INVASION USA (Book 1) - The End of Modern Civilization: The End of Modern Civilization Paperback – August 18, 2012

I've bypassed this book a few times when perusing Amazon because the premise sounded sort of silly, but a long weekend stuck home in bed sick gave me tons of time, so I picked it up, and boy, was I happy I did.The writing style for the back story on the characters, as several other reviewers have mentioned, is a bit tedious, however, don't let this dissuade from purchasing, because the back stories in and of themselves are interesting...it's just that they are less interesting than the "main" storyline!There are some editing errors that could be cleaned up, but these are typos, not incorrect use of the language. In fact the author writes well and very clearly. While some may be put off by the amount of detail, I found most of it interesting and not overly burdensome. I understand the author is from the UK, but he writes American English very well. The only Brit-isms I found were "torch" for flashlight and calling the NYC Subway the "Metro." (it's the Subway!)The story, however, is a rip-roaring adventure of the old school type. I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes vintage planes, (planes of any type really) or techno thrillers of the type that Tom Clancy and Larry Bond used to write. Definitely one of the better self-published books I've read and I've read over a hundred at this point. This is only the second self-pub book (i think) that I've wanted to review.Oh, and I said the premise sounded sort of silly, right? Well you have to suspend disbelief once in a while to have a good time and...what's this? An article on Information-Age's website dated today?"A microchip used by the US military and manufactured in China contains a secret "backdoor" that means it can be shut off or reprogrammed without the user knowing, according to researchers at Cambridge University's Computing Laboratory." Information Age, 5/28/12 (I'm not kidding! This article literally came up on my feed as I'm writing this review)

I am still in the middle of "Invasion USA (Book 1)," but I thought I'd take a break to make a couple of comments.I first noticed a problem while reading the "Note from the author" that precedes the actual text of the book, which contains the following typo: "The people in this story are all are fictitious..."Through the book itself I have noticed a number of similar errors; commas not used when they are needed, the word "thrust" (as in a jet's output) misspelled as "trust," and the like. Mr. Wade needed a more skilled proofreader. (Hey, it's ingrained in me.)The other thing that bothers me about this book is the tedious, leaden tone of the dialogue. People just don't talk like this. Example: when his character Sally Powers is 14 and seeking a way to make money for flying lessons, she says:"Daddy said that I must find a way to make income to pay for a couple of hours of flying a year before I can get my license. He'll pay for my birthday present flights every year, but I must make any more money if I want to add any more flying hours."It states that Sally was born in 1988, so that means this scene is set in about 2002, yet young Sally talks like it's the 1940s. My version:"Daddy says that I have to find a way to make enough money to pay for any flying I need to do before I get my license. He'll still pay for my birthday present flight every year, but I'm on my own if I want to add more flight time." See the difference? Relax, Mr. Wade, and let your people talk!The other thing, as mentioned in another review, is the tedious amount of detail that he includes, at least in the first half of the book (I'm just a quarter of the way through the book at present). I'm a World War II airplane buff, although it only goes so far as to enjoy reading and watching TV programs about them, but the amount of detail he provides, not only about the planes but the biographies of his characters and other details like the addition that Preston has built onto his hangar, borders on the ridiculous and almost renders the novel into a textbook.In addition, I found myself, at least at this point, utterly unable to connect with characters that could spend $1.5 million on planes simply because they like old warbirds, or $36,000 for ammunition that Preston mentions will be used up in five minutes, or $50-75,000 to refurbish the engines of a DC-3.

And in book 4 it shows that Mr Wade wrote more I cannot find, can you help Id like to keep reading the series

