This is a story of tragedy, unrequited love, international suspense, and driving ambition to defeat the grab for world domination. Kafira Weiss is an Israeli Biomedical Scientist whose passionate life purpose is to find a cure for the world's most deadly disease. After a tragic beginning, Kafira becomes the World's leading expert on the disease, working at CDC in Atlanta to continue her research as the Associate Director of the Special Pathogens Unit. In 1981, the Supreme Leader of North Korea lands rockets on the Moon, claiming the Moon for North Korea, to the exclusion of every other nation on Earth. To force the United Nations and the Member Countries to agree to his Claim, Kim II Jong threatens to infect the world with a deadly disease.
Full Synopsis on Goodreads
Today I'm reviewing Kafira by John O'Neill. It is his debut book. I decided to go out of my normal genres for this book. Instead of the normal YA or Romance books, this is a Sci-Fi, Suspense, Thriller! Definitely different (like my alliteration?). People probably hate my indecisiveness because I keep rating books with decimal points. Don't worry, I'm giving this book a straight up 4 STARS. It was definitely a good read but I can't say that there were no problems. Continue reading to see why I loved it, why some parts weren't perfect and how I feel about the ending, because we all know how uptight I am about endings.
Characters:
The characters in this book definitely play a very vital role. There are so many different characters that are followed but because of the way the book is written, it's not hard to understand. I never had one of those moments where I wonder who someone was. Whenever a name pops up, I know who they are straight away. I love how even though all the characters live all over the world, John O'Neill is still able to connect all their stories. The characters are very in depth and are explored amazingly. Even though it's not in first person, you really get to go into the character's heads. The character development isn't top notch but it's definitely good.
Pros:
The third person writing in this book is amazing. Sometimes, he keeps the readers in suspense so that we don't know what's happening. This makes the book very intriguing as I just wanted to keep reading. Other times, he used dramatic monologue. Because there are so many characters, this feature worked really well. I like that feeling where you know something that someone else doesn't, even if it's just a book character. Since the book is really long, sometimes John O'Neill has to go back to an event that happened a while back in the book. He effectively but subtly reminds the reader what is going on. The point of views changed a lot at cliffhangers, again making sure that I don't put the book down. It's clear how much time and effort was put into this book.
Cons:
I think that one of the main problems is that the story moved too fast. You never really get the chance to embrace one situation before it moves onto the next. I think that this book would of been much better maybe as a series or even as a movie. I can picture this story on the big screen, except, not right now because of all the things happening with North Korea. Since this book is self-published, there are a few parts that you can tell weren't properly edited but it's a really minor problem. Finally, if you're an old follower then you saw this coming, the ending. For me, endings must be perfect. Sadly this book's ending wasn't. I need that happy ending and lately, I've just been getting tragic ending after tragic ending.
Summary:
In the end, this book was amazing. It's not what I expected it to be and not what I normally read but I loved it anyway. It was a long read but I enjoyed every minute of it. I definitely recommend checking this book out. Also, this book was sent to me for review but I promise that all opinions are my own. I'm not getting compensated for this review. Hope you'll be able to read this book!
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