Customer Reviews

Epsilon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I'm really not that kind of a girl, but Jack Remmler in John J. Rust's "Epsilon" captured me. The story pussyfotted so quickly from stupid campus life to WOW! The world of Sci Fi is populated with weirdos-albiet wonderful folks,but Rust's sickos as well as honorable characters are real...I'm sure. Well, maybe.
Lots of fun reading this one. Probably not intended to be a quick read, it's a book I couldn't put down until I turned the last page. Nurabi is a most captivating type. Watch out for him.

We all need heroes and EPSILON is mine. What would the world be without heroes such as EPSILON and Superman? They allow us to slip from earth bound creature to observer and action figure in the destruction of our enemies. After all, it is entertainment for the minds that can read and allow the other guy to do the conquering. Good book John J. Rust. I'm looking forward to the next one.

I'm not a big comic book fan, but Epsilon may change that. Author John J. Rust blends a superhero story with a real down to earth, sometimes gritty, world. His interest in modern U.S. Military weapons and tactics clearly shows, keeping the reader's feet firmly planted on the ground, avoiding the usual pitfals associated with comic books shifting to the written medium. Epsilon is a very enjoyable read, and I plan on buying the sequel.

On the point brought up by another reviewer, who Mr. Rust dedicates his book to has absolutly NO bearing on the quality of the book. It's nice to see someone show a close bond with thier parents.

... and I can't believe how well I slept!

The book makes VERY little sense to an educated reader. The plot -- something about the ultimate battle of good versus evil -- plays out like something from a very bad B movie, and the characters sputter dialogue that makes about as much sense. "Argh! I hate it when that happens!"

An absolutely tepid "superhero novel" that has the feel of the 'writer's workshopped' syndrome. The plot, largely incoherent and unbelievable, belongs in a comic book ... or, better yet, a comic film, and then ... then ... it might've made sense. Otherwise, it's like the police officer says: "Move along, there's nothing to see here."

While this story is clearly the early work of an emerging author, it also clearly has its charm. A hybrid of comic book stories and genre science fiction (both of which I've dabbled in at times in my life and am not an expert on), it blends the two in a quirky and campy story that exists in a world at once familiar to us and and existing in its own imaginative sphere.

To compare this piece to the bestsellers of any of the masters of science fiction or action/adventure isn't productive to either the masters or John J. Rust. Call this book unique, a genre comic book in prose form. Don't expect Epsilon to deliver more than it can and it will entertain you from cover to cover.

Think back to your favorite comic book dramas and the delicious hours you spent with them avoiding parental reality; think back to when you saw the first Indiana Jones adventure or ET on the big screen. Not everyone's cup of tea, and neither film was any mirror of absolute reality, but you have to admit that Indy and ET held your attention from beginning to end and even earned your affection and appreciation as characters of a certain type. Don't forget that both films heralded a movie genre all their own. The inner workings of the Epsilon book are well suited to a similar type of screenplay.

Protagonist Jack Remmler and his crowd seem more high school than college, and the story could have been better shaped and marketed as a young adult story. There are too many scab encrusted reviewers of adult science fiction to give Jack Remmler and his alter ego Epsilon a fighting chance. With any luck, Rust's future fiction, and I hope that includes subsequent adventures by Epsilon, will grace his newly created genre with better recognition in the public eye.

What makes books truly original is an author's sense of bringing either new and exciting ideas to the forefront of the narrative OR giving a new twist on a existing formula: face facts - most stories out there have already been told, and, in order to captivate readers, there has to be some creative spin on Superman if you're going to write a non-Superman novel that looks like it should've been a Superman novel.

That said, EPSILON reads like an episode of the WB's Smallville performed on a scale that television budgets could not afford. The exotic locales are minimized, almost trivialized to fundamental accents of the players: the mystery and grandeur that makes France seem like a real, palpable place is lost on this reader because the only exploration is through a character's cumbersome accent.

The situation: the world hangs in the nuclear balance, and only a young man recently gifted with superpowers can change the course of history to prevent the disaster. Pardon me, but haven't we been here before ... in comics ... in movies ... on televisions ... hundreds if not thousands of times?

If that's the case, then Rust (author) should've come up with some daring twist on the scenarios, but, sadly, SMALLVILLE becomes the 1950's THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN -- not exactly complete with George Reeves. The situations, the dialogue, and the inevitable conclusion -- complete with an opening large enough for a semi tractor trailer to drive though beckoning for a sequel -- descend to the predictable.

Had the author spent more time inventing some twist on the superhero motif, EPSILON might've been, at least, an enjoyable read. The way it is, the book feels like an exercise in "How to Read" or, more aptly, "How NOT To Write A Contemporary Superhero."

Still, if you're going to steal, Rust steals from the best in comics and beyond -- Claremont (comics) and Clancy (books) immediately come to mind ... but what's missing is the substance that both of those writers managed to convey in their respective works of fiction: whether you accepted their worlds as real or not, the reader is swept into the action at a frenetic pace and forced along for the ride.

With EPSILON, I think the reader would've been better off swept under the rug.

EPSILON is a hybrid of a comic book and a science fiction novel and I feel that it's
quite unique, and an enjoyable read.
The reader can be sunk into the action and escape from reality and yet due to his obvious interest in weapons and tactics, keep the reader connected to reality.
The characters are quite extraordinary in their similarity to people we all know in the real world which makes you feel more connected to the story.
I read this book near the time that the US was going into Iraq and the situations and locales were frighteningly similar to the goings on over there.
The central characters are interesting and compel the reader to care about them during the ultimate battle of good versus evil.
I hated to put it down betwen my reading times.
It's definitely worth the investment of time and money.
I had fun reading it. It is very entertaining.
Great book by John J. Rust. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.
And...
...

Buyer beware...

Having been a reader of comic books for over 20 years, I'd like to think that I've an understanding of what works and what doesn't ... at least from my own limited perspective. The significant difference between the comic book and the novel is that the comic book relies heavily on the visuals in order to establish the greater part of the narrative. EPSILON, on the other hand, lacks the sophistication of the prose necessary to lift it off the page and imprint it upon the mind's eye of the reader ... at least, it did this reader. That isn't to say that the story of a not-so-ordinary college student holding the fate of the universe in his hands might be lost on others; it simply didn't appeal much to me.

The 'average man' mythology has worked best in the medium of the comic book. Several years ago, STARBRAND and NIGHTMASK (though short-lived) used the 'typical next store neighbor suddenly finding himself a superhero' to great achievement, just not to great sales. Consequently, the masses were driven back to the mainstays of XMEN, BATMAN, and SUPERMAN. However, I found the characters -- while enduring tragedies to find their superpowers -- largely uninteresting. Some nice twists and turns to the plot along the way elevated EPSILON above the typical, similar fare (check out the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, as an example), but twists and turns do not SOLELY a plot make; interesting central characters are the mainstay to any successful story, whether it's comic bookish or a novel.

Lastly, the book began with a dedication to the author's mother and father for all of their support. I couldn't explain why, but, from that point forward, I thought I was reading something intended primarily for their viewing and not a wider audience.