Season Of The Harvest (Harvest Trilogy, Book 1)

Whirlwind of a story that makes You cry wonder about the food on your table. Well written, characters you can relate with. I am thankful for an author who doesn't need to resort to foul language, the story was far more enjoyable.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm a Michael R. Hicks fan. I fell in love with the In Her Name series and have not only read, but re-read those books. So I came into this book with a love of the writer's work and great hopes. I did enjoy Season of the Harvest. It won't be a book that I re-read over and over, but as a writer I was intrigued through much of it and completely understand how you get from researching food allergies to alien story about GMOs. It just happens. Something grabs your attention, you start investigating and researching your topic and the next thing you know it is ever-present in your thoughts and the imagination machine starts turning.I too have done a lot of research into GMOs and I was curious how it would shake out in a sci-fi story, but there are a couple of reasons that I had not read this book earlier. The first of those is that I'm not a big conspiracy theory fan in fiction or in real life for that matter and that tends to influence my feelings about such stories. The second was that I loved the In Her Name series so much and didn't want to be disappointed if I couldn't make my way past the conspiracy theory element.I know. There is that nasty conspiracy theory dislike rearing its ugly head again, but I did enjoy several things about this book. The bad guys were truly formidable, truly fascinating structurally and I definitely wouldn't want to encounter them. There was plenty of action, the story moved along at a good pace and I was also interested in the gene manipulation to a point. Lastly, I loved the cats probably just because I love cats. On several occasions the cats and their warning behavior as well as the bad guys' feelings about the cats kept pulling up visions of the Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser. However, I must say that Alexander (lucky little critter that he is) was one of my favorite things about this book and I was pulling for him.I enjoyed the book for the most part, but this was a 3.5 to 4 reading experience for me (I always round up when undecided). Some of it was really interesting, but the ending didn't quite do it for me as the president didn't seem realistic in what he was doing and the deals he wanted to make. I don't want to give too much detail as I try to avoid spoilers, but the ending just didn't ring true for me even in a fictional sense. In fact, several of the characters just seemed a little off (perhaps overly dramatic) and the romance was too immediate for me when what it might have been in real life is the oh crap we might die, hey you're kind of cute thing. I liked Renee's character as well, but with regard to some of the others I hate it when characters know there are bad things going down, their equipment inconveniently won't work and they do something stupid on top of it. It's kind of like in a horror movie after three people have died and they decide to walk in the dark through the forest down to the lake and you can almost hear the audience screaming at them to go back. There was some of that to this book and I just couldn't get past the end even though it wasn't necessarily rushed or anything like that.So there you have it from my view. If you like conspiracy theory stories, especially ones that have to do with aliens then this may be just your kind of book. I will continue to follow Mr. Hicks' writing because he has become one of my favorite new authors and I really enjoy his work. Even Robert Heinlein who was one of my all-time favorite writers had a story or two that didn't particularly interest me and that is how I feel here as the majority of what I didn't like about this book really comes from my own likes and dislikes along with some overly dramatic moments more so than the story itself. It was an interesting read and I enjoyed it, but I doubt that I'll be following this particular series given the reasons already explained (perhaps overly so) above.

To begin with, Season of the Harvest starts out like any other diatribe against GMOs in food. FBI agent Sheldon Crane dies while trying to gain evidence of wrongdoing in a genetics research lab, but manages, just, to hide away some critical evidence. His best friend, FBI Agent Jack Dawson, suspects he has done so and in his attempts to prove this, gets into deep trouble with his superiors. Instead of carrying on with the action at this point, the author almost lost me in a long spiel about Jack’s background as a soldier wounded in Afghanistan, the death of his wife, and his reaction to both these events. However, since I’d gotten the book free, I felt I owed it and its author a fair chance. I’m glad I did.Once we plow through the back-story and lead-ins, Hicks offers a well plotted and very well written science fiction action adventure about a world in peril with very few good guys willing to take on the bad guys—or even believing they can exist. Deemed “terrorists” by governments, law enforcement departments, and researchers, Dawson and those he connects up with, most notably geneticist Naomi Perrault, want to protect the viability of untainted, unmodified plant seeds. Hiding out in a decommissioned but still viable nuclear facility left over from the cold war they, along with a team of scientists and technicians struggle to prevent the world’s take-over by alien beings whose intent is to turn Earth into a feeding ground for their own kind, with no regard for the human race.Hick’s characters are all well-developed. His protagonists have right on their side. His villains are understandably motivated. His dialogue is well done, with each character having her or his own distinct voice. I greatly admire his precise use of the language and excellent grasp of grammar, a rarity in these days. His innate humor shines through with the introduction his “alien detection devices.” Hicks shows himself to be well educated and knowledgeable in a variety of subjects, which keeps this book interesting and the action flowing in logical sweeps. Not many authors can so deftly switch into and out of multiple points of view and continue to hold the readers’ interest the way this man does.I am a little disappointed, though, that he felt it necessary to make this book the first of a trilogy because there was really no need. The story works fine as a stand-alone because his wrap-up perfectly plausible. As well written as it is, I doubt I’ll go looking for the sequels. Other novels by this author, yes. Others in this series, no. That said, I do recommend Season of The Harvest.

