I’ve learned what the word Cliffhangering means. It’s a new-ish word that needs to be added to the dictionary and one you hear a lot if you listen to the chatter episodes of 7th Son. Cliffhangering is the practice of ending chapters, and books, on cliffhangers and not only does it apply to JC Hutchins, but it appears to be a term all podcasters are familiar with.

I just finished 7th Son Book Two: Deceit and while this book doesn’t end on a complete and total cliffhanger, it leaves the person needy to jump into Book Three: Destruction. What I’m desperately thankful for is the fact I found these podcasts, through Jenn of course, long after they were recorded. This way I’m not sitting on the edge of the cliff week to week to see which clone dies next.

Deceit takes off immediately after Descent, picking up like there was no break in between. This one doesn’t hesitate in the action, there’s no huge lull as we learn everything that the Betas do about their so called lives and why they have to go after John Alpha. That doesn’t mean, however, that you’re not sitting at your computer and listening without having the dire urge to strangle one of the characters now and then.

Within this novel, JC Hutchins has managed what no other podcaster has done so far. He pissed me off. Like any really badass writer, JC has no problem killing characters off right and left and the way he managed to wipe out one particular character would have had me throwing the book it I’d had it in my hands. This, in my humble opinion, is a good thing. I don’t get the urge to throw books often.

There is so much packed into these 29 chapters that it’s hard to pick and choose what I can say without spoiling the story. We learn even more about nepth charging and cloning and on top of that we learn about psi-jacking. Last week I said the man was as good as Michael Crichton, this week I’m saying he’s better. JC tells a brilliant story and while I hate to leave you with nothing but praise and gushing goodness, I’m diving into Destruction.

Before I do that though, I learned from Scott Sigler that the 7th Son trilogy will be hitting the bookshelves in 2009 and 2010. I can’t wait to get my hands on these, just so I can catch up on the little things I know I’m still missing.

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