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Blades of Winter: A Novel of the Shadowstorm by [G. T. Almasi]

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G. T. Almasi

Blades of Winter: A Novel of the Shadowstorm Kindle Edition

by G. T. Almasi (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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In one of the most exciting debuts in years, G. T. Almasi has fused the intricate cat-and-mouse games of a John le Carré novel with the brash style of comic book superheroes to create a kick-ass alternate history that reimagines the Cold War as a clash of spies with biological, chemical, and technological enhancements.

Nineteen-year-old Alix Nico, a self-described “million-dollar murder machine,” is a rising star in ExOps, a covert-action agency that aggressively shields the United States from its three great enemies: the Soviet Union, Greater Germany, and the Nationalist Republic of China. Rather than risk another all-out war, the four superpowers have poured their resources into creating superspies known as Levels.

Alix is one of the hottest young American Levels. That’s no surprise: Her dad was America’s top Level before he was captured and killed eight years ago. But when an impulsive decision explodes—literally—in her face, Alix uncovers a conspiracy that pushes her to her limits and could upset the global balance of power forever.

“Smart, sassy, and seriously appealing: a stunning debut.”—Jeff Long, New York Times bestselling author of The Descent

Look for all of G. T. Almasi’s riveting Shadowstorm novels:
BLADES OF WINTER | HAMMER OF ANGELS | TALON OF SCORPIO

Print length

334 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Del Rey
Publication date

28 August 2012
File size

1820 KB
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About the Author

"G. T. Almasi graduated from RISD and moved to Boston to pursue a career as a graphic designer. While he built his design portfolio, he joined a band as the bass player, and wrote and designed the band's newsletter. Once his career as an art director took off, he continued to supplement his design talents by writing copy for his clients. As a novelist, his literary influences include Robert Ludlum, Neal Stephenson, and Hunter S. Thompson. He also draws inspiration from John Woo's movies and Todd Howard's videogames. Almasi lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with his wife, Natalie, and their lovably stubborn dog, Ella." --This text refers to the mass_market edition.

Book Description

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007GZIABI
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Del Rey (28 August 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1820 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages

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71 ratings

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G. T. Almasi

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G. T. Almasi graduated from RISD and moved to Boston to pursue a career as a graphic designer. While he built his design portfolio, he joined a band as the bass player, and wrote and designed the band’s newsletter. Once his career as an art director took off, he continued to supplement his design talents by writing copy for his clients. As a novelist, his literary influences include Robert Ludlum, Neal Stephenson, and Hunter S. Thompson. He also draws inspiration from John Woo’s movies and Todd Howard’s videogames. Almasi lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with his wife, Natalie, and their lovably stubborn dog, Ella.

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paul nelson

The female Jack Bauer on drugs

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2013

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This is a highly enjoyable, action packed book that reads extremely quickly with a relentless pace and a not to complicated plot. Our protagonist is Alix a 19 year old spy who is like the female Jack Bauer on acid, spy is perhaps the wrong word as where ever she goes she leaves a path of devastation, destruction and a body count resembling a basketball score board.
The world building is good set around 30 years ago, yet with technology from far in the future. The world is run by the superpowers USA, Russia, China & Germany. These four nations are supposedly at peace with each other however on a covert level they strive to wipe each other out. This covert warfare is known as Shadowstorm and is carried out by agents known as "Levels" who have been given bio-medical/mechanical upgrades and other advancements making them superhuman.
When a much higher level calls in sick, Alix causes a clerical error and gets assigned the job. The task involves tailing a former Russian Level however all hell breaks loose when Alix is fired upon by a Russians protector and soon enough things descend into all out chaos. This horrible mix up is then rectified as Alix gets a dressing down from her superiors about her disastrous mission, things however aren't finished as she learns that there was much more to that incident than just a mix-up and things have a way of being connected to her past namely her missing dad. The investigation is re-opened, heralding the start of a thrilling journey as a plot to sabotage the worlds oil supply is uncovered.
There are many stand out moments in the book but the best has to be Alix in pursuit of a foreign level jumping off the Eiffel Tower without a parachute, catching him, digging her augmented hand into his collarbone and pulling his parachute chord. She is impulsive, emotionally unstable and a borderline psychotic killing machine, but you can't help loving this character to bits.
This is an excellent debut novel and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Phedre

Ein Actionkracher mit vielen Überraschungen

Reviewed in Germany on 3 October 2012

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"Blades of Winter" macht Spaß. Atemberaubende Actionszenen gepaart mit smarten Spy-Thriller Elementen und einem gehörigen Schuss Was-wäre-Wenn-Fantasie wurden hier zu einem unterhaltsamen Buch zusammengerührt.

