Reaching Angelica (Tag – 2) | jbronderbookreviews

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

Reaching Angelica (Tag – 2)

May 9, 2016 by JBronder

Reaching Angelica (Tag – 2) by Peter Riva

In a massive spaceship destined for Alpha Centauri B, with a genesis crew including Zip the telepathic dog, his old friendly nemesis Cramer, and a computer being named Ra (now inhabiting a human form and calling herself Aten), Simon Bank emerges from a hundred-year coma and is hailed as an awakened hero. Stuck with unwanted responsibility, he is forced to try to solve the entire enigma of the universe—a small undertaking—before the spaceship, his friends, and all life on Earth are swatted out of existence by super beings he has accidentally awakened.

Simon’s only hope is to plunge into other dimensions with his mind—into the secrets of the universe’s pan-dimensions—as only he knows how. The fate of all life hangs in the balance as he struggles to prove himself worthy of the Path and the absolute trust his friends place in him. Simon knows all too well that if he fails there is no hope—none at all—for anyone, and that includes his best friend, an artificial intelligence computer called Apollo, which he sadly left behind. Besides, Zip would not be pleased, either.

For fans of cyberpunk and classic science fiction, Reaching Angelica (Yucca Publishing; February 2, 2016; 978-1-63158-069-7) is the second book in Peter Riva’s Tag trilogy, the comic, thrilling, and continuing saga of Simon Bank—ex–master system computer wrangler and very unlikely galactic hero.

Peter Riva

Peter Riva has worked for more than thirty years with the leaders in aerospace and space exploration. His daytime job for more than forty years has been as a literary agent. He resides in New York City.

Connect with the author: Website Twitter Facebook

Author Blog Post

Well, in this book Zip’s a dog and not a cat, sorry “crazy cat lady”… in writing Reaching Angelica I wanted to have the ship be a sort of Ark, carrying people and fellow Earth creatures to a new home. But rather than have it become a menagerie, I chose only one animal to be “alive” – and the rest are either genetically ready to be “created/revived” or asleep.

For the sleeping (in hibernation) animal I chose dolphins because Angelica is a planet with more than 2/3^rd water and I knew they would have to land on water. For the sleeping animals, yes, cats are there and will play a role (havoc) in Tag book 3. Why havoc? Because only cats can be so imperial and determined to have their own way – all the while knowing human’s weaknesses all too well. And when you add that many of the smarter cats will have telepathic capabilites, as Simon Bank will come to learn, cats actually manipulate people without asking permission.

Has anyone ever known a cat to ask permission? I grew up with 32 Siamese running around the house in Manhattan (yes, 32 at one point until homes were found for three litters). Loved them all but, honestly, the house was more theirs than ours. The postman wouldn’t come in the door because the Toms were very protective guard cats. I had a fish tank and would routinely catch them, paws in water, helping themselves to a snack!

Anyway, this has little to do with the book, which I sincerely hope you and your readers enjoy. I take the concept of an Entity about as far off into left field as possible. Why? Because that’s what good Sci-Fi is supposed to do – stimulate conversation and thought into that which you cannot know – yet.

My Review

5 stars

Simon Bank is back. He awakens after a century long coma to find a motley crew on a ship to Alpha Centauri B. But this is no fun trip, he accidently awakened a super being and now he has to figure out the universe before the super being destroys the universe. Now it is a race against time for Peter to figure out the Path and save everyone.

I really liked Reaching Angelia. Simon is such a snarky person and just makes the story. We follow Simon as he jumped in to another dimension and uses his background in coding along with the help of his friends to solve the puzzle. You can’t help cheering along as everyone is trying to help solve the puzzle in their own ways.

I liked how the characters from The Path are brought back along with meeting new characters. The story started a little slow but picked up pace fast and had me staying up late wanting to know how it ends. I do recommend reading The Path first, I think the reader may be a little lost if they started with Reaching Angelica.

This is a great story and I hope to see more from Peter Riva in the future.

To purchase Reaching Angelica make sure to visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or Peter Riva’s website.

I received Reaching Angelica for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank iRead Book Tours for the opportunity to be part of the tour.