurate. Excellent plot, fantastic characters and just an amazing novel from start to finish. I'm not a fan of long books but if this had been any shorter, there is no way real justice could have been done to the story. I will definitely be looking out for more from Mr. King in the future.
