By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: Nyxaris’ Science Fiction novel, Rebirth Protocol: The Return of Earth's Guardian and The Sword Magus Supreme is about as long and complex as its name.
Nick Valiente caught his girlfriend, Sarah, in bed with his best friend, Matt. After leaving in anger, he is attacked by an unknown assailant. When he wakes up, he realizes that he has traveled two years into the past. More importantly, he finds that he shares memories and consciousness with Arlize Dentragon, a master swordsman and magician. He is full of questions about who Arlize really is, what is happening, and why. In his pursuit of answers, Nick stumbles on a conspiracy that goes far beyond his desire for personal revenge.
The book has an interesting plot trajectory. At first it begins as a simple revenge thriller. Since Nick can see two years in advance, he has plenty of time to gather information on when Matt and Sarah’s affair began. The more time he spends observing Matt and Sarah from a distance, the more he recognizes their phoniness and annoying flaws that he overlooked before.
Besides revenge on his enemies, Nick actually uses this two year foresight to improve himself. He aces courses like Statistics, Physics, and Business, courses that the previous Nick barely passed. He also begins to build a nice portfolio by studying and investing in technology and researches prestigious fellowships so he can get his foot in the door of prominent businesses. Even if he doesn't get revenge, Nick is certainly getting the better of Matt and Sarah by living well.
The book expands to an immense Science Fiction novel with the arrival of Arlize. Nick dreams as Arlize, shares his thoughts and memories, and sees Arlize’s world through his eyes. It's a creepy but trippy experience that gets even stranger when Nick recognizes parallels in his own life like a love triangle and near fatal betrayal.
Nick asks questions about this experience. Who is Arlize? Is he from a parallel universe? Another planet? A previous reincarnation? A future incarnation? An alternate personality? A bit of wish fulfillment? A fictional character? Why do they share minds, memories, and experiences?
One thing is certain, in Arlize Nick finds someone that is braver, stronger, and a better leader than he thinks that he is. He is the type of person that Nick wants to be.
Arlize is considered a guardian in his world and is gifted with a sword and magical skills which helps him out fight and out smart any enemy . But yet, Arlize has many of the same problems that Nick did. Despite feeling intimidated and confused by his presence, Nick feels a kinship with this man as he begins to think and talk like him, even becoming him.
This shared consciousness emboldens Nick as he manifests abilities such as heightened senses and increased mental capacity which reads like computerized analysis. This contributes to reinventing the next two years of his life and makes people around him suspicious as Nick becomes a target.
After he travels back two years, Nick begins to suspect that he is being monitored when he encounters people that he never met during the previous timeline. This suspicion mounts when he sees people installing cameras in his dorm hall and a hacker friend finds out about wider surveillance. He also learns that his family might have been watched since before he was born and those watching him aren't afraid to resort to violent, even fatal, means.
What started out as a time travel revenge thriller, Rebirth Protocol covers multiple worlds, space travel, parallel universes, alternate realities, government conspiracies, reincarnation, mental telepathy, surveillance, AI, ripples in space and time, and the evolution of characters into super beings. It succeeds in covering various intricate plots, rich characterization, and deep themes of awareness, perception, heroism, self-actualization, and the struggles to find one's personal identity in an increasingly depersonalized world.
No comments:
Post a Comment