Es sind die 1980er und der zweite Weltkrieg hat sich in diesem Unviversum ein wenig anders entwickelt als gewohnt. Als die Waffen endlich schwiegen war Hitler zwar Gott-sei-Dank immer noch tot, aber Deutschland nicht besiegt. Stattdessen hat hier Deutschland die eroberten Gebiete behalten, die Amerikaner, Russen und Chinesen haben es ihnen nachgemacht und die vier Großmächte haben den Rest der Welt unter sich aufgeteilt. Statt einem kalten Krieg führen die vier nun einen "Shadowstorm" genannten verdeckten Krieg um Informationen. Die in diesem Krieg agierenden Spione erinnern stark an den bionischen Mann aus der Serie "Der 6 Millionen Dollar Mann". Diese technologisch aufgemotzten Levels führen je nach Grad von 1-19 verdeckte Operationen auf der ganzen Welt durch.

Gleich zu Beginn des Buches setzte unsere Heldin Alix - kurz für Alixandra - eine von diesen Operationen gehörig in den Sand. Eine einfache Observation führt zu einem Feuergefecht mitten in Manhattan. Ihre Vorgesetzten sind nicht begeistert, stufen sie aber trotzdem einige Level höher als kurz danach ihre Mutter entführt wird und sie die Befreiungsmission leitet. Natürlich steckt hinter der verfehlten Mission und der Entführung mehr als zunächst gedacht und in guter Spy-Thriller Tradition muss Alix die Spur über die halbe Welt verfolgen und hat dabei Gelegenheit noch einige feindliche Agenten auszuschalten und so manchen exotischen Schauplatz in Schutt und Asche zu legen.

Der Autor hat sich wirklich viel Mühe gegeben diese alternative Welt so plausibel wie möglich zu gestalten und auch auf die kleinen Details geachtet. Es macht Spaß die kleinen und großen Unterschiede zu vergleichen. Die technologischen Entwicklungen im Bezug auf die Level haben alle einen Hauch von James Bond gepaart mit Terminator.

Alix selbst ging mir allerdings manchmal ein wenig auf den Keks. Sie ist zu Beginn des Buches erst 19 Jahre alt, die Trainingsprogramme beginnen eben sehr früh, und benimmt sich leider auch des öfteren wie ein unreifer Teenager. Nur leider ist eben dieser unreifer Teenager eine Killer-Maschine die sich feuergefechte mit feindlichen Agenten liefert. Das Alix trotz allem weiterhin im Dienst bleiben darf hat dann manchmal leider keinen Sinn ergeben.

Der Cliffhanger am Ende sorgt dann aber doch dafür, dass man auf jeden Fall wissen möchte wie es weitergeht und ich denke ich werde mir die Fortsetzung auf jeden Fall kaufen.

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Jean Guy Nadeau

Lots of battles

Reviewed in Canada on 18 June 2014

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The book is filled with good ideas. A lot of battles between the heroin and her foes i found that the story telling was unequal. Some times good other times at a distance. The main character is interesting but not easy to bond with. I could give 3 stars but because I have often been tempted to just let the book go it is 2.

R. McAdams

Holy crap, that was AWESOME!

Reviewed in the United States on 15 April 2013

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Those who know me, know I don't hand out 5/5 stars, perfect, 100% to many things. I like to reserve that for stuff that really impresses me, has a "wow" factor, etc. I really, really, really enjoyed Blades of Winter: A Novel of the Shadowstorm. I already have Hammer of Angels: A Novel of Shadowstorm on pre-order. I have also recommended the novel to my wife and daughter, and I almost NEVER do that. I did mark up the book with warnings about the violence in the book for them, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The novel is told from the point of view of a 19 year-old female operative in the Shadowstorm conflict. She is an American agent known as Scarlet, real name Alix Nico, and she is pretty awesome. (Warning, she swears like an irritated sailor, though). She is funny, and she is dedicated, and she has some issues.

The novel is set in an alternate history of the world, roughly at the modern day era (beginning of the 21st century), but in a world shaped dramatically differently due to a different outcome to World War 2. The novel is an exciting, gripping ride that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the last word of the last paragraph on the last page. And wow was that last word something!

The novel is well written, and you will immediately care about the main character. However, I almost rated it 4 stars instead of 5, because of the violence in the book. Generally it isn't described in detail, but in 2 cases it is, and it involves torture. The first comes at the beginning of chapter 23, and I really didn't care for it. The second, and last came at the end of chapter 39. In both cases, the participants were combatants, there was a lot of adrenaline and anger involved, and a lot of bravado and ulterior motives. However, the torture isn't described in serious detail, and it is not described in a positive light (ok, well, maybe it is a bit in chapter 39 -- but the reader will hate the person it is being done to at this point, and it is hard to feel sympathy for them). The novel doesn't contain any rapes, or domestic violence against women (the 2 things that get a book an automatic 1-star from me). The novel does get a little graphic with some of the violence in some of the fighting scenes, but if you've seen a James Bond movie, you've more or less run into that kind of violence.

