Simmons offers a fascinating glimpse into the way our world could look in 50 years. Mixing futuristic technology with historical places and end-times theology, Unbound is both thoughtful and entertaining. As many reviewers have said (including me! see below), you won't be able to put it down.
About the book:
He must be released for a little while.
But the one who sees doesn't believe.
Elijah Goldsmith has nightmares he needs to ignore. Why would a rich kid from Manhattan dream three straight nights about a dragon and the destruction of St. Peter's Basilica? He's never even been to Rome.
It's bad timing, too. He's graduating soon and applying to be a spy in the International Security Agency. That's where he meets Naomi. She's the kind of girl who makes boys like Elijah want to share their secrets. Were they brought together to learn what his secrets mean? There's more to their sparks than they think.
This is 2066. The year the world ends.
About the author:
J.B. Simmons writes thrillers with an apocalyptic twist, and political philosophy clothed in fantasy. His latest novel, Unbound, is the first book in The Omega Trilogy. Book two, Clothed with the Sun, released February 27, 2015.
The Omega Trilogy is his second series. in his Gloaming books, J.B. carries the torch of Tolkein and C.S. Lewis into an underground city with an exiled prince. The Gloaming's characters champion the philosophies of history's great thinkers and bring them to battle.J.B. lives outside Washington, DC, with his wife, two toddlers, and an intriguing day job. He writes before dawn and runs all day. His secret fuel: coffee and leftover juice boxes.
Well-educated and highly articulate, the emerging author has learned to combine his love of fiction with his own creativity.
When asked why he became a writer, J.B. points to a defining moment early in his career. Late one night, he was sitting in a windowless office toiling over a legal brief. "It was a season of questions: who am I, why am I here, what am I doing? An answer flashed in my mind like a bolt of lightning: 'You are a writer.' Ever since, I have felt peace when filling a page with words. I am a writer."
J.B. went to law school with the main goal of becoming a better writer. Years of practice in the professional legal world have honed his skills—because in law and in fiction, every word must have a purpose, chosen with care. J.B. writes smart fiction. Picking up what he can from his favorite novelists, he strikes a chord between the crispness of Hemingway, the complexity of Faulkner, and the accessibility of C.S. Lewis.
J.B. is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia.
Learn more at http://jbsimmons.com.
Margie's comments: As I hinted at above, I did have a hard time putting Unbound down. It held my attention from start to finish. The first chapter plops the reader right into the action, and the story doesn't really let you go even at the end, where the narrative lets you know there is another book coming. In fact, that's probably the only thing that detracts from the reading for me. I like to feel like a book is completely standalone, even in a series. While the story did wrap up the particular vision this book reveals and leaves Elijah and Naomi recouping their strength for the next phase of their work, it still was a little open-ended for me. At least I don't have to wait for the next book, Clothed with the Sun, to read the next installment, since it released today.
The characters in Unbound are well developed and interesting. The technology as the author sees it in 2066 is intriguing. Elijah is fascinated with Naomi, but is not sure what to do with his dreams or her faith. She introduces him to more people of faith in order to get answers to his dreams. So not only is he having these nightmares that keep increasing in intensity, he's having to learn a belief system that is totally foreign to him.
I highly recommend Unbound to readers who enjoy apocalyptic thrillers. And I look forward to reading more from this author.
**I received this book from The Believers Media group in exchange for a review.**
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