The Venom of Vipers / K.C. May

Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller

Approximate word count: 90-95,000

Availability Kindle: YES     Nook: YES        DTB: YES

Author:

A software developer, technical writer, and now full time novelist, K.C. May has lived a nomadic life, living in Hawaii, Taiwan, and Arizona among other places. She has one other novel, The Kinshield Legacy, called “a rousing hard-hitting fantasy adventure” by Piers Anthony.  For more visit the author's website.



Description:

A virus is killing off the population. The best hopes for survival of the human race are saphers, a genetically engineered human subspecies that are immune. A team of scientists is searching for a cure by trying to isolate what makes saphers resistant to the virus. Not all those outside of the research compound want the team to succeed.

Appraisal:

If you’ve read my page talking about submission of books for review you’d have noticed I discourage submission of science fiction and fantasy. This is largely a matter of taste. I prefer books that are at least close to reality. Too often, either genre is too far removed from the world I live in to relate. Add to that a tendency for me to feel the world the author has created too often overshadows the characters and it’s a recipe for me to dislike a book, regardless of its quality. Those prejudices of mine were not an issue when reading The Venom of Vipers.

The primary characters, Katie (a doctor/researcher) and Ryder (one of the saphers) were likeable. Although Ryder had many faults, his temper being one, this just made him seem more human. The fictional science was a big part of the premise and overall story, but not so far out as to be unbelievable – it seemed very conceivable by extrapolating current scientific knowledge out just a few years. Most important, the story revolved around the characters rather than the science. As with any well-told story, I found myself pulling for the characters I liked and against those I didn’t, regardless of if they were Homo sapiens or the sapher sub-species.

The latter portion of the book turns into to a thriller. This part gets very intense, as you’d hope for a thriller. However, this is also the only part of the book where I had any quibbles. Specifically the head of security was a character that became less and less believable. His motivations and goals were clear; however, his actions seemed less than credible at times. Despite this I found Venom of Vipers an enjoyable and entertaining read.

Format/Typo Issues:

I spotted no issues in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars