Title: Bionic Afterlife
Author: Jermaine Emmanuel Crockett
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
ISBN: 978-1-5246-8119-7
Pages: 50
Genre: Fiction / Teen Science Fiction
Reviewed by: Barbara Miller
Pacific Book Review
Written as a 3 chapter novella, author Jermaine Emmanuel Crockett has created an action-packed robotic world of half-human and half-robot cyborgs, and giant robot fighters in his book Bionic Afterlife. As a reader, my mind was brought into the visualization of Saturday morning cartoon characters of giant transformers, robots and fighting machines each deploying lasers, force fields and deadly weapons against each other. However Crockett begins to create a “reason” for the hostilities, and brings the cyborgs to life – so to speak.
He starts right off, writing through the eyes of the protagonist, John, a high school student. As he breaks up with his girlfriend Emma, he realizes she is beginning to see the school bully Steven Mccory, a gang leader, which causes underling hatred and animosity within him. A fight ensues and after blows, kicks and punches are exchanged, John is stabbed in the stomach with a knife, as he drifts off in his mind and dies. At least that is what he thought had happened, but he awakens in his science teacher, Mr. Nagaku’s home laboratory with all of these wires attached to him, not knowing what or how he got there. It is then explained to John that he died, and Mr. Nagaku took his body and reanimated him into a half-human, half-robot cyborg, with super-robotic powers such as flying, x-ray vision, a force field and other powers. Instilled with his inherent hatred for the bully Steven, John sets out for revenge, in his newly, much more powerful body.
Another fight scene occurs whereas this time John has the definite advantage of robotic strength. As John emerges the victor, little known to him was that Mr. Nagaku obtained Steven’s body and brought him back to life as a cyborg-robot with similar powers. This sets up yet another fight scene, now that the two adversaries are equally matched.
With battling robots, cyborgs and human maidens rooting and watching the spectacles, the book progresses with vengeance, violence and mayhem. A bit of grammatical editing is needed, yet for readers of this genre they are most forgiving relying on good action scenes and diabolical revenge as being their fuel for burning their mental fire with fanciful sci-fi imagination. Crockett does not short change them with ongoing action! As this story is something one may think is impossible, with the advances in bionic development, especially in Japan, situations such as these may playout in unknown ways, albeit perhaps not with human hatred as being the motivating factor. Bionic Afterlife is a good companion read to the many fans of action-packed fantasy, ideal for a short trip or for sharing among friends.