No plot spoilers (it's in the blurb anyway but, still)No potential triggersThere are numerous errors, including missing words (to, and, at etc.)This doesn't actually spoil the read, it just irritates a bit.Then there are the other type of errors, the most irritating being one of the characters is a huge Elvis fan and speaks of shaking his hand in 1983, Elvis died in 1977 so that was a biggie for me. There are some others but in all honesty I lost count.It STILL doesn't spoil the book.The first 25% or so is a detailed bio of each character, and I found that boring. I don't think I've ever read a book before where the characters are introduced as if it's a casting and I found it really odd.Most often characters are brought in through a timeline and the reader learns bits of them as the story expands, it's how people judge others, through experience. Instead we learn who they were born to, where they went to school, how they got into flying, which university they went to and which degrees they pursued. Obviously we are told of how they meet each other and how their lives intersect as time lapses.Then the actual storyline starts with a boardroom 30 years earlier and we are introduced in much the same way to those players.What I missed was the motivators behind the action, there weren't any. Other than a certain amount of megalomania which I thought presumptuous given most megalomaniacs take decades to reach that state of being as opposed to the 30 or 40 years given in the book.Also, forgive me for daring to question the political climate of China throughout the timeline and stating categorically that the communist system within the country would preclude the events and planning.However, suspending belief is a pre requisite of any novel and I am happy to do so with this series, I just think it could have been explained with more finesse.What I am NOT happy about is the misogynistic undertones - the women will do all the cooking, fighter pilots being called little girls and the constant unspoken view point that the men know best.Of course, there are elements of racial discrimination too, the most offensive being the 'oriental' label and one character wishing another a 'melly chlistmas' that the character is Chinese only makes it worse, as if the author has attempted to make it okay by having the character make fun of himself. It doesn't work, it's still offensive.Obviously we are all entitled to our own views, but the book is targeted to a wide audience and the author should really ensure his own views do not colour the story he wants others to purchase.I first read this book years ago and recently found it again and I have to say that irrespective of the comments above, there is still something about the book that makes me want to continue to read the next book.There is a huge amount of flight speak, I am not a pilot. I understand the basics and as a reader that should be all I need to understand, but there are parts where I felt as if I were about to be tested on the answers regarding fuel requirements for distance and weight not to mention the various different planes. Then there is the logistical aspect of food, aid and weapons. Lots and lots of planning and explanation.There are no sex scenes and little if any swearing.Yes, I will be purchasing the next book to see if the series is worth pursuing, because at the end of this long review I reiterate that there is something about it that makes me want to read on.I don't hesitate to recommend the book to fans of the prepper/invasion genre, after all the first book is free and you can make your own mind up from there.

I got this book free and I was glad I had not paid for it. If you love planes and old trucks this is a book for you. Lesser mortals may find the long descriptions of old aeroplanes and the flying history of all the characters a tad tedious.The first half of the book appears to set up the reader for the rest of the book (and the series?) so all the key characters, their flying experience and the planes they fly are introduced. I felt that although the characters had been introduced they had not been developed so I know what they were called but not who they were.I kept waiting for things to happen, honestly, in the first half of the book the most exciting event was two large planes landing on a short runway. About 57% of the way through the book things start to happen and within a couple of paragraphs millions are wiped out.I must say though that there is something about the book that caused me to continue reading (a freebie gets deleted in fairly short order if I can't get into it), which is why I scored it as a 3*, the book seems to be pretty well edited grammar and spelling-wise and an interesting take on the end of the world as we know it scenario.

I have a limited genre of types of books I enjoy reading, one of these is apocalypse / end of the world, this is what brought me to this book however I will still not buy a book unless the price is reasonable versus the book length and the premise of the book is plausible.The author ticked all my boxes for this one so I bought it knowing it was first in a series.Let me also say that I have bought books before that fit all of the above criteria and have stopped reading them half way through because of poor writing or cardboard characters, this book did NOT disappoint and I finished it in record time!The writing and character developement was good and I found myself interested in what would happen to them which is a must for me, if you are interested in this type of genre that buy this book, you won't be disappointed.Phil UK

I really enjoyed this apocalypse story with a twist. A very plausible story which I could well imagine could happen on our planet. The story would really be appreciated by modern history buffs, particularly those interested in aviation. This is the first in a series and the book was free in kindle at the time I downloaded it for which I thank the author. I would like to buy the subsequent books to find out what happens to the interesting characters, but find them a little bit expensive to buy the whole series, so regretfully I am not going to continue.

I bought this book just to see what it was like. I tend to follow particular authors but not not come across this one before. I am glad I did. Yes there are certian issues (missing words / mis-spellings) on the kindle edition but looking past these problems the story grabbed me very quickly. So much so that I purchased the next three books as soon as I had finished this one. The story is plausible (as it stands in this book) and I look forward to see how the plot develops. All in all a good purchase for a techno-thriller fan.