Unbreakable - The Rise of Promise

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Author: Aintza Bisera

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I’ll start this review with a bit of truth: I don’t often stray from my comfy nest of good ‘ole Epic Fantasy and it’s like, when searching for new things to read. However, knowing that this is definitely a shortcoming, I jumped at the chance to read and review Unbreakable. Not only is the novel completely different from anything I’ve read in a long time but the blurb reminded me of my favorite game Mass Effect. I couldn’t resist.


Unbreakable is the debut novel of W.C. Bauers and features Promise T. Paen, who has been likened to an early Honor Harrington of the Starship Troopers series. She is a refreshingly strong female lead in a dark science fiction, militaristic genre setting. Her character must rise above her past when responsibility, and dare I say greatness, is thrust upon her back on her home planet of Montana. To keep it short, Promise is a marine and because of her, her company is chosen to return to her origin world. They are essentially sent there to gain the trust and confidence of the inhabitants. Of course, disaster strikes and Promise must rise above and conquer her enemies in an epic fashion.

While trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible, I definitely enjoyed this book, but there were some portions I could have done without (or I feel could have been improved upon). As mentioned above, Promise is a strong female lead, and in that aspect a breath of fresh air. Her backstory is tragic enough to give her motivation, but not overly so making her unable to be related to. However, the book is full of military jargon, which to me got a bit confusing and at times I feel it took away from the story. The author, in my opinion, is very clearly a gun enthusiast. A great deal of time and effort is spent on the explanation and description of the weaponry, which for me personally also sometimes detracted from story line.

I would say overall that I enjoyed reading this novel, and it was a nice change of pace from what I normally read. If you are a lover of military science fiction this is a definite recommendation! In fact, if that is your genre of choice you will probably not have the same issues with the novel that I did. So take a walk with Promise, and try out W.C. Bauers’ Unbreakable today.

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