Reviewed by Tammy
TITLE: Waking Jamal 
SERIES: Valhalla Initiative, #1
AUTHOR: Amberly Smith
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 205 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2016
BLURB:
Their physical and mental survival depends on them bonding. Jamal Zumati joins the military, determined to repay the country that fed and housed him. But during his Hamask activation, his senses go offline and he enters a berserker rage. The United States Hamrammr Program, or USHP, has only one option: put him into hibernation. Despite his extraordinary ability to read and manipulate situations, Vargr Lt. Rum Walker has stepped on one too many brass toes, and the USHP demoted him back to teaching new candidates. Rum is one paranoid thought away from self-destruction when he is recruited for a covert mission: pull Jamal from hibernation. The problem is; no one has ever survived a berserker fury—at least not officially. If Rum is to challenge the military stereotypes, he’ll not only need to wake Jamal—he’ll need to get him to agree to be bonded as a Hamra Pair, the ultimate super-soldier team. When Jamal and Rum team up with an FBI Hamra Pair to stop the terrorist group Dios Provee, Rum thinks he’ll show Jamal their true potential lies in an equal partnership, but Jamal is convinced Rum should take the lead. Will Rum stop Jamal from going berserk again and destroying both of their futures?
REVIEW:
Waking Jamal is set in 2097 and is about the United States Hamrammr Program.
HAVOC— Hamask and Vargr Operational Centre— also the call name of the military base that houses the HAVOC program. Though the USHP has other active locations, only HAVOC’s location is secret.
Hamrammr— Norse for shapeshifter or with the ability to change, they are the potential Hamask and Vargr. The term is also used to refer to active members of the USHP and is sometimes shortened to Hamra.
Hamask— A Norse word meaning bear, used by military forces to describe a specific type of warrior. Modified super soldier with heightened strength and enhanced senses—senses— both watchman and warrior.
Vargr— A Norse word meaning wolf, used by military forces to describe a specific type of warrior. Modified super soldier with the abilities of superfast reflexes and mental cognition— walking supercomputer.
Hamra Pair— the ultimate super soldier team made up of a bonded pair: one a Vargr, the other a Hamask.
Jamal Zumati undergoes activation for the Hamrammr Program but something goes wrong and he goes into what is known as “berserker rage – Rather than hallucinations and paranoia, the activation process increases sensory abilities in the Hamask, including heightened sight, hearing, taste, and touch…. With initial fury, the candidate does not have an anchor to his training. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the sedatives used to calm the candidate instead further aggravate the sensory overload, and the brain shuts down to protect the candidate, inducing hibernation. Introduction of an anchor, or Vargr, restores the candidate to preberserk levels.”
Lieutenant Ryan “Rum” Walker is an unpaired Vargr who has been demoted because he doesn’t follow rules. Rum is incredibly intelligent and undergoing activation years ago only made him crazy smart! Rum’s punishment is to be an instructor for HAVOC. Rum s now being watched especially closely because the longer a Vargr is unpaired the more self-destructive and eventually suicidal they become and Rum has been unpaired for many years.
The new Commander of the HAVOC Program General Khan has had his eye on Rum for a while now, he wants Rum to pair with Jamal and he wants them to lead HAVOC’s Valhalla. Valhalla is a joint military operation to stop the Dios Provee — A Christian extremist group that originated in South America. They believe that what God created should not be tampered with and are against modifying food and people. This includes Hamra and medication. They are highly volatile, and their bases are spread across many continents.
General Khan knows that for Rum to attempt to wake Jamal from the, berserk Hamask hibernation but they were both willing to risk it. Once awakened Jamal does something no other Hamask has ever done, he willingly chose Rum to be his Vargr.
Now starts the long road of training for the both of them. Jamal has to learn how to be a properly activated Hamask and Rum needs to learn how not to manipulate Jamal into doing what he wants and to work as a functioning Hamra Pair.
Both Jamal and Rum don’t have an easy time of it, they have a lot of people who want to see them fail as well as traitors trying to get them eliminated before they accomplish their task. Do they bond? Do they become a fully functioning, activated Hamra Pair? Do they fall in love? Well, you’re going to have to read Waking Jamal to find the answers! Believe me when I tell you, you won’t regret reading this incredible book!!
RATING: 
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