Overall, it is a VERY entertaining Science-Fiction/Spy novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

5 stars.

---------------------------------
Book Content Guide For Parents:
---------------------------------
Sex & Nudity: [1/5] sexual relations and attractions are discussed, but never described. A brief sex "scene" happens, but only the lead-up to it is described, the "camera" cuts away to the morning after right before it starts.

Violence & Gore: [5/5] every fight scene is pretty much fatal for someone, the fights are usually described in fairly graphic detail, things like brains being blown out, and bones being grabbed/ripped out, eyes being punctured happen.

Profanity: [5/5] yeah ... pretty much every other word out of Alix's mouth is some sort of profanity. F-word, S-word, etc. you name it, they say it -- this includes references/insults to genitalia.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: [3/5] Alix gets drunk, a lot. So do various other characters. Various characters smoke (and smoking at one point is admired as "cool" by the main character). All of the enhanced humans (Levels) in the novel use stimulants (drugs) to affect their performance in battle. No illegal drugs (by U.S.A. standards) are referenced as used by any of the characters, that I noticed.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: [3/5] There is a very sad scene near the end of the novel that is also very tense (and violently graphic). There is a very tense kidnapping scene near the beginning of the novel, but the tension is combat related in both cases. There are also the 2 torture scenes I mentioned in my main review, in chapters 23 and 39.

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Michael and Julie

Addictive alternate-reality super-spy thriller

Reviewed in the United States on 23 March 2014

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In the alternate reality of G. T. Almasi's " Blades of Winter ," World War II did not proceed or end in quite the same way it did in our own reality. As of the 1980s, Greater Germany rules Europe and parts of the Middle East. The Holocaust of European Jews never kicked into full gear due to Hitler's early death, but Jews remain an oppressed, enslaved minority throughout the continent. The US has allied with Germany against the Eastern powers of Russia and China, despite Germany's "peculiar institution." While there are alliances between the major powers, nobody trusts anybody, and, for reasons that are best left unexamined, each side has developed cyborg super-spies that they deploy against each other in a "Shadowstorm" of real but strictly covert warfare.

Almasi's first-person protagonist Alix is a 19-year-old recruit, just getting her feet wet in the Shadowstorm. She's a sassy/spunky/perky wisecracking teenage ass-kicker in the mold of Heinlein's Friday . She's also a hotshot gunslinger with a chrome-plated skeleton, a big gun, and a chip in her head. She loves blasting men's heads off and doesn't mind coming home covered in gore. And yet, somehow, she's a sensitive girl dotes on her work partner and goes to bed each night crying because she misses her daddy so much.

Daddy, you see, was the best in the biz; a super-super secret agent allegedly killed on a mission eight years ago. His body was never recovered. When Alix uses subterfuge to insert herself into a mission she's blatantly unqualified for, she uncovers new information relating to her father's disappearance. This sparks a series of adventures that eventually lead her to an Arab mastermind code-named "Winter" who wants to free the Holy Land from European domination in the most spectacularly suicidal way possible. Explosions, BFGs, clones, girl-on-multiple-soldiers-at-a-time action, smartass sendoffs, and lengthy hospital visits follow.

To call "Blades of Winter" a guilty pleasure is to understate just how guilty a pleasure it is. For one thing, Alix isn't a person, she's a fantasy girl; a sleek, sexy, efficient killing machine with a wickedly sarcastic wit and just a little bit of tacked-on sentiment and morality. She doesn't sound remotely like a real teenager, even if she is as cool and bold and fearless and clever as some teenagers think they are. She's Buffy the Vampire Slayer with less teenage angst, a higher body count, and fewer inhibitions. She's a lot more interesting than a damsel in distress, but she's not much closer than that to a real three-dimensional woman. For another thing, the action and violence is beyond over-the-top. The video-game gore (with charge-up packs!) is combined with heartless throw-away lines that would make even James Bond blush. It's simplistic, it's unrealistic, and it's cruelly insensitive.

But ... Almasi's writing is clear, clever, and effective. The action is slam-bang, the story rarely lags, and the plot's mysteries, even when they're telegraphed pretty clearly, never fail to drag the reader along. Almasi doesn't get particularly high marks for originality, but that's not what this exercise is about. For visceral thrills, some low-key chuckles, and not a huge amount of thinking, you can do a lot worse than "Blades of Winter."

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