Day Moon
(Tomorrow’s Edge Book 1)
By: Brett Armstrong
Publish Date: March 26, 2017
Published By: Clean Reads
Genre: Young Adult, Futurist, Fantasy, Christian
Pages: 389 Kindle
Source: Ultimate Fantasy Books
In A.D. 2039, a
prodigious seventeen year old, Elliott, is assigned to work on a global
software initiative his deceased grandfather helped found. Project Alexandria
is intended to provide the entire world secure and equal access to all
accumulated human knowledge. All forms of print are destroyed in good faith, to
ensure everyone has equal footing, and Elliott knows he must soon part with his
final treasure: a book of Shakespeare's complete works gifted him by his
grandfather.
Before it is
destroyed, Elliott notices something is amiss with the book, or rather Project
Alexandria. The two do not match, including an extra sonnet titled "Day
Moon". When Elliott investigates, he uncovers far more than he bargained
for. There are sinister forces backing Project Alexandria who have no intention
of using it for its public purpose.
Elliott soon
finds himself on the run from federal authorities and facing betrayals and
deceit from those closest to him. Following clues left by his grandfather, with
agents close at hand, Elliott desperately hopes to find a way to stop Project
Alexandria. All of history past and yet to be depends on it.
*********************************
Right
away I get the horrible feeling that I’m looking at a very near future scenario
that I definitely do not like. Physical books are being done away with by
powers that be after being entered into an online repository. Then I realize
that this is actually sort of happening to me right now as I haven’t read a
physical book for probably two or three years. On one hand it’s great not
having to lug heavy hard copy around but where is this possibly leading us?
In
Elliott’s slightly future forward world we discover to a not very good or even
safe place that is subject to manipulation by those that hold the keys of
control to such online repositories. At the moment it seems impossible that our
currently self/boutique-published works and even the vast world literature on
the incredible Project Gutenberg digital library might ever see such a fate,
but reading Day Moon has made me wonder.
After
realizing the gift his grandfather left him on his passing is more than just a
revered Shakespearean tome, Elliott, John and Lara somehow are forced together to embark
on a dangerous and mysterious trail of clues on the road to finding the truth
about Project Alexandria. We see themes of near future technology, cyber
security, secret codes, mysterious clues, upper level forces that are
orchestrating lives in the background, and faith. I thought the idea of
electromagnetically controlled mostly self-driving cars fascinating though pretty
awful, but then I’m a rebelliously independent type who dislikes even just the
digitization of cars.
Elliott
and Lara begin a sweet relationship that nevertheless is not all smooth
sailing, especially as they are besieged by dangers from the beginning that
bring on suspicion and distrust. Lara has a mind of her own but is by nature very supportive.
There
were a couple of good twists that I didn’t see coming that take the story down
some unexpected paths. The pacing of the
story is very even and while the ending leaves us at the bridge to book II, I
didn’t feel wrung out to dry, but hopeful for Elliott’s continued quest. He’s
pretty brave and at least willing to take a stand against what he sees as
wrong-doing even if it pits him against powerful forces.
Overall
I found book 1 in the series very intriguing, if somewhat too even-headed in writing
style/pace, but readers will relish Day Moon for its near future scenarios that
pinpoint pitfalls of what may be coming our way if we don’t pay attention. A great
clean read. 4.4 stars!
BIO
From
an early age Brett Armstrong had a love for literature and history. At age nine
he combined the two for his first time in a short story set in the last days of
the Aztec Empire. After that, writing’s role in his life waxed and waned
periodically, always a dream on the horizon, till he reached college. At West
Virginia University he entered the Computer Engineering program and spent two
years pursuing that degree before an opportunity to take a creative writing
class for fun came along. It was so enjoyable he took another and in that
course he discovered two things. The first was the plot for a short story
called Destitutio Quod Remissio, which the others students really seemed to
love. The second, he realized he absolutely loved writing. For him, it was like
the proverbial light bulb coming on. In the years since, describing that
epiphany has been difficult for him but he found the words of 1924 Olympian Eric
Liddell are the most eloquent expression for it: “God made me fast. And when I
run, I feel His pleasure.” God gave Brett a passion for writing, and so feels
His pleasure when writing.After a few years passed, Brett got his Computer Engineering degree, but also completed a minor in each of his real passions: history and creative writing. In 2013, he began graduate school to earn an MA in Creative Writing. During that time he completed the novelization of Destitutio Quod Remissio and entered the 2013-2014 CrossBooks Writing Contest, which won the contest's grand prize. As of March 2015, Brett completed his MA and is presently employed in the West Virginia Division of Infectious Disease Epidemiology as a programmer analyst.
Brett lives in Saint Albans, West Virginia, with his beautiful wife, Shelly. In the summer the pair garden together, and each day Brett continues writing his next novel.
