Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Chrysalis Corporation
SERIES: Chrysalis Corporation: Book One
AUTHOR: T.A. Venedicktov
PUBLISHER: DSP Publications
LENGTH: 353 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2015
BLURB:
Together, they can change the rules of the galaxy and the definition of humanity.
When Damion Hawk is offered an opportunity to escape the destitute life of a miner on Mars and become an elite Alpha Fighter pilot, he jumps at the chance. Within the Chrysalis Corporation, Damion must learn to work with his Core—a man with computerized implants, no human emotions—and no rights. But unlike other Fighters, Damion can’t treat Core 47 as a tool. He sees 47 as more than a machine, and he’ll take deadly risks to help 47 find the humanity inside him.
Fighters and Cores are designed to work together and enhance each other’s strengths in defense of their employer. Damion and 47 will need each other’s support as suspicions about the all-powerful Chrysalis Corporation arise. Someone wants Damion and 47 gone, and they need to find out who and why while hiding 47’s growing emotions and the love forming between them. If they can succeed, they might save not only themselves, but all Cores enslaved by the Corporation.
REVIEW:
I picked up this book when another author I’ve reviewed recommended it to me on Goodreads. Since it was DSP Publications book, and I love their books usually, I jumped on it! I’ve got to say I really liked the book. The authors did a good job with world building. I had a few background questions which I didn’t get answers for in this book, but I’m guessing more will be revealed in future installments. I’m going to do one spoiler and tell you that this book ends in a HUGE cliffhanger, which won’t be resolved until at least the end of 2016, or maybe a little later, so if you can’t live with that…then this wouldn’t be a good book for you.
Damion Hawk is a poor miner from Mars. His family has been on Mars for so many years that his family can’t even trace when they arrived. They’ve never been wealthy, instead barely surviving on the low wages paid for mining. Damion longs for something more, and finds it when he applies for a military position with Chrysalis Corporation, where he hopes to become a Fighter Pilot and see the solar system. A couple years later, all trained, and being one of the top trainees, he is off for his first assignment. He knows it will be a few years before his Fighter Pilot dream will come true, but he is on his way.
Core 47 is a heavily modified human who has been intensely physically and mentally manipulated since his birth to become a human machine…with no feelings and no emotions. His body is full of computer jacks and he is the property of Chrysalis Corporation and considered disposable. I would have liked a little more detail about the Core program. I read it as they are basically slaves, but I didn’t see any other incidence of slavery in the world building, unless I missed it.
Core 47 has killed three Fighter Pilots assigned to him, and now he has announced that Damion is the Fighter Pilot he has been waiting for the entire time. Don’t get the wrong impression, the guys who were killed were evil and deserved to die, so you won’t have any sympathy for them.
I enjoyed the story of how these two vastly different men came together as a team, and beyond. Will they survive each other, and survive Chrysalis Corporation and the shadowy plots against them by a shady Commander and the mysterious “Creators”?
In closing, I’ll be honest. I really liked the book right up until I flipped that last page…2 minutes before a self-destruction sequence completes…and we get a “To Be Continued”. I do though recommend the book for anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi book, set in the distant future, with some good world building and an interesting story line, plot and characters.
RATING: 4.0
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