{"id":3555,"date":"2025-07-15T00:48:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3555"},"modified":"2025-07-15T00:48:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:48:42","slug":"review-the-call-of-abaddon-by-colin-searle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3555","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Call of Abaddon by Colin Searle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To save the human race from the ultimate cosmic threat, Jason will have to become something far beyond human.<\/p>\n

New Toronto is a fractured city-arcology on a dying Earth, where hope is as scarce as clean air. For Jason, survival means scavenging the ruins beneath the city \u2013 where any day could be his last.<\/p>\n

But everything changes when an ancient alien obelisk \u2013 the ABADDON BEACON \u2013 attacks Jason\u2019s mind from afar, making his dormant psychic abilities spiral out of control. After barely surviving Abaddon\u2019s psionic possession attempt, Jason and his companions are left with no choice but to find the obelisk before it consumes him.<\/p>\n

Problem is, Abaddon has been sealed within a top-secret United Earth Federation research lab for over a century, silently worming its alien technologies into human society, presented as gifts with a far darker purpose. The Beacon doesn\u2019t just speak; it infects, projecting its viral energies far beyond the walls of the lab.<\/p>\n

And Jason isn\u2019t the only one hearing Abaddon\u2019s call. Across the Solar System, a ruthless Emperor will stop at nothing to seize the Beacon\u2019s power for himself.<\/p>\n

As the Imperial invasion of Earth looms, Jason\u2019s quest to confront Abaddon will force him into a critical choice: master the strange power growing inside him\u2026or succumb to the<\/p>\n

Beacon\u2019s godlike influence, ushering in mankind\u2019s doom.<\/p>\n

The Call of Abaddon is a gripping mythological tale of humanity\u2019s struggle to overcome an unimaginable darkness, blending the political intrigue of Dune with the eldritch terror of Lovecraft, and the explosive world-building of The Expanse.<\/p>\n

Favorite Lines:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Sounds wonderful,\u2019 Sam responded, oozing sarcasm. \u2018Now, enough stalling\u2014let\u2019s go find the yoks and that stupid-ass robot’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAren\u2019t you glad you got involved with us crack Undocs\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we don\u2019t have time to get into that, and frankly, there\u2019s some things about myself that I don\u2019t make a habit of discussing.\u201d<\/p>\n

My Opinion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

The Call of Abaddon<\/em> drops us straight into neon-soaked New Toronto, where ex-street kid Jason and his salvage crew comb a rotting megacity for half-functional nanotech. By page three, malfunctioning bots are sparking, black-market implants are changing hands, and a strange psychic signal is tunneling into Jason\u2019s head, promising trouble if he dares ignore it.<\/p>\n

The spine of the novel is Jason\u2019s unwanted link to the Abaddon Beacon\u2014an ancient obelisk that hijacks his dreams and starts rewriting the very tech he lives on. Colin Searle layers that creeping dread over kinetic salvage runs and under-city gunfights, all while a self-replicating nanite \u201cPhage\u201d looms in the background, ready to turn yesterday\u2019s gadgets into tomorrow\u2019s monsters.<\/p>\n

What keeps the grimness from swallowing the book is the crew\u2019s banter. Their gallows humor and sibling snark feel lived-in, grounding the high-concept horror in recognizably human friction. When reactor seals fail or a rust-bucket drone opens fire, the arguments feel like the kinds you\u2019d have with friends while racing to plug a leak.<\/p>\n

Scope-creep is the one snag: the action rockets from claustrophobic tunnels to full-blown interplanetary war. A late exposition dump about the Solar Empire\u2019s crusade opens the universe but also stalls the momentum just long enough to notice. Even so, Searle\u2019s knack for crunchy tech and apocalyptic imagery keeps the pages\u2014and the debris\u2014flying.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall, grim, punchy, and weirdly heartfelt, The Call of Abaddon<\/em> serves up cyber-ruins, cosmic horror, and a found-family you\u2019ll root for right up until the Beacon calls their names. Happy reading!<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0The Call of Abaddon<\/em> here!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: To save the human race from the ultimate cosmic threat, Jason will have to become something far beyond human. New Toronto is a fractured city-arcology on a dying Earth, where hope is as scarce as clean air. For Jason, survival means scavenging the ruins beneath the city \u2013 where any day could be his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}