Earthfall (The Circuit: Book 3) by Rhett C. Bruno

4 Stars

Publisher: Diversion Books

Date of publication: December 13th 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: The Circuit

Executor Rising – Book 1 (review here)

Progeny of Vale – Book 2 (review here)

Earthfall – Book 3

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis:

The conclusion to Rhett Bruno’s stunning science fiction epic series The Circuit, which the San Francisco Book Review called “space opera that fans of Firefly and its ilk will appreciate.”

Earth is uninhabitable, but beneath its ruined surface sits massive deposits of Gravitum, a powerful, dangerous element with the ability to generate artificial gravity. Whoever controls the element can control the settled regions of our solar system, now known as the Circuit. For centuries the peoples of the Circuit endured an uneasy, if peaceful alliance designed to share resources. Now the Tribunal, a religious order, is nearly ready to take over all of it. With only the reconvened band of Clans inhabiting the asteroid belt known as the Ceresian Pact standing between the Tribunal and system dominance, one man––Cassius Vale––intends to end their oppressive rule. Vale’s brutal and brilliant plan is nearly complete.

In order to gain more time to complete preparations, Vale builds an army under the control of his robotic creation ADIM in order to attack one of the leaders of the Tribune. ADIM loves his creator but is growing more independent by the day, and soon may be too powerful for anyone to stop.

Talon Rayne, a mercenary, teams up with Sage Volus, a former Tribunal spy, when Talon discovers that his daughter has been captured by the very Tribunal leader Cassius Vale is after. Together, they have no choice but to ask for Vale’s help in saving her. Vale agrees, but are they just another cog in his scheme for bringing down the Tribune, or is there a part of him left that cares about anything other than vengeance?

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My review:

Earthfall starts after the ending events of Progeny of Vale. Sage has been reunited with Talon, but it isn’t a happy reunion. He is upset that she killed his friend in front of him and wanted to kill her when he saw her. But she was on a mission to get his daughter back from The Tribunal. Talon has no choice but to join forces with her. He doesn’t trust her but she is his key to rescuing his daughter.

Cassius is going through with his plans of starting a war between the Ceresians and The Tribunals. Kalliope was the first shot in the war, with both sides blaming each other. While he is meeting with Zaimur Morastus, the head of the Morastus clan, he is contacted by Sage via a telecom device that he had put into her prosthetic arm. Cassius is Sage’s ticket to getting onto the Tribune vessel that is holding Elisha.

After they meet up with Cassius and discuss their plans to rescue Elisha, Talon and Tarsis have also introduced to ADIM. After the initial shock of meeting ADIM, a plan is launched to rescue Elisha. It involves ADIM taking over 500 androids to assist them when they recover Elisha.

I devoured the pages of the battle to get Elisha. I shed a tear when Tarsis gave his life, so Talon, Elisha, and Sage could escape. Cassius got his revenge on The Tribunal, but Talon and Sage discovered his deceit. The war between the Ceresians and The Tribunals escalate. While those two factions are fighting, Cassius slips away to do something that will have consequences beyond the conflict.

I loved Sage in this book. She becomes 100% human, instead of a tool of The Tribunal. Her relationship with Talon was complicated, but it was her relationship with Cassius that was even more complicated. She looked at Cassius as a father that she never had, and he viewed her as a daughter and he just wanted to better her world.

Talon came alive in this book. Even though he had a death sentence, he still fought against The Tribunals with everything that he had. The love for his daughter eclipsed everything in this book. I will admit that I wasn’t happy with specific events in the book. I got outraged and yelled at my Kindle.

Cassius remained in my top 3 favorite characters. Even though he started a war and did some horrible things, he wasn’t a bad guy. Cassius was a father, grieving for his child and wanting to get revenge for his death. He wanted to bring down The Tribunal. His actions did make sense. As did him building an android that could think for itself and that he considered his child.

The ending of the book was bittersweet. Just leaving it at that. I do hope that there will be more books written in this universe.

The whole series is worth reading. If you do decide to read the series, my suggestion would be to read it one after another, with no pauses for other books. The author intended for the book to be on a continuous story but separated it into three books because he didn’t want to chance that the book would be too long.

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I would give Earthfall an Adult rating. There are sexual situations. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Earthfall. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**