Review of 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins

As Hutchin’s first book in the 7th Son trilogy, he does not waste time getting into the action. The story concerns seven men grabbed from around the country to a secret facility in Virginia. They have been brought together to combat a force that was guided by this government facility: a man by the name of John Alpha. These seven men must solve riddles created by him specifically left for them by their ‘father.’ They play his game in hopes to be able to stop him from doing worse things than assassinating the president of the United States. As this group of men discover who they are and how they are related, they encounter incredible new technologies such as MEM R I, nepth charges, and psyjack (read the novel if you want to know what they are!) As smart as they are, the seven always seem to be one step behind John Alpha and his plans at the end of each chapter and then end of the book.

The author creates a complicated plot full of twists, bends, and turnarounds that leave the reader unable to see what is coming next and what is going to happen to whom. He provides the reader with seven developed characters and through his writing lets you keep track of them easily. The action throughout the book keeps the novel moving, so much so, that I found myself pulling late nights in order to listen to new episodes. The only detraction to this novel is that the reader is slammed in the beginning by a waterfall of characters, all with similar names and histories. It makes it a little confusing at first but Hutchins keeps you straight throughout the novel allowing the reader to internalize the seven different men.

The podcast itself is innovative in itself and lots of fun to listen to. Hutchin’s voice acting is great and the sound effects in it give external audio to the internal soundtrack a person has while reading a book. On top of this he starts or improves many techniques which add to the fluidity of the story and popularity of the podcast including having important podcasters read the summary of previous chapter in “The Story so Far.” He also plays promos for other novels at the end of each podcast promoting other people’s work which increases the connectedness of the podcasting world. The only critique of the podcast is that Hutchins can be a little chatty at the beginning and end of each episode on the Legacy podcast (there is a just straight story available on his website and podiobooks.com).

Overall, if you like fiction and podcasts and you aren’t listening to this author, I have to ask why not? This is one of the best novels/podcasts I have heard/read. Every time I finish an episode, I usually manage to talk myself into one more (and quite easily too). Check it out at http://www.jchutchins.net/.