Bernard Jan's Blog - Posts Tagged "michael-evans"

Control Freakz by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Michael Evans, a high school student, an advocate for a better future and a young adult author, nailed his appearance on the writing scene with his debut novel Control Freakz. I didn’t expect such mature and imaginative writing from someone so young! The fact I’ve read the second edition of his first novel in Control Freakz Series, which has a couple awesome plot and style changes from the first edition, as the author says in his note, cannot diminish the quality of his writing and story-telling.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian literature, this is the book you must read. Not just to support the young and ambitious author but to enjoy the action-packed story of Nathalie and two of her best friends, Hunter and Ethan, who are trying to escape attempted mind control by the invasive government of President Ash in the post-apocalyptic America.

As you read Control Freakz, you see the love and attraction Evans has for the words and how instinctively he handles them. But his love goes much further than writing books and telling exciting stories. He wrote this book (and the whole series) as a wake-up call and out of concern for our own world and its future. His desire to inspire others to advocate for positive changes in their lives and our world is admirable and I support him in that.

Michael Evans is a teenager whose commitment to his writing and love for this world we should all recognize and support.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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Deadwave by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Michael Evans is not a new author to me because I’ve already read and reviewed his young adult dystopian novel about an authoritarian government Control Freakz. Thanks to Control Freakz, I didn’t hesitate to grab the first book Deadwave from his new Conspiracy Chronicles Series when it was available for pre-order on Amazon, though I still have to read the remaining books from the Control Freakz Series.

I don’t hide that I prefer a standalone novel over the series, but if other books in the Conspiracy Chronicles Series are as Deadwave, I’m all in for it! The core of the Deadwave story might be a virtual reality game infested with zombies, but it is also much more than that. It is the story built on interesting and strong characters who try to survive and fight for their future in a decaying society manipulated by an ultra-powerful group and the world succumbing under the heavy effects of environmental destruction.

As Deadwave sucked me into its virtual world and made me totally enjoy it, I feel obliged to say a few words about its author. Michael Evans is still just a kid at 17 (no offense, Michael!), but he is also a great man when it comes to writing and his understanding of the world. I urge everyone to read Author’s Note at the end of the book to see how great a visionary he is and in what spheres and universes his mind works.

Don’t judge a book by its cover is a saying that couldn’t be more appropriate in Michael’s case. Don’t judge Michael by his age because he is a living proof that age is just a number and that amazing achievements can be realized even before you cross the threshold of maturity if you dream big, work hard, have a vision, plan, determination, and courage to live your dream.

Remember Michael Evans, a boy with a lifelong mission and an advocate for a better future, and Michael Evans, a prolific author and gifted storyteller who creates an alternate universe with such ease like he is writing his homework. Respect!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My review of Control Freakz.

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Bernard Jan



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The Last Migration by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Highly action-packed third instalment of the Conspiracy Chronicles puts Sam in front of many new challenges. The biggest challenge is saving millions of people before they perish in the vats of acid of his father’s company Chimera, but it’s not the last one. As the truth of The Last Migration plan leaks to the public, Sam is propelled into a series of events that will grind his emotions and body with a turbulent force of new discoveries with devastating consequences.

Speeding from one dangerous situation to another, a young author of The Last Migration twists and turns his characters to the limit. With a brilliant narrative he proves his excellence as a storyteller and skillfulness in creating and destroying worlds. Michael Evans is a talent yet to be discovered and recognized by many. I am honored and happy to enjoy and hungrily devour his books at such an early stage of his career.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My review of Deadwave and Blood Brothers.

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Bernard Jan



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Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Forever Gone (Control Freakz #0.5)

In Forever Gone, the first novella in the Memories From The Darkness collection set before the first book in the Control Freakz series, a young author Michael Evans describes with maturity of an experienced writer the heartbreak, doom and fall of one marriage and lost love. Determined to escape a controlled life from the hands of her husband Wilburn Ash, the President of the United States, the First Lady Danielle finds her freedom in a divorce and plotting a secret plan to stop the fanatic rule of the most powerful man in the world who can end her life at any moment or sign of rebellion before he destroys everything else.

