Lucas Bale

I recently read the first in this series - Heretic - which I enjoyed a great deal. This is Book 2 which I think surpasses it. It's a corker.

Defiance

Amazon.com Defiance

My review - 

This is the second book in Lucas Bale’s Beyond the Wall series. I enjoyed the first a great deal, although it necessarily had the feeling of a precursor. It had to set up the premise for the story arc which follows. In this book, we are straight into the action with a different group of protagonists and yet we come to see a connection with the finale of the first book, Heretic. There’s a huge amount of action in this book and some very exciting passages when we begin to realise what’s happening to some of our characters. This is no one-thread book. It’s a testament to the writing that when I was carried away in one scene, I was almost upset to be dragged away to another, much though I hadn’t wanted to leave that one behind on a previous chapter end.

I’d find it hard to define this series. It’s sci-fi, it’s speculative fiction but it’s also thriller, adventure story and a great deal more. The tension and the body count are ratcheted up as the book progresses and I finished the second half in a single, concentrated session. I find Lucas Bale’s writing style to be rich and evocative and I’m very glad it’s not going to be long before the next book is the series is available. Highly recommended.