Review: AGF: The Gathering--A Fast, Exciting Read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 14, 2012
Book Review of AGF:  The Gatheringby Sam WhiteAKW BooksPublished as an e-book, 327 pages, pdf formatPublished date 2011Sam White's e-book, AGF: The Gathering is a fast-paced adventure story with a strong fighting theme.  White opens the first in a series of what is sure to be a popular storyline with a tightly-written introduction. By the time I finished the first page, I knew what the main goals and struggles of the story would be.The story centers around a once-great empire that has crumbled.  Kind Emperor John has been murdered and evil Emperor Charles has taken his place. Charles' view of leadership is total control, which creates an atmosphere of hopelessness and anarchy.Violence rules and bandits run in vicious mobs across the countryside, destroying towns, murdering innocent people and raping and torturing others with a ferocity that even the local law enforcement has learned to fear.As often happens when social structures break down, the local law enforcement has also become crippled through loss of the sense of duty and honor that inspired them to take on the position of public safety in the first place, leaving honest citizens and local business owners to fend for themselves as best they can.The only hope is for the inner fighter to arise--and arise it does, in many unusual forms: an orphaned boy, Mick, a simple-minded giant, Ollie, a gay dwarf, Greg, a one-armed kick-fighting woman, Tom, a blind man, Don, a gentle yet fierce woman, Serena, a giant fat man, Bill and a despised Makowan woman, Tyaira.On the shoulders of this group, that society would call "misfits" rests the fate of the world.  White's clear, not overdone descriptions created instant pictures in my mind.  On the surface, AGF: The Gathering is a fast-paced adventure story.  But White's willingness to wrestle with difficult issues of brutality, racial, gender and sexual prejudice and injustice points to the real issue:  the rising of the inner warrior.I hope as you read this colorful tale that you'll feel your inner warrior rising too.END