Shattered Pasts (Control Freakz Series #1.5)

A great dark novella about a young girl Dulce, a sole survivor of the Camp Camel bombing, who struggles to reconcile with her past in which she lost everyone she loved. Even when she is welcomed in the rebel organization of the White Knights which is trying to save both the people and the country from the merciless hands of the American government, she knows that won’t be easy. Apocalyptic scenes of destruction and the atmosphere of dystopian world sunk in fear, in Shattered Pasts, the second novella in Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection, are fantastic.

Dream On (Control Freakz Series #2.5)

Things get better, more exciting and unreal as we travel through Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection! In Dream On, Justin, who gave his life to the secret organization Syndicate of Truth, wants it back. Sacrificing thirty years of his life meant nothing, because when he betrayed the most powerful of the powerful ones, he started to pay the ultra-high price. There is only one way to his freedom and liberation from the days filled with regrets, guilt, nightmares and one beautiful but haunting dream of being reunited with his lover Rose Parker, imprisoned in Area 51. But to make this dream become a reality, he will have to give up everything else.

In The Shadows (Control Freakz Series #3.5)

From Forever Gone to In The Shadows, the circle is closed. In this emotional finale, one more and for the last time Jacob meets his old ally. This is his desperate attempt to ask for help to see his real family, or what is left of it, before the world is destroyed. And the world will cease to exist because the monster Jacob has created has started its countdown. It seems there is no one who will stop the President Wilburn Ash in killing everyone. But will the remaining time be enough for Jacob to get so much needed help and with it one last chance to see his family so he can tell them how much he loves them? A great last novella of this exciting, intriguing and dark post-apocalyptic thriller series.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Check out my review of Control Freakz.

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Bernard Jan



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Renegade by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you didn’t yet read the first three books of Conspiracy Chronicles by Michael Evans, please do it now! In the fourth book of this awesome series, Renegade, this prolific and very talented teenage author shifts into the highest gear so far.

It is a full action near future science fiction thriller for young adults and those who are not afraid to feel young and love such books, with death waiting around every corner, mass murders, incredible shooting scenes, and blood up to your knees. And it all takes for Sam and his friend Jake to put an end to the ruthless dictatorship and prevent a horrible genocide to occurring in China after millions of human lives were lost in the similar way in America. But will it be enough?

A crazy, good read; don’t miss it!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My reviews of Breakdown (ex Deadwave), Blood Brothers and The Last Migration.

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Bernard Jan



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Aftershock by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


To the fans of sci-fi, YA, technothrillers, apocalypse, dystopia, and conspiracy books: please read all four books in the Conspiracy Chronicles series because you don’t want to miss anything until you get to the Book 5, Aftershock. So much has happened, and is going on in this latest installment, as Sam, Jake and Ai try to save China—and the entire world—from the natural disaster engineered by President Li and the Party.

The very thought of an earthquake gives me enough creeps and terror even without thinking of the man-made earthquake of the magnitude and size to destroy hundreds of millions on the eastern seaboard of China. But the most impressive parts of Aftershock to me are unforgettable and unbelievable action scenes on the oil rig in the East China Sea. If this book series ever turned into a movie, Hollywood and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films would have a serious competition!

This novel is a nuclear bomb made of robots and futuristic technology ready to explode. And its author, Michael Evans, has no second thoughts before pressing the “activate” button and giving us one huge AFTERSHOCK. This book detonates from the beginning to the end!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My reviews of Breakdown (ex Deadwave), Blood Brothers, The Last Migration, and Renegade.

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Bernard Jan



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Triggered by Michael Evans

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In the third novel in the Control Freakz box set, Michael Evans brings Natalie’s life into somewhat calmer but emotionally still challenging and turbulent waters. Unlike in action-and-killing-packed Control Freakz (book 1) and Delusional (book 2), Natalie in Triggered has even more time to look into herself, deals with her regrets and contemplate about her emotional state. The same broken state in which she made some bad moves and wrong decisions. As she becomes aware of the impact she has left on the world and the lives of her closest and dearest ones, she sinks into lethargy, self-pity, depression, and solitude. Before she sets her mind on becoming a new, yet the same old Natalie, determined to make great things for humanity.

