Red Gambit

3.5 stars. Red Gambit is the first book, other than the prequel, in The Harvesters series. Overall it is a futuristic type thriller. You can read it as a standalone but it does have a cliffhanger ending for the next book. There is violence.

The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I’m not going to repeat all of that info here. This is a futuristic thriller that has a very different take on vampires. As usual, everything is not as it seems. It helps to understand the storyline if you have read the prequel Soldier of Charity, but you can figure it out if you haven’t I look forward to reading the next book Hell to Pay.

There are origin stories where the main character discovers their strength/powers slowly through the first act, and the reader gets to see the growth of a character with each page (movie examples would include: Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc). Then there are those where the protagonist starts strong, is depowered for an extended time, and the reader is left waiting for hundreds of pages to see him/her as advertised (e.g., Thor, basically every superhero sequel).

Red Gambit falls in the latter category. However, Luke Mitchell does a good job of making the intervening space entertaining, particularly the banter between Jarek (the protagonist) and, well, basically everyone else. The setting is a blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and I would describe the style as action and dialogue oriented, with a small twinge of mystery. Though nothing particularly heavy in any of those regards – this is far from “epic” fantasy, nor does it require a flowchart to memorize 500 characters. Just a solid, fun read.

I don’t give out 5 star ratings very often or even four stars but for several reasons I truly enjoyed this book. The story had a fun group of characters. Some good humour. And just enough depth that it wasn’t another two dimensional novel thrown out there like many of the indie author’s are writing these days. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series in the future.

Started a bit slow, but it really hooked me a couple of chapters in. Ive already finished the 2nd book and the third is coming out soon. I cant wait. Luke’s writing is smooth, exciting, and easy to follow. Lots of dry humor abounds in this story. The interaction between the male and female leads is classic! Pick up the series, you will enjoy it tremendously.

Update: I have finished the series (4 books) and it is outstanding. Luke’s writing has gotten better with each book. His writing is clean, easy to follow and generates amazing mental images. His AI is my favorite character and I can “Hear” Jarvis’s voice in my head when Al talks. Pretty good stuff for a new writer. Come jump on the Luke bandwagon. I think he will become one of the top SyFi authors. Start with Soldier of Charity – a prequel which is only 99 cents on Amazon. Low risk, high reward.

Update 2: Luke has started a new series (The Enochian War series) which is a prequel to the Harvester series. One book is published and the next is out Sep 18. The books (I got a sneak peak early) are just as good as the original series with a couple of the Enochian characters you learn about in the next Harvester books .

LRM introduced the AI and Jared in the first novel. The two combined to end the beginning of mercenaries by defending the few people who had
managed to survive the Holocaust. After their survival the real enemy, that destroyed Earth, return to take the Earth over. Then the fight begins between the three factions. Jared and the AI are ready too begin the fight. This is an excellent read for the genre….. ER