Rubicons: A Freaks Novel

by Brett Riley

Overview

Finding themselves. Fighting together. Growing apart.
 
It’s junior year in Quapaw City, Arkansas. With it comes a new foe that even the Freaks cannot stop--adulthood. As they ponder what the future will be like with college and careers looming, they must contend with the ever-more-dangerous threat of the Team, the shadowy government agency determined to save the world from supernatural menaces. Even with the creepy Baltar Sterne acting as an advisor, our teenage heroes struggle with these tremendous pressures. At the same time, they must face their most dangerous threat yet, a creature of scales and wings that could threaten every life in town and beyond. New questions arise: can the Freaks achieve a common objective when they no longer agree on precisely what those goals should be? And what happens when they realize they might be the villains in someone else’s story?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945501951
Publisher:	Imbrifex Books
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Series:	Freaks , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	946 KB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Brett Riley is a professor of English at the College of Southern Nevada. He grew up in southeastern Arkansas and earned his Ph.D. in contemporary American fiction and film at Louisiana State University. His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Folio, The Wisconsin Review, and The Baltimore Review. Riley’s debut novel, Comanche, was released in September 2020, followed by Lord of Order in April 2021.  Freaks, a superhero thriller featuring dangerous aliens and badass high school kids was published in March 2022.  The second novel in the Freaks series, Travelers, was released in August 2022.  Riley lives in Henderson, Nevada.

Editorial Reviews

The exciting final confrontation between all of parties leads to secrets being revealed and unexpected alliances to form.”—Don Sauer, PopCultureGuy.com

“The conclusion leaves the Freaks and their associates facing both deep rifts and a new and genuinely sinister threat.”—Kirkus Reviews.

“A great spin on the superhero story, told with genuine depth.”—Mark Waid, best-selling author of History of the Marvel Universe, Doctor Strange, and Superman Birthright.

“A fun and fresh twist on the superhero story! Fast-paced, strong characters, and twists and turns make this a must read!”—Jennifer Brody/Vera Strange, author of The 13th Continuum Trilogy, Spectre Deep 6, and the Disney Chills series.

From the Publisher

2023-06-08
Moody adolescent superheroes tackle a dragon.

It’s more about feels than choices in this third series entry, as any sense of teamwork that might have built up in previous fights with a vampiric monster and a shape-changing trickster god dissolves in an acid churn of angst, guilt, rage, romantic confusion, and conflicting agendas. Riley moves the turmoil to center stage by opting for a frustratingly slow buildup with only a few flame-broiled hunters in the Arkansas woods to divert interest from the increasing tensions within the central group. These are exacerbated both by the need to keep their powers secret from a growing cast of psychopathic federal secret agents hot on their trail and by personality changes, including once-steady team leader Jamie’s sudden attraction to violence and former bigoted bully Kenneth’s slow move toward maturity thanks to a levelheaded girlfriend. The author trucks in an appealing lilac dragon named Arsiss the Gentle who just wants to protect wildlife and be left alone. Her ability to change size, turn invisible, and shoot fire, ice, or blood at will proves enough of a match for the magical powers and high-tech weaponry of the wantonly aggressive humans to make the extended climactic battle as wild, savage, and deadly as it is ironically unnecessary. The conclusion leaves the Freaks and their associates facing both deep rifts and a new and genuinely sinister threat.

Even series fans may bog down in this turgid tangle of physical and emotional violence. (Horror fantasy. 14-16)

Kirkus Reviews