Saving the world comes at too great a price and learning the truth can be too hard to handle. But the young author shows no mercy to his protagonists, and that is what I love about his writing. Not mentioning the continuous elements of surprise and his easy-to-read and rich writing style.

This is the review of an older edition of Triggered and some of my review may or may not pertain to the current edition of the novel. But I wanted my review to reflect an honest experience of the story as it was when I read it.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My review of Control Freakz and Delusional.

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Bernard Jan



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Lone Wolf by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Too much is going on in my head now to write a standard, comprehensive review. The flood of thoughts and emotions. Which might be a good thing. Because this book hit me like a sledgehammer, and I couldn’t and didn’t want to put it down once I started reading it.

Is it a fight of a sole young man against the strongest dark forces of the world? A boy who lost everything dear and most precious to him on his quest to save the humanity from the darkness descending like a massive dome over the entire world? Is it a story that in the sixth book in the series already spreads through your systems and sets your adrenaline on fire like a lava melting the steep slopes of an ancient volcano? Or an untamable imagination of the young author that breaks every border and discovers new heroes and villains, new dire and challenging situations and intense states of mind? Or is it the sign of the time from the future which doesn’t look so futuristic and impossible in our world today?

Lone Wolf by Michael Evans resonates with every fiber of my being. Learning from his Acknowledgements that this was the last book he was writing as a non-adult person makes it astonishing. What an achievement!

Welcome to the adulthood, Michael, and may all the forces of the universe be with you and your writing.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My reviews of Breakdown (ex Deadwave), Blood Brothers, The Last Migration, Renegade, and Aftershock.

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Bernard Jan



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Deadwave: Conspiracy Chronicles Prequel by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After I read six books from the Conspiracy Chronicles series by the young author Michael Evans, I was eager to read its prequel which takes place several years before the events in the first book in the series, Breakdown. Michael nailed it again. In Deadwave he realistically describes Sam’s emotional state of mind and all the darkness of his suicidal thoughts after he lost his mom who killed herself by jumping off a cliff.

Emotions, regrets, qualms of conscience. The entire atmosphere around his father and best friend Jake are so painfully described as he was describing his personal trauma. It is an honest reminder to all of us on what we sacrifice to reach our goals by not spending enough time or sharing love with our dearest ones. These parts of the book are the most powerful. But they don’t overshadow the other parts when Sam follows his dream to become the best player in the virtual reality zombie-infested video game Deadwave.

Deadwave: Conspiracy Chronicles Prequel only confirms the exceptional potential of young Evans as a writer with a fantastic imagination, impressive writing skills, and the power to capture us into his dystopia-science fiction-thriller world. Another success and a must read!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My reviews of Breakdown (ex Deadwave), Blood Brothers, The Last Migration, Renegade, Aftershock, and Lone Wolf.

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Bernard Jan



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Mad World by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From the Control Freakz Series to all his books in the Conspiracy Chronicles, I have never stopped admiring the talent and imagination of a young, teenage author, Michael Evans. That didn’t change after reading the first book, Mad World, in his brand new World Gone Mad Series.

Pumped with adrenaline, action and terrifying scenes of destruction of our world, Mad World grabs the readers and glues them to its last pages. The beginning scenes of the apocalypse are so realistic and gripping that we can experience the fear, panic, and disbelief creeping through our body as we root for the main character(s) we quickly become fond of. As the story develops further toward its darker moments with millions of people dead and their homes, towns and lives perished or robbed, its fatality clenches us even harder thanks to the greatness and ease of Michael Evans’s writing.

And all it took was one man’s addiction that led to the apocalyptic destruction of our future world.

Although Mad World, and the World Gone Mad Series, is a post-apocalyptic survival thriller, it is a dystopian and suspense story fueled by love for the family, people and mankind, but also by deep remorse and repentance. We can feel the author’s personal involvement in love and great care with which he created his characters and wrote probably his best book so far, but also in his goal to ensure that society never ends up there. In a mad world.

Michael Evans is the author with unquestionable talent, potential, vision, and the future. And so are his stories.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan



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