2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
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2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
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Book(s) Review(s): Million Eyes: The Unraveller and Million Eyes: Ouroboros by C.R. Berry AND Free Short Story Downloads!

So last week, I revisited my reviews of the two earlier books in this incredible (in every sense of the word) series. Today, I’m pleased to join the blog tour for the release of the third and final installment in the trilogy – Million Eyes: Ouroboros – and share my thoughts on that book as well as the second in series.

About the Book: Million Eyes: The Unraveller (Book 2)

Following an impossible discovery in East London, archaeologist Dr Samantha Lester joins forces with software developer Adam Bryant to investigate the events that led to the disappearance of his best friend, Jennifer, and to bring down the people responsible – Million Eyes.

Before long, Lester and Adam are drawn into a tangled conspiratorial web involving dinosaurs, the Gunpowder Plot, Jesus, the Bermuda Triangle, and a mysterious history-hopping individual called the Unraveller, who is determined to wipe Million Eyes off the temporal map.

But as the secrets of Million Eyes’ past are revealed, picking a side in this fight might not be so easy.

About the Book: Million Eyes: Ouroboros (Book 3)

On a cold morning in 2219, Cara Montgomery and her husband, Jackson, have a frightening encounter on the beach. An encounter that leads to a war with a depraved and relentless alien race, the Shapeless, changing their lives forever.

Three hundred years earlier, Harriet Turner travels to the future to learn the shocking secret behind Victorian London’s most notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper. A mysterious barber, Fred, goes with her, but Fred has a shocking secret of his own.

Hunted by the ruthless Miss Morgan and plagued by visions of a snake eating its own tail, Harriet discovers that the all-powerful Million Eyes isn’t the only one with an agenda. Time itself has one too.


My Review

This series is such a fantastic and amazing ride! There are so many layered and nuanced story lines, with so many elements to juggle that I cannot even imagine how Berry was able to keep all of the balls in the air throughout the course of the trilogy…

The first book set things out beautifully, accompanied by the short stories to add complexity and teasers about the scope of what was to come (but more on that is available in the linked review above). The second really shook the world up – and in ways that are hard to adequately talk about without spoilers. And I wouldn’t spoil this one for you for the world… Suffice to say that the conspiracy goes ever deeper than you could even imagine, based on the original set up, and that the originality of the way the author plays out his alt-history across timelines (original, adjusted, and re-adjusted) courtesy of the “good” folks at Million Eyes.

Moving into the third, Berry really hits his stride. Don’t misunderstand – the earlier books read beautifully and the story is seamlessly assembled, but you only realize that once it is complete. Along the way, there are so many pieces moving in different directions that it’s like watching chess played in four dimensions… No one is who – or what – you think. Nothing has happened for the reasons you expect. And it all makes sense – in a way that is resonant, respectful, and remorseless in its clarity.

There is such a deep love of history visible in these novels. It’s an element that really resonated with me. It’s obvious that Berry is fascinated by the ways that cause and effect play out over time, as well as by the magnificent scope of events that have lead the world to develop as it has. Seeing him play with those layers in such a clever way, balancing mystery with history and revelations with deception, is so much fun for the reader – and feels so effortless, yet peeling back those layers quickly reveals the immensity not only of the interconnectedness of history, but of the work Berry has done to bring all of it together.

And make no mistake, tying all the loose ends up must have been a massive endeavor – but it was pulled off perfectly. By the final pages the story arc has come full circle, and I dare you to read those last pages without tears running down your face as the enormity of what was accomplished, lost, and regained hits you in the concluding lines. There were so many twists and turns I never saw coming. The characterizations were magnificent. The plotting and pacing were extremely well managed. And the explanations provided for so many of the bizarre aspects of world history were magnificent – original, plausible, hilarious, and tragic, one and all.

Thanks to Elsewhen and the author for my obligation-free review copies of all of the books!

The Free Download Stuff

Also, don’t miss the second short story collection in the series – Million Eyes: Over Time – which is available for free download via the amazing publisher, Elsewhen Press. Like the first shorts collection, Million Eyes: Extra Time, it is an incredible set of surprisingly intricate (for short stories) series of sub-stories that occur within the Million Eyes universe. Populated by characters that leap off the page and story lines that will capture your imagination and add extra depth and breadth to the overall series.

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