I'll be honest up front and say that I really enjoy the writing of Michael R Hicks. Amazing given the fact that until about a year ago I had never even heard of him. So thanks to the Kindle for bringing the worlds created by this author to my eyes.I started this book after reading the first six books about those pesky Kreelans, I still have more of those books to read but decided that I wanted to take a look at a different story.So what's it all about. A group of Aliens (harvesters) hidden away in society trying to manipulate the crops we are growing to enable them to create more of there kind and basically take over the earth.Okay there's a bit more too it but you get the gist.Then there's the good guys, the Earth Defense Society, doing there best to stop the Aliens but basically being blamed for all the bad things that the aliens are doing to take over the world.Then there are those who are fooled into thinking the aliens are actually helping the human population and get manipulated into assisting.Still with me, okay then buy the book, in fact download it as it's probably still free.It's a good story, with some good engaging characters, and it's the start of another trilogy by an author who seems able to spin a good yarn.I enjoyed it, and have already started on book 2.You won't be disappointed, but if you are remember this, it probably didnt cost you any real money just time, and this was a good way of spending my time.

Wow! What can I say?Firstly I had never heard of this author until I saw his tweets retweeted by another friend on twitter with an invite to try his free books. Having never read sci-fi books before I wasnt too convinced but the free books offer drew me in!I love thrillers but for some reason have never really taken to scifi as books, depsite loving this genre on tv. All that was to change when I read this book! A fascinating subject combined with writing style kept me hanging on to every word and I could barely bear to put this book (or kindle app on my phone ;-D) down! I dont like reviews with spoilers in so I wont cover the story itself. The book kept me enthralled and so many times it was reaching a climax where I felt the story was coming to a conclusion and then it jumped and continued perfectly naturally and seamlessly. I loved this book and I would not hesitate to recommend it. I now have the dilema of whether to read the next book in this trilogy (paid for so the authors' plan of enticing readers into his world has worked!) or whether to try the next trilogy free!! Decisions decisions :)

I quite enjoyed this book, particularly for the Monsanto reference - I was amused that he confessed they inspired him to write the book!But for me the book doesn't quite hit the mark - the military references seem more designed to show the author has been in the forces than actually realistic, and I found the fight scenes hard to follow and unrealistic. I thought it a cliche the missing scientist would be young and beautiful and then fall for a man whose IQ would be about 50 less than hers. Too few people involved in decision making for the world, foreigners are terribly American, politics far too streamlined and simplistic.But hey! It doesn't matter, the story is fast paced enough that only occasionally does this jar. And I can revel in the idea that Monsanto is run by aliens. Makes sense!

I read this after enjoying the In Her Name series which I found very compelling and, to be honest, I found this to be a little disappointing. It has all the hallmarks of a book written in the hope of getting a movie or TV deal. It is a fairly typical 'The aliens are here amongst us and why does nobody believe me' kinda thing. It is a well worn path and to be fair, it is a decent effort for the genre. The author has a good style that flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter. Where the 'In Her Name' books differed from this one (for me anyway) is that while I was genuinely interested in what was going to happen next in that series, in this book I got a little bored. If you are interested in this but have not tried the aforementioned series then I would recommend that one first.

I was given this book to read as a part of a reading club challenge, and I will freely admit that I would most likely never have picked this book for my own reading pleasure.Sci-fi is really not my cup of tea maybe i dont have the imagination necessary or am too grounded in reality but i was given this book as a challenge and not one to shirk a challenge i got stuck in.People generally dont like to admit that they were wrong but in this instance I am more than happy to admit it.This book had me thoroughly engrossed, i cared about the characters and whilst it was Sci-FI it was written well enough to have just about enough believablilty about it.Half way through the book i went to amazon and bought a trilogy by the same author and as a consequence i think its fair to say that Michael R. Hicks may just have opened up a whole new genre to my reading interestsThank you Michael and the person who challenged mePeter